I've mentioned a few times here, I’ve read quite a few books on ADHD over the last couple of years. I enjoy learning new things, and its been instrumental in my understanding of my ADHD. So, with that being said, here are a few I've read and enjoyed:
Baird-Goldman, Kristen. (2022). The CBT Workbook for Adult ADHD: Evidence Based Exercises to Improve Your Focus, Productivity, and Wellbeing.
Bailey, Keith. (2009). Time Management in an Instant.
Clear, James. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.
Harper, Amy. (2024). Emotional Intelligence: A Practical Guide for Personal Growth & Building Stronger Connections.
Kiersten, Evan. (2023). 6 Ways to Execute Like An Executive.
Newport, Cal. (2019). Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.
Sitt, David. (2023). ADHD Refocused: Bringing Clarity to the Chaos.
Hi sorry I don't have a book to add but if anyone knows of a book that helps ADHD and memory, I could really do with it. Kung fu teachers getting annoyed with me, it's really stressful, very hard to learn any new skills....
You might get some help from a book, but books give you information. How you will improve your memory will require more.
• Medication is necessary for many of us, to improve our baseline memory capability. (It's definitely the case for me. My working memory and memory recall improved dramatically once I started on ADHD meds. It's been helped by stimulants and by non-stimulants.)
• Practice, practice, practice!
There are different types of memory (and I don't mean working memory, short term, and long term memory).
The kind of memory that kids have to practice in school for spelling tests and by studying for tests is rote memory.
The kind of memory that people use when typing on a keyboard, driving a car or playing sports is muscle memory.
The kind of memory that most people need to use then working is procedural memory.
There's also the distinction between verbal-auditory memory and visual-spatial memory. Muscle memory is also known as (or at least related to) kinesthetic memory.
...
A complex art form like Kung Fu can combine all of those.
• Learning the terminology and following instructions require verbal-auditory memory.
• Observing, following, and repeating movements require visual-spatial and kinesthetic memory. You also need body awareness sense (proprioception), to feel how you are positioning your body.
What you can do is practice your kung fu regularly. When you are practicing by yourself, visualize what you are doing, and talk yourself through it as if you are also an instructor.
Consider supplementing your dojo instruction with other sources, like books and videos. Watch, and do. Tell yourself (out loud) what you're doing as you're doing it.
This will combine the different ways of learning and remembering. For most people, combining different ways to learn the same thing with reinforce it.
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Another thing to be cognizant of is that when your feel anxious or self-conscious, you will not learn as well. Don't worry about how you're doing or how you look when you're doing it. Instead, focus on holistic experience.
We can't learn the way that Neo did in the Matrix...we can't just upload skills. We have to develop them, step by step, over time and with effort...just like we did when we were babies.
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Adequate rest, hydration, and nutrition are also essential for memory.
I so wish meds had worked for me, bc I could really do with help in the memory department!You write so clearly about everything, and now memory too.
I'm going for the kung fu equivalent of black belt now, my muscle memory is the only vaguely reliable bit of kung fu that I have, but at this level I'm supposed to have a very deep understanding of it on a conscious level. Which I do, provided I'm not talking to someone who mildly terrifies me. Sadly the higher Si Fu I have to grade with does terrify me. I'm so stressed that I just go blank.
The last big grading took 2 years to get through, I was so stressed I was prediabetic by the end of it, this one will be more like 3 years. I have to find a way or that will be it, I'd be so gutted to loose it, I've already lost so much to ADHD.
But, yes, like you say immersion is my best bet. Trouble is I have many things I have to do besides kung fu, so time is not on my side.....
There are many factors that can affect memory. Genetic, developmental, educational, nutritional, biological, and environmental factors (and probably a lot more that I couldn't list).
If you've always struggled with memory, then you will probably always continue to have struggles.
Even though my memory issues improved greatly once I started on ADHD medication, it only improved about 75%+ of my deficit. I still have some memory deficit.
• I saw more improvement from non-stimulant medications like Strattera (atomoxetine) than I did from stimulants (Adderall XR) for all my symptoms, especially memory (working memory and short term memory) and attention.
But I know that everyone responds differently to ADHD meds, and a small percentage of ADHDers get no benefit from them at all.
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Here's a question for you:
Is there anything that you know so well that you're able to teach it to other people?
When you teach something, then you learn it better, because you have to think about it deeper and from different angles.
You can get the same sort of benefit from "teaching" an inanimate object, like a picture or a stuffed animal.
Computer programmers are known to use a method called "rubber duck debugging" by explaining their code to an inanimate object like a rubber duck. By talking it out as in they're in a conversation, they are often able to catch their own mistakes and correct them.
I think that my own memory issues are more to do with another attention disorder called Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS, formerly known as Sluggish Cognitive Tempo/SCT).
It's been researched, but it's not in the diagnostic manual, so doctors would give a diagnosis of ADHD and not CDS.
According to ADHD expert Dr. Russell Barkley, the research indicates that CDS and ADHD are likely common comorbidities.
CDS symptoms include:
• Excessive mind-wandering
• Mental fogginess
• Easily confused
• Spacing out
• Sleepiness (sometimes described as "excessive daytime sleepiness")
• Lethargy
• Slower to complete activities
• Getting lost in one's own thoughts
• Seeming apathetic or withdrawn
• Frequently losing train of thought
• Processing information not as quickly or accurately
Medication studies with CDS have found that it usually responds well to atomoxetine (Strattera), but not to methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, etc.)
When I started on Adderall, in still struggled a lot with the CDS symptoms listed here. When I started on Strattera, all of them improved to some degree, and it completely lifted the brain fog that I'd lived with for my entire life (except during flight-or-flight episodes, which temporarily lifted it temporarily).
• Stimulants treat a dopamine deficiency.
• Atomoxetine treats a norepinephrine deficiency.
• The flight-or-flight response causes the body to be flooded with epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline)... which explains why it would lift my brain fog (and other CDS symptoms) the way that atomoxetine does. The difference is, atomoxetine keeps working 24x7.
Interesting, although doesn't like me. I'm an insomniac, existing in a constant state of nervous energy. It's why my body is so broken and why I have so many chronic pain disorders.Methylphenidate made me emotionally volatile and frightenly depressed, Lisdexamfetamine wasn't as bad, but I slept even less and didn't notice any benefits. So I'm not sure what hormone my brain is short of!
Is there anything that makes you feel more focused?
For me, before getting on the right meds, the only thing that seemed to clear up everything was an adrenaline rush...but the flip side was that more often than not, it also made my anxiety worse.
• My ADHD is much better treated with non-stimulant medication which treats norepinephrine deficiency. (Norepinephrine, aka noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter related to epinephrine, aka adrenaline.)
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In recent news about ADHD research, it has been confirmed that a lot of people with ADHD do not respond as well to melatonin. That can definitely contribute to insomnia.
The cause of this is believed to be genetic.
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Methylphenidate and lisdexamfetamine are both stimulants. Specifically, they are both dopamine agonists, which means they stimulate the release of dopamine.
Dopamine is released by certain types of neurons. According to something I heard on the Huberman Lab podcast (hosted by Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscience professor at Stanford), the same cells that release dopamine also release another neurotransmitter called glutamate.
• Glutamate is essential for normal nervous system activity. However, some research indicates that too much of it can contribute to issues like insomnia, chronic pain, frequent migraines, restless leg syndrome, and some other conditions.
Insomnia is one of the more common stimulant side effects. According to some information sources, stimulants can cause some types of pain. However, other data says that stimulants can help to reduce pain. It might depend on other factors, like the root cause and type of pain.
There's a counteracting neurotransmitter to glutamate that's called GABA. It quiets nerve activity. Certain pain medications, such as gabapentin, act on GABA receptors in neurons to block or reduce pain transmission signals.
• Magnesium is used by the body to help manage GABA levels. So, some people find that taking a magnesium supplement can help with sleep and help reduce pain.
In the US, we actually have GABA supplements available to purchase, and I've found this helpful for my own insomnia. Melatonin supplements help me to get to sleep, while GABA supplements help me to stay asleep, or to get back to sleep more easily if I wake up in the middle of the night.
Melatonin doesn't work on me, I take a magnesium supplement already. I was on Gabapentin and Pregablin for pain, ultimately my body acclimatised to them so they became less effective. Both made me put on weight, wouldn't go back on them now. Guanfacine helped me sleep, didn't help me focus, but completely shut down my gut which was agonising and aggravated my Raynauds severely.
Music helps me focus but I can't play that in kung fu. Agree re the adrenalin and focus but not great for anxiety! My biggest problem with memory in kung fu relates to panic. Don't forget things when fighting with someone same size/smaller than me. Trouble is I'm definitely one of the smallest in the club!
Since adrenaline can improve your focus, then it is likely that noradrenaline (known in medicine as norepinephrine) could also improve your focus.
Have you tried atomoxetine to treat your ADHD? The brand name it is known by is Strattera.
• Atomoxetine is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, which means that it helps nerve cells with transmitting norepinephrine. (It also acts like a mild SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, so you might not be able to take it if you are on an SSRI or certain other kinds of medications.)
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I think I experienced mild Reynaud's. I've never been diagnosed with it, but all my life my hands and feet usually get cold even at "room temperature". I'm more sensitive to the cold than most people. (I've also noticed that I'm much more sensitive to pain when I'm at that point when my hands and feet are cold like that. I don't have chronic pain, at least not yet, but my mom and grandma both have fibromyalgia, and besides being male, I tend to experience more of my mom's health issues than my dad's... except that my dad displays more ADHD symptoms.)
That's interesting. My experience on Methylphenidate and Lisdexamfetamine was so bad I didn't have the strength or the appetite for another stimulant. I got so depressed on stimulants it was frightening.
I have fibromyalgia as well and a genemutation that means my blood coagulates sooner than it should. I'm a very cold person. I was loosing all blood flow to my fingers and toes in the height of summer so I would have never have got through Autumn let a lone winter!
Im an artist so visualizing is not a problem for me! But I can't think of music during kung fu fights. It all happens so quickly, its over in a flash normally. Or at least its won or lost very quickly, in a fraction of a second. I don't know how others stay so grounded in these moments!
My mistake, I was thinking of demonstrating rehearsed moves and routines.Visualization doesn't work the same with sparring. As you train, you can try visualizing how an opponent might act. But in a combat situation, there isn't really time to do so.
Then, you're back to practice, practice, practice. Training muscle memory, practicing combinations of moves.
Athletes will practice not just individual moves, but plays and routines which are combinations of moves. They also watch video recordings of themselves and other athletes, to figure out how to improve and what to prepare for.
I have only done a little martial arts in my early 20s, despite having a lifelong intention to pursue it further. (I just want to learn the skills. I wouldn't care about belt rankings, unless I decide that I want to teach others.) ~ Now, it's down so far on my "bucket list", I think it's just a "wish list" item.
Regarding the Kung Fu routines:• How well can you imagine the music? Or better yet, the music and the movement together?
Some people are able to visualize very well, while others cannot.
Can you remember the training that you were doing when you had the music playing? Can you remember what it felt like to move your body through your routine, as the music played?
Does a song ever get stuck in your head?
If you have good powers of visualization, your mind might be able to play the music as you are doing your route.
"ADHD is awesome" - that's the craziest thing I ever heard. Messing up is awesome and feeling hopeless is awesome. Feeling defective, doomed and cursed is awesome. Being tormented all your life is awesome. Maybe I have a different disorder? It sure seems like ADD, but there's nothing awesome about it. That's insane
The holderness family used to feel the same way, but they learned to focus on their strengths like thinking outside the box and being spontaneous. They do have a lot you can learn from the book, like hacks to not lose your keys as much.
I don't read much .....I end up having to re-read the paragraph's more than not...and now my sight is getting worse every year hard to enjoy it like I used to. I am a visual learner I watch videos. I have used hoopla auditable from time to time but I don't get enough time in to listen to them anymore. So Busy!!!!
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