It’s difficult for me to be consistent with posting to this blog. ADHD is no friend when it comes to consistency, time management, and follow-through. There has also been a lot going on behind the scenes which is stressing me out and keeping me from posting blogs more regularly, but those things are more of the type that can only be fixed by waiting it out. The ADHD is the only thing I have control over, and not much control, at that.
One of the things I have heard recently, however, from both friends and family is that I seemed a lot happier when I was exercising regularly. I have tried multiple times to reinstate my workout plan, unsuccessfully. I do have days here or there where I take a jog or do a workout via YouTube, but I fall off almost immediately. Part of this is probably just the general difficulty with sticking to a routine that comes from having ADHD, but I do think that the collective depression sinkhole created by COVID stay at home orders from over this past year has likely contributed in at least some ways, making it more difficult than ever before to get back into the swing of things.
But I’m going to try because I know that not only is exercise important not only for my physical health and my mental health, it’s also a way to at least temporarily reduce the symptoms of ADHD, and some studies have shown that if you’re consistent with exercise for long enough, there may even be some permanent reduction to ADHD symptoms. But part of that matters on what type of exercise you partake in.
Aerobic exercise, such as jogging, biking, or swimming, will increase chemicals like dopamine to your brain, but studies have also shown that they also change the neural pathways in your brain over time so that the benefit your brain gets will be more permanent.
Furthermore, more complex styles of exercise such as martial arts, yoga, and dance, are great for helping balance, focus, memory, and can even help you better understand the consequences of your actions.
For the best benefit, however, consistency is important, and that’s the part I’ve always had the most difficulty with. One way I’ve tried to combat that is to vary the types of exercise I do so that I don’t get bored, however, that only lasts for so long. What would probably work better would be to find a partner to exercise with or to join a team sport. These will increase accountability and can be used for something called body doubling, which I will go more into detail about in another post.
It’s also a good idea to exercise as one of the first things you do in the morning, as the dopamine will continue to cycle your brain throughout the day, making it easier to stay on top of things. There is also evidence that your brain is going to want to continue to do the same thing that it was doing when it received its first dopamine hit of the day, so if you’re up and out and doing something productive, it could be that your brain will want to continue on with being productive, as opposed to sitting on your phone, scrolling social media, which is often what I find myself doing first thing in the morning. An ADHD brain has difficulty with transitions, and so why not use that to your advantage, and get out there, do something athletic, and keep your brain in that mode for the rest of the day?
