ADHD AWARENESS MONTH

October 2021

A is for Assess

Assessment can be a fascinating journey of discovery. When we uncover the details of what is contributing to the symptoms of ADHD, we can take the informed steps we need to improve. Assessments may include those with a GP, Psychiatrist, Paediatrician, Psychologist and Allied Health Professionals. Assessments might be interviews, parent and teacher questionnaires, vision and hearing assessments, QEEG brain scans, a sensory profile, blood tests for deficiencies, assessing allergies and sensitivities, even sleep assessments.

B is for Barefoot

The benefits of spending time with your two bare feet exploring the world might surprise you. Author of ‘Balanced and Barefoot’ and founder of the TimberNook program, Occupational Therapist Angela Hanscom, explains that unrestricted barefoot nature play profoundly helps to develop the necessary foundations for the brain and body growth of integrated systems that are essential for attention, spatial awareness, and emotional control. Lack of access to this type of play may be resulting in children’s bodies being less prepared to learn.

C is for Communicate

Each of us will lay down memories of our lives, during the day and as we dream at night, in different ways. We experience our world differently from each other, and this can be hard to communicate – especially when you are young. Tuning in (more than our ears) to how we communicate - through our words, bodies, behaviours, touch, moods, art and play - can help us learn incredibly special things about what the world might be like for others.

D is for Diet

Studies suggest diets loaded with saturated fat, processed foods, refined sugars and salt, and also with deficiencies in omega 3 fatty acids, fibre and folate have been shown to be associated with a higher diagnosis of ADHD in the population. A Mediterranean diet - rich in oily fish, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, herbs and whole-grain foods, however, shows the opposite effect, and is not associated with an ADHD diagnosis in the population.

E is for Exercise

Physical activity is known to be a protective factor against ADHD. One particularly protective brain chemical is BDNF – Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor - and we make a heap of it when we exercise. BDNF promotes neuroplasticity, health-associated behaviours and quality of life. BDNF can be lacking in a brain with ADHD, exercise can be a way of remedying this. When weather permits exercise outside in green environments is best for brains.

F is for Fruit

We could all squish in more fresh fruit (and veg - because what’s a tomato, cucumber and pumpkin, really?) into each meal and snack. Particularly foods with pectin (things like apples, mandarins, zucchini and avocado) can help build your gut garden (see G, next). Fruit and veg can add a rainbow of colour, nutrition and hydration, even to indulgent things like chocolate mud cake and chocolate mousse.

G is for Gut Garden

There is a vital miniscule garden growing inside you and it is changing all the time. It’s called your microbiome. It responds to where you live, the air you breathe, what you eat, the things you eat together, where you play, other people, how much you exercise, and even the work that you do. It starts growing before you are born.

There are many interesting studies investigating the role in ADHD of certain brain communication chemicals (neurotransmitters) that you need a healthy gut and diverse microbiome to produce. Things like GABA, serotonin and dopamine, because many of them are produced in your tummy and not in your brain. These brain chemicals play a role in our attention, mood and movement.

H is for Hydrate

Water makes up so much of you it’s essential to keep yourself fresh, fluid and fantastic. Being well hydrated, drinking enough water, is associated positively with brain functions like memory, mood and cognitive performance. Tips like: starting and ending the day with a glass; adding more ice to drinks and smoothies; and keeping your water bottle with you, can all add those extra sips we need each day.

I is for Imagine

Exercising our imaginations can be super fun and is really wonderful for our brains. Imagination needs the brain areas involved in memory, visualising, how we move around, creativity and future thinking to work hard together. It might feel like a daydream, but it’s a complicated cognitive collage. Imaginative and social play is also essential for kids developing empathy and social skills.

J is for Jobs

Brains love to do lists, achieving goals and getting little jobs done. Writing tasks down can reduce anxiety, while checking them off can activate our brains feel-good reward system. Responsibilities in the life of the home are important ways for children to feel a part of things and develop life skills, feelings of competence and self-reliance.

K is for K.I.S.S.

Keep. It. Simple. and Smile.

We could all use more positive behaviour support. Brain training show us that brains tend to learn better when we are rewarded more for doing the right thing rather than punished for doing the wrong thing. Tune your radar to compliment the little good things more and see how just doing that can change things. Making your instructions direct, by using someone’s name, and no more than 8 words long can help to.

L is for Light

Our eyes and brains are actually designed to work outside, where natural light is over 100 times brighter than any brightly lit room. It takes the types of light only found outside to trigger important responses in our brains that control our body clocks and our mood. Studies investigating photoreceptors, serotonin, vitamin D, melatonin and their involvement in human wellbeing all come back to the light. How much time are you all spending outside every day?

M is for Mindfulness

It can start as simply as sitting side-by-side and breathing together or slowing down for long enough to notice a butterfly dancing in your backyard. There are limitless exercises just waiting to be discovered on apps like: Smiling Mind; Calm; or UCLA Mindful. On some, you can even pop in how much time you have, how old you are, and see what is suggested for you. Smiling Mind has developed a whole mindfulness curriculum for schools to use.

Stay tuned for our next instalment to complete the ADHD A to Z.

About the author - Ms. Emily Goss (Occupational Therapist, Senior Clinician, The Perth Brain Centre)

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