ADHD & Me

Hellooooo my beauty!

Lindsey here, proud owner of Get Your Freak On Fitness. As a 38 year old woman, I'm navigating ADHD a little later in life (like most women.)

As part of that navigation, I've been deep diving in personal development podcasts, audio books (because hell no, I can never finish an actual hardcopy book!), ADHD Instagram accounts and Facebook groups for neurodiverse people as a means of understanding myself. Low and behold, EXERCISE is among one of the top treatments for children and adults with ADHD.

Shit just makes sense now, haha. So to explain:

- people with ADHD often have lower levels of dopamine than neurotypical folks

- exercise increases dopamine

- ADHD medications increase dopamine

So here I am just self medicating all of these years! WHO KNEW?!

I have made the decision to not get medicated, and to each their own. I'm not here to debate our judge anyone's elses decision on how they would like to navigate ADHD.

I say in all of my classes, the hardest part is showing up. No matter what happened that day before class start, I know 10000000% I will feel SO much better when I was out those doors after an hour sweat. I never really knew, or cared, about the science but on this journey of self discovery it's a really sweet A HA moment for me.

Post exercise, I'm able to concentrate and focus which are my biggest ADHD struggles. I need an outlet for that energy that is bubbling over. But I've also always said I'm addicted to sweating but now I know it's not the sweat, it's the calmness that follows my exercise no matter what that is. I also find with dance fitness the music is loud AF and it helps me concentrate, blocking out any other thoughts I have besides being in the moment. Like, I'm a horrible yogi. I do try to go to yoga once a week (although it's legit been months since I've stepped in the doors of my fave yoga studio Moksha Yoga, oopsie!) so I can practice my mindfulness and breath but I often put yoga as my last priority because being mindful is HARD when there's a hamster dance party happening in your brain.

So the entire purpose of this Sunday afternoon rant is to let you know I see you. I can relate. Many women get diagnosed later in life with ADHD versus men because our symptoms are less outwardly visible. But now as an adult learning about it can make SO many things in your life make sense! If you're living your best life as a neurodiverse person and feeling zen after a sweatfest with Get Your Freak On Fitness, high five baby! SAME SAME!

"Exercise is an inexpensive, self-prescribed, and accessible supplemental treatment option for adults and children with ADHD."

Love you, BYE! Lindsey