Turning ADHD into a superpower

Turning ADHD into a superpower

Hello and welcome to Braineaxe!

My name is Patrick Martin-Arrowsmith, I am a sports nutrition biohacker and the founder of the Braineaxe community. 

 

This is a community of brain health & optimization enthusiasts, striving for our best brains.

 

This is the first series of our blog section and we are happy to bring exclusive, cutting edge, science backed content to our community. We will be using our personal experience, cited literature and the machine gods to create this blog project. Ultimately we want to create awareness and understanding around brain health and optimization, and we want to make a difference in peoples lives.

 

SUMMARY: With this blog post I hope to shed some positive light on what ADHD is, and to give some hope and tools to those who have it. Here are some key points we will cover;

1. Optimizing your sleep

2. Avoiding excessive stimulants

3. Incorporating a simple bedtime meditation protocol 

4. How exercise routine is key, and how to keep it simple!

5. Supplement that boost relaxation, cognitive or sleep, herbal supplements that can boost your sleep and or brain! Ashwagandha is one of my favorites.

 

 

Lets discuss ADHD and how I've learned to optimize my so called disorder and turn it into an asset. 

I have personally suffered from ADHD my whole life. All the classic signs and symptoms and especially, a hard time focusing in school Early on this led to behavioral problems and poor grades, especially from 12-15 years of age.

 

I played a lot of sports as a kid, and I can remember never knowing what the drill was at practice. I couldn't focus on what the coach was telling us to do. My coping strategy in practices would be to go to the back of the line when we were doing drills, and hopefully, by the time I reached the front of the line, I'd have had enough of time to see what the others were doing. Occasionally even this strategy would fail, and I'd embarrassingly have to ask the coach what we were doing.

 

For many, if left unchecked or not well managed, ADHD comes with significant draw backs, mostly due to the lack of ability to focus on the task at hand. This lack of focus can and will impact all areas of someone's life; social, school, work, relationships, personal confidence and so on.

 

I believe if left undiagnosed or not well adapted, it can really impact negatively someone's life and leave them feeling like a failure.

 

 

Luckily for me, I have a strong innate personality characteristics of resilience and perseverance. Failure doesn't bring me down the way it does to some people, and when I fail I tend to get motivated and try harder. I believe this combination of personality characteristics allowed me to survive and continue to move forward in my education, relationships and my career, although not as efficiently as I could have if I would have been diagnosed earlier in life.

As I got older, and made my way into higher levels of education, or in my career, I started finding ways to deal with my lack of ability to focus. In university, studying sports nutrition, I quickly realized going to class wasn't a good use of time, as my attention lasted 15-30 minutes and then I'd spend the rest of the time playing clash of clans on my cell phone. When I received my first degree and hung it on the wall, I knew my true accomplishment was my town hall 11 unbreachable barracks in clash of clans. 

The takeaway from my experience is that I had learned that I had the ability to do 2 or even 3 things at once, and my brain actually needed too it that way. Albeit I couldn't really do any of the 3 extremely well, I did them better then you would expect from a guy who seems to have played videogames on his phone at the back of the large auditoriums at McGill university.

So that leads me to my first point, I do believe one of the strengths of someone with ADHD is that they can learn to do many complex tasks simultaneously, and that their minds like to be bouncing back and forth from each one of those tasks. It's as though we need and crave the increased mental stimulation.

You can see natural desires for multi tasking and complexity manifest in my professional career(s). My first profession was a respiratory therapist. I worked clinically at a large center on night shifts for 13 years (2010 - 2023). While I was working the night shift at the hospital, I was also continuing my education in sports nutrition during the day, where I received a BSc and MSc in sports nutrition from McGill university (2014-2020). I started my private sports nutrition biohacking practice in 2016 at a football gym, and had a lot of success almost immediately.

My ADHD brain got me into a tricky situation between 2016-2020 where I was working full time night shifts and making good money in my career as a respiratory therapist, while continuing to study nutrition full time during the day,  as well as growing my sports nutrition biohacking practice, simultaneously. To make matters trickier, we had our first son in November 2018. Now this may sound insane to some, and it definitely was not sustainable, but the interesting thing is, I was able manage it all. I didn't necessarily do anything 100% optimally, but I did every well enough to progress, and I believe that this is one of the super powers of ADHD, our ability to do many difficult and demanding things simultaneously.

 

Let's see what the machine gods (ChatGPT) have to about the strengths of ADHD :


What are the positive aspects of ADHD

ChatGTP:
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is often framed in a negative light due to its association with difficulties in focus, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. However, there are positive aspects to ADHD that are often overlooked. Here are some:

Creativity: Many individuals with ADHD are highly creative. They often possess an ability to think outside the box, make connections that others might miss, and come up with innovative solutions to problems.

Energetic and Enthusiastic: People with ADHD often have boundless energy and enthusiasm, which can be contagious and inspiring to others around them. They may approach tasks with excitement and passion.

Hyperfocus: While difficulty in maintaining focus is a hallmark of ADHD, individuals with ADHD can also experience periods of intense concentration and hyperfocus, particularly when engaged in activities that they find stimulating or rewarding. (This one resonates a lot and is a good explanation for my obsession with the complex game Warhammer 40k)

Spontaneity: ADHD individuals can be spontaneous and adventurous, embracing new experiences with enthusiasm and openness. They may be more willing to take risks and explore unfamiliar territory.

Empathy and Sensitivity: Some people with ADHD are highly empathetic and sensitive to the emotions of others. They may possess a deep understanding of human emotions and be skilled at connecting with others on an emotional level.

Multitasking: While multitasking can be challenging for some, individuals with ADHD often excel at managing multiple tasks simultaneously. They may thrive in environments that require quick thinking and adaptability.

Resourcefulness: ADHD individuals are often resourceful and resilient. They may develop coping strategies and creative problem-solving skills to navigate the challenges they face, leading to personal growth and development.


It's important to recognize and celebrate these positive aspects of ADHD while also acknowledging and addressing the challenges that individuals with ADHD may face. With proper support, understanding, and accommodations, individuals with ADHD can harness their strengths and thrive in various aspects of life.


Thank you machine god for supporting my hypothesis.


Now that we have awareness of what the strengths of ADHD are, lets talk about how we can make sure those aspects become strengths and or get stronger.

Sleep: 
One thing I learned in my journey of trying to do as much as physically possible and pushing my limits, was that I can't outrun sleep. Sleep is important for everyone, but personally I have noticed that sleep is crucial for my ADHD brain. Because we often are doing many difficult things simultaneously, and we do have the brain power for this, we need to ensure that we pay attention to our sleep schedules to ensure adequate recovery. My ability to focus on a single task is already limited relative to my non ADHD peers, but if I don't sleep enough, that single focus ability is cutdown even more so. Not to mention my lifestyle ends up being demanding, I need the mental but also physical energy to continue to push forward.

Because of my busy and demanding lifestyle, and my lack of sleep at critical points of my life, and ended up appreciating the value of sleep for my life performance. I have spent many years now researching sleep, I even took a 2 year position a sleep diagnostics laboratory where I would do full scale sleep testing with EEG / ECG / heart and blood oxygen tracing. It was so fascinating to watch sleep in real time and to see how the disorders affect the technical aspects of sleep such as your brain waves.
Now that I've become a sleep princess, here are some of my tips for optimal


SLEEP OPTIMIZATION:

Room temperature:
Keeping room temp between 65-68 degree's (harding et al. 2020). Body cooling is a natural process during sleep cycles, if you're body can't cool down properly it can get into deep sleep cycles efficiently.

Don't eat large meals before bed - food creates digestive heat within the body and also impacts body cooling. Avoid eating any significant amount 3 hours before bed.

Simulant management:
People with ADHD are prone to stimulant use and abuse. Common stimulants include caffeine, nicotine and ADHD amphetamine based medication. It is important to understand that all 3 of these common stimulants affect your sleep to a certain degree.

One of my pet peeves is when people tell me I can drink coffee after dinner and have no problems falling asleep - YES congrats you can fall asleep, but what you don't realize is that you are not actually getting a good sleep! Caffeine is preventing your body from entering into the deeper stages of sleep (3 and 4), and you are not actually recovering properly. This also applies to nicotine (which my ADHD brain personally loves the effects of) and any amphetamine based medications.
When it comes to caffeine and nicotine, I recommend that you don't become daily users of either, but instead learn to spot use them when you need them. Caffeine for example very easily creeps into an addiction where you think you need it to survive, and eventually you kind of do because your sleep quality is so poor from the amount of caffeine you ingest.
It is important to understand the half-life of caffeine metabolism so you can better manage your intakes. Caffeine has a half life of 4-6 hours, meaning if you ingest 100mg at noon, 4-6 hours later your liver will have processed 50% of that, so by 5 pm you will have 50 mg in your body. by 10 pm you will still have 25 mg in your body, and although it isn't much, it is still affecting your sleep. Even worse so if you have an afternoon coffee and some nicotine.
The takeaway here is avoid any afternoon stimulants if possible, and avoid daily dependance on any stimulants. 

Meditation:

Meditation has been a very useful tool for helping me improve my sleep, and my HRV (heart rate variability). HRV is a metric to measure the activity of your nervous system, the higher the HRV the more relaxed and less stress your nervous system is and meditation has scientifically proven to improve your HRV (Chang et al 2020).  I personally like to keep my meditation short 3-7 mins max, I also keep it simple. Most of the benefits of meditation come from the breathing and less from what you are thinking about. 

I just like to sit up in my bed comfortably, put on 432hz mediation music on youtube, and take nice sleep breaths down into my belly and slowly release them. As I release my breaths through my nose I feel all my body and limbs relax. Its such as pleasant experience, that if you keep it simple and just focus on breathing and relaxing, it becomes so enjoyable and less of a chore.

Exercise:

Regular physical activity has been shown to have numerous benefits for overall health, including mental well-being. In the context of ADHD, exercise may help reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity while improving attention and executive function (Chang et al., 2012).

Personally, I have found short amounts (30 minutes max) of either strength training or running, help my body and mind feel and work great, again I like to keep it SHORT AND SIMPLE.
Herbal Remedies:
And last but not least natural relaxing herbal remedies! As you can see, I have an obsession with sleep, and have also found some natural and also herbal ways to improve my overall sleep quality. Over the years I have found a nice blend of herbs, roots and amino acids that all have scientifically shown to help relax the body, mind and nervous system. Ashwagandha has been my favorite of those. You can take anywhere from 500-1500mg 1-3 hours before bed and it helps take an edge off from the day. This is also very useful if you have any stimulants left in your system. Ashwagandha has shown to significantly reduce stress and relax the nervous system, and also significantly improve deep sleep (Akhgarjand, Camellia, et al.).
So there you have it folks. I hope with anyone with ADHD who reads this can gain a new perspective, and instead of believing that you are incapacitated with a disease, you can see that you can actually have a super power.

In summary, to harness the super power make sure you:

1. Optimize your sleep

2. Avoid excessive stimulants

3. Incorporate a simple bedtime meditation protocol 

4. Exercise routine is key! Keep it simple.

5. Herbal supplements. Learn about relaxing, cognitive or sleep enhancing herbal supplements that can boost your sleep and or brain! Ashwagandha is one of my favorites.

 

If your interested in Ashwagandha, check out our first product, the sleep reanimator! It is a natural herbal / root and amino acid gummy loaded with ashwagandha and 4 other ingredients that bolster the relaxing effect.


REFERENCES:
1. Chang, Kang-Ming, Miao-Tien Wu Chueh, and Yi-Jung Lai. "Meditation practice improves short-term changes in heart rate variability." International journal of environmental research and public health 17.6 (2020): 2128.

2. Harding, E. C., Franks, N. P., & Wisden, W. (2020). Sleep and thermoregulation. Current Opinion in Physiology, 15,7   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32617439/

3. Akhgarjand, Camellia, et al. "Does Ashwagandha supplementation have a beneficial effect on the management of anxiety and stress? A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials." Phytotherapy Research 36.11 (2022): 4115-4124.

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