I have been in a slump the past few weeks, largely due to my ADHD drugs running out. This has made it hard for me to muster up motivation for tasks, including the gym. But I had an epiphany last week once I finally worked out: skimping on exercise was making matters worse. Physical activity may, in fact, be the best way for me to combat my ADHD symptoms while I wait for a prescription refill.
My mind is always a bit quieter after a workout than it was before, in a similar way to when I take my medications. This makes sense. Most ADHD drugs work by raising levels of a brain chemical called noradrenaline, or norepinephrine. This essentially mobilises our body for action by improving focus, memory and impulse control. Levels of it also increase .
That isn鈥檛 to say I am ready to ditch my meds. Results are mixed in the studies available on exercise and ADHD. A of 106 studies indicated that exercise significantly improves impulse control, attention and the ability to switch between tasks in young children and adolescents with ADHD. However, it had a weak effect on regulating emotions and working memory. The benefits seem to be even less pronounced for adults. In another last year, 10 minutes of exercise was shown to improve impulse control in 82 adults with the condition, yet had no effect on other ADHD symptoms.
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While these findings suggest exercise has only a modest effect on ADHD, they do underscore how working out has other benefits in addition to physical ones. Nowhere is the evidence more robust than when it comes to depression and anxiety.
A of nearly 300 trials involving more than 15,800 adults with depression or anxiety found that physical activity was as effective at reducing symptoms of these conditions as talk therapy and medications. The benefit was even stronger when exercise was combined with these treatments.
Other studies have hinted that working out may alleviate symptoms of other mental health conditions, such as , and .
Physical activity also appears to be protective. A 2018 of over 1.2 million adults found that those who exercised experienced 43 per cent fewer days of poor mental health, on average, than those who didn鈥檛. The link was strongest for team sports, cycling, and aerobic and gym activities. Exercising for 45 minutes three to five times a week also seemed to be the sweet spot. More wasn鈥檛 always better.
As for me, I am relieved to have discovered a strategy for keeping my ADHD symptoms partly at bay without medications. Even though breaking a sweat is the last thing I want to do when I am overwhelmed or in a slump, I now realise how critical it is to prioritise it.
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