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hello brains I was born everyone gets
bored but those of us with ADHD tend to
get bored a lot why
according to ADHD researcher dr. Patrick
Lach count boredom is what happens when
our brains aren't stimulated enough to
stay interested and focused on the
current activity in my case shooting
this video whether or not we get bored
doesn't just depend on the activity it
depends on one's ability to regulate
their attention and difficulty
regulating attention is a core feature
of ADHD that's associated with reduced
activation in the front toe striatal
network including the prefrontal cortex
or PFC are you bored yet that reduced
activation is because ADHD brains are
chronically under stimulated and it
makes us more prone to boredom which
means when we're doing something most
people would find a little boring to us
it can be painfully boring to the point
that it's difficult to tolerate
according to Patrick being more prone to
boredom is not only a feature of ADHD it
also is associated with negative
emotional experiences such as anger
depression and anxiety on top of that
that network includes executive
functions that depend on stimulation to
function it's not just that we don't
like being bored it's that our brains
don't work as well when we are when an
activity is engaging and there's plenty
of dopamine hitting our dopamine
receptors our brains get the stimulation
they need our executive function system
works better and we feel better but when
the activity isn't engaging enough we go
looking for stimulation in other ways
that might seem weird to those around us
but to our brains it makes perfect sense
two coping mechanism sometimes our
stimulation seeking is productive but
sometimes it's fairly harmless but not
exactly adding to our quality of life
well sometimes that makes us really fun
to be around other times it can be
actively harmful to our self others or
our goals personally I've gotten into
relationships that were really bad for
me just because I was bored the how to
ADHD Twitter community shared about
binge eating day drinking impulse
spending obsessing over coverage in the
media pointlessly ranting about disaster
coverage in the media procrastinating
until anxiety sets in and taking on way
too many projects just to avoid being
bored that and picking fights basically
everybody
there are probably ADHD kids in timeout
right now because they got bored and
threw a shoe at a sibling
why do we do this you know how when
you're already hungry you're probably
not gonna take the time to make a
healthy meal yeah it's like that when
our brains are already hungry for
dopamine we tend to turn to the easiest
and quickest source of it which often
isn't the healthiest or even that
enjoyable a lot of the time it's not
even what we want to be doing our brains
are just kind of on in dopamine seeking
autopilot one way to break out of that
autopilot is to use the mindfulness tool
stop stop for a sec take a breath and
observe what's going on inside and
around you in my day we didn't have ADHD
we had discipline oh I'm arguing with
the internet again this important to me
or am i doing this because my brain is
bored how's it making me feel huh I was
gonna practice my guitar because I was
bored but I picked up my phone and I'm
about to text an ex-boyfriend instead do
I want to text an ex-boyfriend or would
I rather be playing my guitar am I still
playing this game right now because I
still want to be playing this game or am
I just having a hard time stopping how
do I feel right now am I tired am i
hungry what else is there to do then
proceed maybe based on our observations
we decide to do something differently
maybe we go back to what we were doing
because we actually were enjoying it or
maybe we go back to what we were doing
because switching it up at this point is
kind of like already being at the
McDonald's drive-through when you're
hungry and deciding to go to the grocery
store instead it sounds like a lot of
work and well we're already here and
fries are delicious so is being right a
lot of the time when that happens I'll
give myself a time limit okay I'm not
doing what I want to be doing so in 15
minutes I'll stop until then I'm gonna
enjoy being right the point of this
exercise isn't to shame ourselves into
doing something differently it's to help
us develop better self-awareness of when
we seek stimulation what our go-to
sources of stimulation are and remind us
that we have options mindfulness is not
about forcing ourselves to make
different choices it's about creating
awareness so that we have choices in the
moment it takes us off autopilot so we
can decide what we want to do and it's a
bonus gives us information we can use to
make choices in the future so now if we
know we're going to be in a situation
where we're likely to get bored like the
novelty of a new job is starting to wear
off
we're settling into a stable long-term
relationship a global pandemic
happens and we're stuck at home for
weeks and months on end we know we're
gonna be bored we know we're gonna seek
stimulation we know what our go-to
sources of stimulation are and we can
decide if those are in line with our
needs and goals in which case we can
plan for them or if we'd rather do
something else in which case we can take
steps to make it easier to choose that
option the same way we can meal plan to
make it easier to make food choices that
are in line with our needs and goals we
can bring plan to help us make dopamine
choices that are in line with our needs
and goals if you want to have more of a
choice in your choices when you find
yourself doing something you're not sure
why you're doing stop pause for a sec
take a breath observe am i doing this
because I'm bored what else is going on
inside me and around me and then proceed
thank you to my brain advocates and all
my patreon brains your support is what
allows me to continue creating content
like this no matter what's going on in
the world around this comment below if
you like this video share with anyone
you think might need it check out the
links in the description for more and I
will see you next episode bye brains
[Music]
