Can keeping busy help improve ADHD? Here’s what the study says

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) represents neurodevelopmental disorder it affects the ability to concentrate, control impulsive behavior and manage hyperactivity. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder with no fixed set of symptoms as it varies from person to person.
ADHD is a complex condition that affects a person’s life, relationships, work, daily activities and more. While it is said that ADHD makes a person less attentive to what they are doing or limits their concentration, new research has a contradictory view, showing that keeping busy can help with ADHD.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that higher environmental demand reduces ADHD symptoms.

An unexpected discovery was made after ADHD research over the past 16 years and made two conclusions:
– ADHD has periods of temporary remission.
– A busy schedule can promote remission.
The study was led by Margaret Sibley, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The study data was based on 483 patients diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of 7 and 10 years and over the past 16 years.

Why can keeping busy help with ADHD?

According to research, people diagnosed with ADHD require more stimulation to maintain attention, and the study found that this helps when a serious problem arises, ADHD gets worse and reduces symptoms.
A busy schedule can increase dopamine levels in the body, which helps combat ADHD symptoms such as procrastination and anxiety. Sibley noted in the study that they were surprised to find that higher levels of stress could reduce ADHD.

“We hypothesized that increased stress would be associated with higher levels of ADHD in participants. But we were surprised to find quite the opposite: higher levels of stress were associated with ADHD remission. In other words, people with ADHD became a problem when demands were high,” the study explains.

Vanishing act

Margaret Sibley also explained in the article that ADHD symptoms have improved at some point over the past 16 years. She called remission the ADHD Law of Disappearance, where in most cases the symptoms disappeared but returned after three or four years. Sibley also explained that most people can cope with these symptoms for years without causing any significant problems in their lives.

She wrote: “Neurocognitive risks are always present, but clinical problems may only occasionally arise. This is comparable to a person who may struggle with weight gain biologically, but who may fluctuate in and out of obesity throughout their life.”