Adult A.D.D. and Getting Older
Dealing with A.D.D. requires stamina1, something which is in relatively shorter supply as I get older. My ability to intentionally hyperfocus is becoming more difficult to do.2 This doesn’t mean that I can’t hyperfocus anymore (what kind of an A.D.D.er would I be if I couldn’t hyperfocus) but focusing the hyperfocus to the very real task that lies before me has become harder to do.
Quite accidentally I found a way to regain some of that ability to intentionally hyperfocus. After a decade and a half break, I started running again. There is something about that physical activity - being outdoors and moving - that just clears out my head.3 And while my stamina may not be exactly what it was in the past, the running cleans out the mind sufficiently so that focusing on what needs to be done is just easier to do.
__________________- This definition from Wikipedia: “sustaining prolonged stressful effort” sums it up nicely. See: Stamina. In addition, see this footnote from one of my earlier posts. [↩]
- During my college days, for example, I never worried about writing papers. I knew that when the 3 day mark came - that is the paper was due in about 3 days - that it was almost time to start writing that paper. Usually when the 36 hour mark arrived that’s when I’d hyperfocus and write the paper. [↩]
- Dr. Hallowell, among others, have examined this phenomenon of the beneficial effects of physical activity for A.D.D.ers. [↩]
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