If caffeinated drinks like coffee are meant to give you boosts of energy then why is it recommended for kids with ADHD to calm them down?
In: Biology
Well, “recommended” probably isn’t the most accurate. Caffeine is effective and gets into your system very fast, but it doesn’t last very long. It’s not the best for a daily use, long term solution. If someone with ADHD needs something immediate, sure. But they should not rely on it.
There’s a lot of long answers so far but the simple ELI5 is this; it won’t calm them down it will focus them, instead of their attention being split on 7 different tasks they focus it all on one task and are distracted from that task less easily.
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I have ADHD. The way it was explained to me was, that everyone has barriers/filters in their brains to help them sort through external stimuli – so for example, when you’re driving, you’re able to pay attention to other cars and pedestrians on the road, but you’re not distracted by the fact that the sky is blue, or the fact that you recognise someone on the road side, or by the random thought passing through your brain.
In people who have ADHD, those barriers are lower than most people’s, so our brains have to deal with a shitload of information at once. Hence the distraction (too much information going through the barriers to focus on a few things), or hyperfocus (brain is concentrating really hard to raise the barriers really high to focus on only one thing – but it’s exhausting), and eventually hyperactivity (side effect when the brain is trying to keep the barriers raised).
When people with ADHD take stimulants like caffeine, it helps the brain raise up the barriers to a level where most people have them, so it isn’t so hard as when the brain tries to do it by itself. Thus less distraction, and less hyperactivity since the brain doesn’t have to work as hard.
What most people don’t understand is that having ADHD is *exhausting*. The hyperactivity you see isn’t from us having too much energy, it’s from our brains trying really hard to filter out all the useless information coming at us.
Edit: wow, thanks everyone for all the upvotes! I had no idea it would resonate with so many people. Shoutout to my psychiatrist for explaining it to me like this in the first place!
Individuals with ADHD have a biological mixup that causes their brain to react to stimulants differently than the “normal” brain. Not sure of the exact chemical reaction, but for those with ADHD, the neurons in the brain are typically firing as if the person was already using a stimulant and when they do use a stimulant it sort of slows and focus that energy because of the way the brain reacts to it.
Source: Niece and nephew have ADHD and this is sort of how the doctor explain it to us when they were living with us.
Your brain produces chemicals which attach to sites on neurons (brain nerves). They are a certain “shape” like plugging a round peg into a round hole. (NOT really but you get the gist).
When a normal person drinks a high caffeine energy drink, all of these round pegs plug into all of the round holes and cause an increase of transmission from one neuron to another.
But it’s not perfect. Sure it fits into the hole, but since it’s artificial, they don’t transmit as efficiently as a natural round peg would.
By placing inefficient round pegs in an a brain that overproduces natural round pegs, it actually slows the transmission of signals down.
OP, you do realise Ritalin (the most common medication for ADHD where I’m from) is low dosage amphetamines right?
Does this explain why, as an adult with ADHD, I can take my amphetamines with a cup of coffee and then lay down and take a nap?
I have ADD. I can drink a cup of coffee or take a few Excedrin and go right to sleep. It comes in handy when I have a splitting headache.
ADHD is caused by *underactivity* in the frontal lobe of the brain – the part responsible for organization and impulse control (think of it as “the brain’s secretary and the brain’s breaks). The reason kids with ADHD are hyperactive is because that front part of the brain is underactive – the hyperactivity is because their brain is not active enough to stop them from moving and fidgeting, *not* because their brain is overactive. Stimulants (like caffeine)* increase activity in these areas, which lets them control their impulses better and results in them being “calmer.”
Source: I’m a clinical psychology professor who specializes in studying ADHD.
*Caffeine is actually not recommended for ADHD though, because it is more of a central nervous system stimulant. Stimulant medications like Adderall or Ritalin/Concerta specifically target the front part of the brain, which is why they are used for ADHD.
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