August 21, 2025 • 30 mins
Feel like you’re fighting your own brain? Do you ever feel like you get in the way of what you want to accomplish?
Renee gives you a practical guide to stop fighting your mind and start thriving - even with the challenges ADHD can bring.
You'll learn simple ways to become aware of how your brain works so you can give yourself a path to doing better in life.
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:28):
Hello, welcome to Inspiring Women with ADHD.
I'm Renee Allen, the host of this podcast, episode 101.
And I'm super excited because I'm actually sticking to
the structure that I set out to do, which was
I had 100 ideas roughly in. In the last
(00:48):
episode, and they were based on 10 different things that you
could do to help your life be better with adhd, to manage
life better with adhd. And I thought, what I can
do is spend more time with each of these because you really can't
go deep into any one of them in one podcast
episode. And I even went over an hour just talking about them
(01:09):
somewhat more briefly. And so right afterwards I thought,
okay, look at the next one, 101, what are you going to do?
And immediately I didn't want to do it.
I looked at the second, the third, and I thought, stick with
the schedule, stick with what you said you were going to do.
I kept resisting that structure, just like I talked
about a few weeks ago, of having an idea
(01:32):
of how it needs to be and then thinking, I don't want to do that.
And until a few hours ago, I was going
to actually just be fine with that. I was going to do number
eight and have this episode be about that.
But I thought, you can stick with structure, see if you can.
So I am. I'm working with my brain. I talked my brain
into it. I gave myself permission to not do it, and
(01:53):
then I was able to talk myself into it.
And this episode is about working with your brain.
And it's something that we talk about a lot with adhd.
And I think the articles I see or the steps that I see
to help with this, talk about actually those other
nine things, you know, like body doubling, having accountability,
(02:19):
taking small steps when something's overwhelming, do this.
You know, all these little tips, which are important, they're
really helpful to do. You can see your strengths, you
can create new patterns, new systems, all these things.
All of those things are more action oriented and
(02:40):
except for, I mean, maybe the one about giving yourself
more compassion, giving yourself grace.
I guess that's action oriented too. It actually is.
But the other ones are actually physically doing something,
I think. And I thought really to work with your
brain, you need to understand your brain.
(03:03):
And it might not line up with everything that you read or
learn about adhd. It might be a little different.
It might be a lot different. I was reading a little
discussion on Reddit the other day and.
And something came up about empathy, and someone
said that it was, why is there this Myth that empathy
(03:27):
can be a trait of adhd. There are actually studies that show
the opposite of it. And she showed the study and it was on children.
And then I started to wonder,
what about in adults? Maybe it changes.
Empathy can be taught, it can be learned.
Not always as successfully in some than others.
But I thought, has it been tested in adults?
(03:50):
Has it been? But when I started thinking about it, even with
my own children who have adhd, a few diagnosed in
one mom diagnosed, looking at the past
in that child. And when I look back, one of them
really struggled with empathy. The other two did have empathy.
(04:11):
A lot of empathy for other people, feeling bad for the other
team. When you know, when you win the soccer game, but you
feel sad for the other team, you have empathy for them.
You can see that that is an awareness that not everyone
has. But two of my children had it, I've had
it. Well, actually three of my children anyway.
So you may learn some things and think, but for
(04:34):
me it's this way. And working with your brain doesn't mean
just working with an ADHD brain, but it means working
with your ADHD brain or your brain that has
ADHD
tricks. But it's really understanding.
And some of that can be studying and learning.
(04:55):
What are these symptoms that are common?
Oh yeah, I do that. I wonder why or what is this?
A lot of it comes from awareness. Noticing, looking,
understanding
and self awareness is one thing that many experts, doctors,
(05:16):
psychiatrists who specialize in adhd.
Self awareness is one of the things that they say people with
ADHD struggle with. That's another one where I
think maybe not all people and maybe not for
you, maybe you do. Maybe you're not self aware as much as
(05:37):
somebody else or in certain situations, but maybe you are.
And I think I am. Maybe people around me don't think I
am, but I think I am. And being aware is important.
Or you won't really know how to work with your brain.
Right? So you need to notice, when do I
trip up? When do I mentally trip up?
(05:57):
Emotionally trip up? When am I not as in control
as I'd like to be? Or physically, if you have any of
those three things. Emotional dysregulation is part of adhd.
Maxing out mentally having your brain not be able to keep
track of things, maybe sometimes it's better than others.
So noticing when am I better at being organized?
(06:21):
What conditions allow that? What are my distractions?
Who are my distractions? Is it more internal?
Is it more external? Is it both when and so when you
start to notice that, like, I really love children, I love
to be around children, but can I multitask?
(06:41):
Can I get things done when I want to spend time
with children? You know, so just kind of seeing
if something that you're trying to do isn't working, then noticing
that and maybe not pushing it in that situation anymore
or in that circumstance. So there are just so many
things that you can notice. And one could be when
(07:04):
you're overwhelmed. Maybe you're not overwhelmed all the time,
but maybe you do get that overwhelm that comes with adhd.
What can get you distracted? What can make it so
you can't do something that you really want to
do when you're kind of have that. Is it
the kind of. The overanalyzing? Is it, I'm going to go
(07:26):
and answer my emails. And you just get one email that
talks about some sale that takes you to some website that reminds
you it's somebody's birthday coming up, and then you spend all
that time not doing it. You're avoiding.
And maybe you are overwhelmed with what you need to do.
And this is calming because you're in some kind of safe
mode of my body. And my mind's a little more relaxed
(07:49):
because I can just focus on this right now and I don't
need to do the other thing, you know, so just kind of noticing
any patterns of when you really are capable and
able to accomplish a lot, really productive, and when you just
aren't. Maybe it's not just a certain time of
the day or a certain time of the week, but maybe
(08:10):
it's right when you get home from a trip.
Have you ever noticed that you're different after you've been
traveling? When you get home, are you able to just
hit the ground running and get back into your routine?
Or is your brain just not quite together in a
way that it would be normally? And giving yourself that grace
(08:32):
for those days might not be quite so wonderful.
Maybe taking some things off of your calendar if you can, those
days. So just noticing things like that, noticing when or
what your brain can remember. Can your brain remember facts?
You know, like if somebody's. You're in a class or something,
(08:52):
somebody's teaching you something, you're listening to a podcast,
you're trying to learn something, and you're even watching the
news. I don't really watch the news anymore, but any kind.
I noticed it sometimes at some point in my life.
I knew in school that it was hard for me to remember
scientific facts or, you know, like the memorizing things
(09:12):
or dates for history or something. I still got
straight A's, so I must have found some little ways to memorize.
But it was not easy at all. And once I
got into college, I didn't get nearly as good grades.
It was a lot harder. But some people don't have a hard
time. They learn something, it sticks with them.
(09:34):
A lot of people struggle with remembering facts.
My husband remembers dates, numbers, all of those number specifics.
I don't. In my mind, it's like, was it 20 or 2,000?
Was it 20 or 12? You know, like I might remember
the first letter of something or a number in something.
How big was it? I can be off by a thousand times.
(09:58):
My apologies for my alarm going off.
If you could hear that. I have my yoga class and
that's why I didn't put my mat away.
I was going to. That's thinking of things that you don't remember.
I was going to put my yoga mat away before, before I started
doing the podcast, but I still have a little bit of time.
But I, you know, gotta set alarms. That's one
(10:19):
thing I noticed. I won't remember. Hopefully I will now that
I don't have an alarm that's gonna go off.
But anyway, yeah. Noticing what does your brain,
when you forget, when you learn the hard way, you miss an appointment
that's really important, or you miss paying your homeowner's
insurance on time when you knew it was coming up but
you thought, well, I'll wait till this day or something.
(10:40):
And you didn't put some kind of system in place to help remember
it is. It's a lot of work if you miss your
deadline to get to. Yeah, I've learned the hard way
a couple times on that things, mistakes that cost
money, you start to notice, have the awareness of
that more, more often when it hurts.
(11:02):
But just noticing what your brain can do, how much
it can do. Sometimes you're super capable.
Some. It might be some area of your life, it might be
something, some area where you're more gifted or maybe when there
are more people around, you're more energized, you do better
in that situation. Maybe you do better working alone, all of
(11:22):
those things. And even just noticing when you are
your own distraction, when you are getting in your own way, maybe
it's not an email, maybe it's just your own thoughts that come
up. So all those things, as you start to learn
about your brain and what's going on, that can be helpful to
(11:42):
know how to work with your brain because you know what you're
working with. Right? Which reminds me, I just thought of
something. Oh, it's down here at the bottom of my list.
I thought, I don't want to forget about this one.
But also knowing when you need to slow down, when you need
to push harder, sometimes pushing yourself, you have a
goal you want to do matters to you. You set
(12:05):
a goal, like to get up, go to the gym, go to
the certain class or whatever it is.
You're not meeting somebody there, so you don't have that kind
of obligation. And you see some other things that
you could get done, and you think, maybe I should stay home.
I'll just do this. And you keep talking yourself out of it.
Your own brain gets in the way. And because you're having
(12:26):
this conversation in your brain, you can actually take an active
part in that, notice what's happening and say, I really
do want to be at the gym. And, you know, just say
out loud, put on your shoes, walk out the door.
I had a woman in my class last week who told me she had to
do that. And she walked in a few minutes late.
She said, I had decided last night I was coming.
(12:50):
I woke up thinking I was coming. And I talked myself out of
it. And I just, at some point, just told myself, stop it with
the reasons, Stop it with excuses. Push yourself and get
out the door. And she came, and I was really proud of her.
And I've done the exact same thing before.
So sometimes you do need to push yourself, and you are able
to push yourself. You have that awareness of what's going on,
(13:12):
and you can push yourself. Other times when maybe that voice
in your head is like, I should do more, I should do more, I
should do more. And your body's. It's really not going
along with what's going on in your life.
Maybe you need to get up early the next morning, or maybe you've
been feeling more fatigued because you've been pushing yourselves
(13:33):
too much. Then you know, you need to slow down.
So all of those things. Sometimes your heart rate goes up and
you're not even exercising. Noticing that, you know, am I getting
anxiety? You know, just notice what's happening in your body.
It's one of the great things about yoga is you get that opportunity
to just notice what's happening in your body.
And your body will go more this way.
(13:54):
Squishing, squishing, scrunching in and up.
You know, that's your tension. And. And then this is the relaxing
right when you notice this happening or the heart rate coming
up, or you're just not able to get things done because.
Oh, my goodness. Okay, my. I'm recording on GarageBand.
(14:14):
I need to turn off my. I need to turn off my screensaver
because I was afraid it stopped recording.
Sorry. I had to look at it and make sure it was.
And I'm using two computers now, my new little system.
But, yeah, noticing even if, like I
mentioned before, do you want to just bolt and
(14:34):
just run when you are faced with structure, but you
know, you need some structure. And then deciding, okay, how
can I work with my brain here? I need to have a routine, maybe
I need to have a friend that I report to.
What can I do to support myself when I'm getting in my
own way, when I'm the one that's the problem here that's
(14:58):
causing the problem. Another thing that I think is kind of
fascinating to know about your brain, because when we take
medication for adhd, it's because we're trying to
put something into our body that is a chemical that can help
the brain, right? And one of those things is dopamine.
(15:18):
And I'm going to just look it up right here real
fast. I know these things and yet when I'm faced
with it, I was going to actually look into this.
So dopamine, if you find. So this is
noticing your brain, right? You're noticing your patterns and
stuff. If you find that you're craving sugar
(15:40):
all the time, or you're always needing caffeine
to keep going, or if you're just thinking, I need some sugar,
I need some sugar, I need some carbs, I need some whatever, you
don't really need it, you're not really hungry, but you feel
like you need it. And that might be your body needing
(16:00):
to get that dopamine that you're not.
You're needing, you're not low on it, and yet
you kind of are. And this is how my psychiatrist
explained to me, it's not that people with ADHD have
less dopamine to begin with. They have more dopamine receptors.
(16:23):
So you need more dopamine than the average person or the
neurotypical person, the person who's not having extra dopamine
receptors in order to get your brain to function in a
way that's helpful, you know, that's helpful for you.
So you're seeking that in some way. And there are
(16:44):
supplements, too, but that's what stimulants do is they.
They create more dopamine in the body.
And so there, There are different things that you can do.
You could just Google yourself how to get naturally increased
dopamine. It can happen in certain ingredients, in foods or
supplements or exercise, or getting enough sleep.
(17:06):
It helps regulate your dopamine level.
Having more sunlight, being out in the sun.
Maybe not to the degree of, you know,
overdoing it. I only say that because I love to
be in the sun. So try not to be in the sun too long, too
much, and without sunscreen. But having too much stress
(17:28):
can deplete your dopamine levels. So the way that I kind
of look at it is if you have more dopamine receptors.
So let's say
you make the same amount of money as someone else, but they
live in an apartment and their monthly rent is
(17:49):
half of what yours is. And I'm not saying that our dopamine receptors
are twice as many as the others. I'm just making this simple,
hopefully. But you have the same income, you have
the same amount of money to pay your rent, but your house
is more expensive, it costs twice as much.
So you're not low on money technically compared
(18:10):
to that other person, but you're still not able to pay your
rent because you don't have enough because you have less, less,
same amount of money, but not enough money for that.
So we need more dopamine in order to meet the
needs of our brains. You know, kind of that, that rent payment,
that's higher, if that makes any sense.
(18:30):
But yeah, there's a lot of things that can bring dopamine.
I think that's why I like being productive so much.
When I organize, when I clean things, when I get things done,
it brings it up. It. It brings it up and it makes.
Makes me feel a lot happier. But if I don't have enough dopamine
for my brain to actually get myself to do those things that
(18:53):
listening to music, there's a lot of things
having social interactions. There's, you know, things.
Think of things that are happy things.
I'm not 100% sure what the difference between serotonin is, how
to increase serotonin naturally,
(19:15):
regular exercise, sunlight exposure, balanced diet, that
rich in other things. So exercise is the thing that
boosts us up and gets the heart rate up.
And so if you've had times of your life or maybe now where
your day goes so much better because you got up and exercised,
(19:35):
part of that's the accomplishment thing.
Part of that is you've raised your serotonin.
Have you ever been a runner? They talk about the runner's high,
and I feel bad. There are people who have gone running or
Been runners much longer than I have that never had the serotonin
or the runner's high. Once I got it, I was
(19:56):
a runner for like three years or something.
I spent most of my life hating running.
And I just mean most of my life. Like as a child in high school,
couple years of college, I'd try and try to go running because
I kept gaining weight stuff. And that was the thing.
People went jogging, they went running.
And then maybe my junior year and I was in
college five years, but maybe my junior year, I started running,
(20:19):
running more and found I actually got lost one
day I was running and it was getting dark and usually I'd
run maybe a mile or two and kind of hate
it and just do it and then, you know.
But I went running one way and then got curious, like, what
the neighborhoods were like and stuff.
I was running along the side of a mountain and ran three miles
(20:42):
in that direction and it was getting dark.
And normally if I ran that long, I just walk back because I
think I don't like running that much.
But I had to run back because it was getting dark and I didn't
feel safe running at night by myself.
I liked running by myself more than with other people.
And so I ran all the way back and learned that
that's when I got that boost of serotonin and
(21:06):
I was flying. It was like so easy and it was
just. It was definitely a runner's high.
So then I always ran five or six miles and it wasn't that hard
at the beginning because I knew what was coming.
I knew how great it was going to be.
But yeah, okay, I am going to do. Pardon me
while I google for you, but difference.
(21:26):
I've looked this up before, but like I said, I don't always remember.
Okay. It brought it up before I even wanted to.
Okay. Serotonin and dopamine, this is just AI, tell
me. Are two neurotransmitters that play important roles in
regulating mood, emotion and behavior.
While they share some similarities, they also have
(21:47):
distinct functions and effects. I'll do a different episode on
that because I really do have a class in 12 minutes and
I have to switch this up a little bit to do my yoga class
here for the video. But
serotonin, we need serotonin too. And
(22:10):
yeah, serotonin contributes to feelings of well being, happiness
and contentment. Dopamine enhances mood, motivation and optimism,
both important. So optimism goes along with happiness and that
whole motivation thing, that low dopamine thing.
If you don't take ADHD medicine Or any supplements.
(22:30):
There are some supplements that give similar effects.
Well, caffeine that gives similar effects as a stimulant
or medications that increase your dopamine levels.
But if you wondered, like, why am I always
eating sugar? Or why am I always needing some caffeine?
(22:53):
And then I can get something done, it's not just because you're
sleepy. It actually gives you that boost.
The problem with the sugar is it gives you the boost, and then
it comes back down, and then you need more sugar, and then you
need more sugar, and then you just eat it around the clock.
Literally. Literally. Literally, literally.
Maybe not while I sleep, but
(23:13):
it's a wonder, you know, if. If you have sugar addiction or
if you ever have. And I, and I say that as a real term because
there was a book that I read by a doctor, like
a PhD medical doctor. I think she
was. It was called Potatoes, Not Prozac.
Doesn't sound like a sugar addiction book.
(23:34):
But if you ever read that book,
book, I think she's a medical doctor.
May look up the author. Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity.
She. It said it on the COVID the one they could have
changed it. You know how they change things over time and redo.
Okay, she has. She has a PhD. Maybe she's not a medical doctor.
(23:56):
Kathleen, I don't know how you say your last name is.
It's D E S. Dace. Like Dace Masons. M A
I S O N S. Ph.D. in addictive nutrition.
And so she did call it sugar addiction, but she talked
about
how carbohydrates, natural carbohydrates, can help balance that
(24:17):
out. And she even said that, you know,
you know, my, My numbers aren't great.
I think it was 1/3, 1/4, 1/3 people.
But this was studied back, like in the early 2000s.
When was the first book published? This one must be
a newer one. Well, it says 2008. Maybe
(24:40):
it says it's revised. Maybe it was 2008.
That's early 2000s. Right. So she said that there's
just like some people can drink alcohol and not
have a problem, not become alcoholics.
A lot of people can eat sugar and they don't care about it.
They really don't. And then there are some who are just like,
(25:00):
I gotta eat, I gotta eat again. You know, I have a sweet tooth
and that kind of thing. And if you are
able to balance your dopamine in another way, whether
it's medication, ADHD medication, my need to eat
sugar totally has plummeted since I started ADHD medication.
(25:21):
Crazy Crazy to see, but that's noticing my brain
now that I know that my brain needs more dopamine and
I was getting it a different way with the caffeine in the morning,
the energy drink or whatever and not saying I
don't do that anymore but maybe not to the same degree or
(25:42):
the sugar thing. And then you get that dopamine need met
in a different way and find oh yeah, my brain.
So you start to notice when my brain is craving the sugar.
Is there another way to get that dopamine?
Is there another way to get it? Because that sugar's not gonna
last very long, it's not gonna be a long term solution.
(26:03):
Or am I having a hard time getting stuff
done in the morning now? But I didn't when I used to exercise
first thing. Well, you were able to boost that serotonin.
Yeah. So noticing those patterns in your body is
noticing the patterns brain. Your brain does everything.
It does everything. It all starts with your brain.
(26:23):
So in order to learn how to work with your brain, you need to
understand how it's working or when it's not working.
And I think that's going to be it for today.
But yeah, notice what trips you up, literally like falling
down. For me that's the impulse control problem.
(26:44):
My brain's incapacity to slow down and think before it
acts. That one's not always easy to stop.
But sometimes I tell I'm able to tell myself to
slow down. So yeah, whatever system you hear about
to do, and even for me
it may work great and it may not, it all
(27:05):
depends on your brain. So learning about your brain so you can
know when you hear about a new way to do something or what
might be helpful to adhd, you can fine tune that for
you. And I think that's going to be it
for today. Thank you so much. Little shorter episode, actually
a lot shorter. Less than half the size of the last one.
But that's okay. I'm going to Disney World tonight, tomorrow
(27:28):
and Friday, so I needed to do this before I go
and after I teach my yoga class, I'm on
my way. But thank you so much for being here.
Thanks for supporting me just by listening.
And if you have never downloaded an episode and I
don't know if you just subscribe or if you just click automatic
(27:50):
downloads, but if you can do that, if it doesn't take up too
much room on your phone, it helps. Helps my visibility a lot.
I think it helps more than reviews, but if you want to leave
a review too, a five star even if you don't say anything, that'd
be great. It's always hard to say goodbye.
That I will. Thanks so much. Bye.
(28:16):
The silence of sound has yet been found but
not by me
(28:39):
I butter my toast spread on some grape
jelly I don't mean to pass But
I'm a chef and a good wine My grandma
can't hear me me that breakfast is done ever
getting cold
(29:22):
Call
time for a pause,
rewind like run out of time to sing
(29:44):
melodies and harmony Peace, I'm cut short
the silence of sound has yet been found but
not by me.
Hello, welcome to Inspiring Women with ADHD.
I'm Renee Allen, the host of this podcast, episode 101.
And I'm super excited because I'm actually sticking to
the structure that I set out to do, which was
I had 100 ideas roughly in. In the last
(00:48):
episode, and they were based on 10 different things that you
could do to help your life be better with adhd, to manage
life better with adhd. And I thought, what I can
do is spend more time with each of these because you really can't
go deep into any one of them in one podcast
episode. And I even went over an hour just talking about them
(01:09):
somewhat more briefly. And so right afterwards I thought,
okay, look at the next one, 101, what are you going to do?
And immediately I didn't want to do it.
I looked at the second, the third, and I thought, stick with
the schedule, stick with what you said you were going to do.
I kept resisting that structure, just like I talked
about a few weeks ago, of having an idea
(01:32):
of how it needs to be and then thinking, I don't want to do that.
And until a few hours ago, I was going
to actually just be fine with that. I was going to do number
eight and have this episode be about that.
But I thought, you can stick with structure, see if you can.
So I am. I'm working with my brain. I talked my brain
into it. I gave myself permission to not do it, and
(01:53):
then I was able to talk myself into it.
And this episode is about working with your brain.
And it's something that we talk about a lot with adhd.
And I think the articles I see or the steps that I see
to help with this, talk about actually those other
nine things, you know, like body doubling, having accountability,
(02:19):
taking small steps when something's overwhelming, do this.
You know, all these little tips, which are important, they're
really helpful to do. You can see your strengths, you
can create new patterns, new systems, all these things.
All of those things are more action oriented and
(02:40):
except for, I mean, maybe the one about giving yourself
more compassion, giving yourself grace.
I guess that's action oriented too. It actually is.
But the other ones are actually physically doing something,
I think. And I thought really to work with your
brain, you need to understand your brain.
(03:03):
And it might not line up with everything that you read or
learn about adhd. It might be a little different.
It might be a lot different. I was reading a little
discussion on Reddit the other day and.
And something came up about empathy, and someone
said that it was, why is there this Myth that empathy
(03:27):
can be a trait of adhd. There are actually studies that show
the opposite of it. And she showed the study and it was on children.
And then I started to wonder,
what about in adults? Maybe it changes.
Empathy can be taught, it can be learned.
Not always as successfully in some than others.
But I thought, has it been tested in adults?
(03:50):
Has it been? But when I started thinking about it, even with
my own children who have adhd, a few diagnosed in
one mom diagnosed, looking at the past
in that child. And when I look back, one of them
really struggled with empathy. The other two did have empathy.
(04:11):
A lot of empathy for other people, feeling bad for the other
team. When you know, when you win the soccer game, but you
feel sad for the other team, you have empathy for them.
You can see that that is an awareness that not everyone
has. But two of my children had it, I've had
it. Well, actually three of my children anyway.
So you may learn some things and think, but for
(04:34):
me it's this way. And working with your brain doesn't mean
just working with an ADHD brain, but it means working
with your ADHD brain or your brain that has
ADHD
tricks. But it's really understanding.
And some of that can be studying and learning.
(04:55):
What are these symptoms that are common?
Oh yeah, I do that. I wonder why or what is this?
A lot of it comes from awareness. Noticing, looking,
understanding
and self awareness is one thing that many experts, doctors,
(05:16):
psychiatrists who specialize in adhd.
Self awareness is one of the things that they say people with
ADHD struggle with. That's another one where I
think maybe not all people and maybe not for
you, maybe you do. Maybe you're not self aware as much as
(05:37):
somebody else or in certain situations, but maybe you are.
And I think I am. Maybe people around me don't think I
am, but I think I am. And being aware is important.
Or you won't really know how to work with your brain.
Right? So you need to notice, when do I
trip up? When do I mentally trip up?
(05:57):
Emotionally trip up? When am I not as in control
as I'd like to be? Or physically, if you have any of
those three things. Emotional dysregulation is part of adhd.
Maxing out mentally having your brain not be able to keep
track of things, maybe sometimes it's better than others.
So noticing when am I better at being organized?
(06:21):
What conditions allow that? What are my distractions?
Who are my distractions? Is it more internal?
Is it more external? Is it both when and so when you
start to notice that, like, I really love children, I love
to be around children, but can I multitask?
(06:41):
Can I get things done when I want to spend time
with children? You know, so just kind of seeing
if something that you're trying to do isn't working, then noticing
that and maybe not pushing it in that situation anymore
or in that circumstance. So there are just so many
things that you can notice. And one could be when
(07:04):
you're overwhelmed. Maybe you're not overwhelmed all the time,
but maybe you do get that overwhelm that comes with adhd.
What can get you distracted? What can make it so
you can't do something that you really want to
do when you're kind of have that. Is it
the kind of. The overanalyzing? Is it, I'm going to go
(07:26):
and answer my emails. And you just get one email that
talks about some sale that takes you to some website that reminds
you it's somebody's birthday coming up, and then you spend all
that time not doing it. You're avoiding.
And maybe you are overwhelmed with what you need to do.
And this is calming because you're in some kind of safe
mode of my body. And my mind's a little more relaxed
(07:49):
because I can just focus on this right now and I don't
need to do the other thing, you know, so just kind of noticing
any patterns of when you really are capable and
able to accomplish a lot, really productive, and when you just
aren't. Maybe it's not just a certain time of
the day or a certain time of the week, but maybe
(08:10):
it's right when you get home from a trip.
Have you ever noticed that you're different after you've been
traveling? When you get home, are you able to just
hit the ground running and get back into your routine?
Or is your brain just not quite together in a
way that it would be normally? And giving yourself that grace
(08:32):
for those days might not be quite so wonderful.
Maybe taking some things off of your calendar if you can, those
days. So just noticing things like that, noticing when or
what your brain can remember. Can your brain remember facts?
You know, like if somebody's. You're in a class or something,
(08:52):
somebody's teaching you something, you're listening to a podcast,
you're trying to learn something, and you're even watching the
news. I don't really watch the news anymore, but any kind.
I noticed it sometimes at some point in my life.
I knew in school that it was hard for me to remember
scientific facts or, you know, like the memorizing things
(09:12):
or dates for history or something. I still got
straight A's, so I must have found some little ways to memorize.
But it was not easy at all. And once I
got into college, I didn't get nearly as good grades.
It was a lot harder. But some people don't have a hard
time. They learn something, it sticks with them.
(09:34):
A lot of people struggle with remembering facts.
My husband remembers dates, numbers, all of those number specifics.
I don't. In my mind, it's like, was it 20 or 2,000?
Was it 20 or 12? You know, like I might remember
the first letter of something or a number in something.
How big was it? I can be off by a thousand times.
(09:58):
My apologies for my alarm going off.
If you could hear that. I have my yoga class and
that's why I didn't put my mat away.
I was going to. That's thinking of things that you don't remember.
I was going to put my yoga mat away before, before I started
doing the podcast, but I still have a little bit of time.
But I, you know, gotta set alarms. That's one
(10:19):
thing I noticed. I won't remember. Hopefully I will now that
I don't have an alarm that's gonna go off.
But anyway, yeah. Noticing what does your brain,
when you forget, when you learn the hard way, you miss an appointment
that's really important, or you miss paying your homeowner's
insurance on time when you knew it was coming up but
you thought, well, I'll wait till this day or something.
(10:40):
And you didn't put some kind of system in place to help remember
it is. It's a lot of work if you miss your
deadline to get to. Yeah, I've learned the hard way
a couple times on that things, mistakes that cost
money, you start to notice, have the awareness of
that more, more often when it hurts.
(11:02):
But just noticing what your brain can do, how much
it can do. Sometimes you're super capable.
Some. It might be some area of your life, it might be
something, some area where you're more gifted or maybe when there
are more people around, you're more energized, you do better
in that situation. Maybe you do better working alone, all of
(11:22):
those things. And even just noticing when you are
your own distraction, when you are getting in your own way, maybe
it's not an email, maybe it's just your own thoughts that come
up. So all those things, as you start to learn
about your brain and what's going on, that can be helpful to
(11:42):
know how to work with your brain because you know what you're
working with. Right? Which reminds me, I just thought of
something. Oh, it's down here at the bottom of my list.
I thought, I don't want to forget about this one.
But also knowing when you need to slow down, when you need
to push harder, sometimes pushing yourself, you have a
goal you want to do matters to you. You set
(12:05):
a goal, like to get up, go to the gym, go to
the certain class or whatever it is.
You're not meeting somebody there, so you don't have that kind
of obligation. And you see some other things that
you could get done, and you think, maybe I should stay home.
I'll just do this. And you keep talking yourself out of it.
Your own brain gets in the way. And because you're having
(12:26):
this conversation in your brain, you can actually take an active
part in that, notice what's happening and say, I really
do want to be at the gym. And, you know, just say
out loud, put on your shoes, walk out the door.
I had a woman in my class last week who told me she had to
do that. And she walked in a few minutes late.
She said, I had decided last night I was coming.
(12:50):
I woke up thinking I was coming. And I talked myself out of
it. And I just, at some point, just told myself, stop it with
the reasons, Stop it with excuses. Push yourself and get
out the door. And she came, and I was really proud of her.
And I've done the exact same thing before.
So sometimes you do need to push yourself, and you are able
to push yourself. You have that awareness of what's going on,
(13:12):
and you can push yourself. Other times when maybe that voice
in your head is like, I should do more, I should do more, I
should do more. And your body's. It's really not going
along with what's going on in your life.
Maybe you need to get up early the next morning, or maybe you've
been feeling more fatigued because you've been pushing yourselves
(13:33):
too much. Then you know, you need to slow down.
So all of those things. Sometimes your heart rate goes up and
you're not even exercising. Noticing that, you know, am I getting
anxiety? You know, just notice what's happening in your body.
It's one of the great things about yoga is you get that opportunity
to just notice what's happening in your body.
And your body will go more this way.
(13:54):
Squishing, squishing, scrunching in and up.
You know, that's your tension. And. And then this is the relaxing
right when you notice this happening or the heart rate coming
up, or you're just not able to get things done because.
Oh, my goodness. Okay, my. I'm recording on GarageBand.
(14:14):
I need to turn off my. I need to turn off my screensaver
because I was afraid it stopped recording.
Sorry. I had to look at it and make sure it was.
And I'm using two computers now, my new little system.
But, yeah, noticing even if, like I
mentioned before, do you want to just bolt and
(14:34):
just run when you are faced with structure, but you
know, you need some structure. And then deciding, okay, how
can I work with my brain here? I need to have a routine, maybe
I need to have a friend that I report to.
What can I do to support myself when I'm getting in my
own way, when I'm the one that's the problem here that's
(14:58):
causing the problem. Another thing that I think is kind of
fascinating to know about your brain, because when we take
medication for adhd, it's because we're trying to
put something into our body that is a chemical that can help
the brain, right? And one of those things is dopamine.
(15:18):
And I'm going to just look it up right here real
fast. I know these things and yet when I'm faced
with it, I was going to actually look into this.
So dopamine, if you find. So this is
noticing your brain, right? You're noticing your patterns and
stuff. If you find that you're craving sugar
(15:40):
all the time, or you're always needing caffeine
to keep going, or if you're just thinking, I need some sugar,
I need some sugar, I need some carbs, I need some whatever, you
don't really need it, you're not really hungry, but you feel
like you need it. And that might be your body needing
(16:00):
to get that dopamine that you're not.
You're needing, you're not low on it, and yet
you kind of are. And this is how my psychiatrist
explained to me, it's not that people with ADHD have
less dopamine to begin with. They have more dopamine receptors.
(16:23):
So you need more dopamine than the average person or the
neurotypical person, the person who's not having extra dopamine
receptors in order to get your brain to function in a
way that's helpful, you know, that's helpful for you.
So you're seeking that in some way. And there are
(16:44):
supplements, too, but that's what stimulants do is they.
They create more dopamine in the body.
And so there, There are different things that you can do.
You could just Google yourself how to get naturally increased
dopamine. It can happen in certain ingredients, in foods or
supplements or exercise, or getting enough sleep.
(17:06):
It helps regulate your dopamine level.
Having more sunlight, being out in the sun.
Maybe not to the degree of, you know,
overdoing it. I only say that because I love to
be in the sun. So try not to be in the sun too long, too
much, and without sunscreen. But having too much stress
(17:28):
can deplete your dopamine levels. So the way that I kind
of look at it is if you have more dopamine receptors.
So let's say
you make the same amount of money as someone else, but they
live in an apartment and their monthly rent is
(17:49):
half of what yours is. And I'm not saying that our dopamine receptors
are twice as many as the others. I'm just making this simple,
hopefully. But you have the same income, you have
the same amount of money to pay your rent, but your house
is more expensive, it costs twice as much.
So you're not low on money technically compared
(18:10):
to that other person, but you're still not able to pay your
rent because you don't have enough because you have less, less,
same amount of money, but not enough money for that.
So we need more dopamine in order to meet the
needs of our brains. You know, kind of that, that rent payment,
that's higher, if that makes any sense.
(18:30):
But yeah, there's a lot of things that can bring dopamine.
I think that's why I like being productive so much.
When I organize, when I clean things, when I get things done,
it brings it up. It. It brings it up and it makes.
Makes me feel a lot happier. But if I don't have enough dopamine
for my brain to actually get myself to do those things that
(18:53):
listening to music, there's a lot of things
having social interactions. There's, you know, things.
Think of things that are happy things.
I'm not 100% sure what the difference between serotonin is, how
to increase serotonin naturally,
(19:15):
regular exercise, sunlight exposure, balanced diet, that
rich in other things. So exercise is the thing that
boosts us up and gets the heart rate up.
And so if you've had times of your life or maybe now where
your day goes so much better because you got up and exercised,
(19:35):
part of that's the accomplishment thing.
Part of that is you've raised your serotonin.
Have you ever been a runner? They talk about the runner's high,
and I feel bad. There are people who have gone running or
Been runners much longer than I have that never had the serotonin
or the runner's high. Once I got it, I was
(19:56):
a runner for like three years or something.
I spent most of my life hating running.
And I just mean most of my life. Like as a child in high school,
couple years of college, I'd try and try to go running because
I kept gaining weight stuff. And that was the thing.
People went jogging, they went running.
And then maybe my junior year and I was in
college five years, but maybe my junior year, I started running,
(20:19):
running more and found I actually got lost one
day I was running and it was getting dark and usually I'd
run maybe a mile or two and kind of hate
it and just do it and then, you know.
But I went running one way and then got curious, like, what
the neighborhoods were like and stuff.
I was running along the side of a mountain and ran three miles
(20:42):
in that direction and it was getting dark.
And normally if I ran that long, I just walk back because I
think I don't like running that much.
But I had to run back because it was getting dark and I didn't
feel safe running at night by myself.
I liked running by myself more than with other people.
And so I ran all the way back and learned that
that's when I got that boost of serotonin and
(21:06):
I was flying. It was like so easy and it was
just. It was definitely a runner's high.
So then I always ran five or six miles and it wasn't that hard
at the beginning because I knew what was coming.
I knew how great it was going to be.
But yeah, okay, I am going to do. Pardon me
while I google for you, but difference.
(21:26):
I've looked this up before, but like I said, I don't always remember.
Okay. It brought it up before I even wanted to.
Okay. Serotonin and dopamine, this is just AI, tell
me. Are two neurotransmitters that play important roles in
regulating mood, emotion and behavior.
While they share some similarities, they also have
(21:47):
distinct functions and effects. I'll do a different episode on
that because I really do have a class in 12 minutes and
I have to switch this up a little bit to do my yoga class
here for the video. But
serotonin, we need serotonin too. And
(22:10):
yeah, serotonin contributes to feelings of well being, happiness
and contentment. Dopamine enhances mood, motivation and optimism,
both important. So optimism goes along with happiness and that
whole motivation thing, that low dopamine thing.
If you don't take ADHD medicine Or any supplements.
(22:30):
There are some supplements that give similar effects.
Well, caffeine that gives similar effects as a stimulant
or medications that increase your dopamine levels.
But if you wondered, like, why am I always
eating sugar? Or why am I always needing some caffeine?
(22:53):
And then I can get something done, it's not just because you're
sleepy. It actually gives you that boost.
The problem with the sugar is it gives you the boost, and then
it comes back down, and then you need more sugar, and then you
need more sugar, and then you just eat it around the clock.
Literally. Literally. Literally, literally.
Maybe not while I sleep, but
(23:13):
it's a wonder, you know, if. If you have sugar addiction or
if you ever have. And I, and I say that as a real term because
there was a book that I read by a doctor, like
a PhD medical doctor. I think she
was. It was called Potatoes, Not Prozac.
Doesn't sound like a sugar addiction book.
(23:34):
But if you ever read that book,
book, I think she's a medical doctor.
May look up the author. Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity.
She. It said it on the COVID the one they could have
changed it. You know how they change things over time and redo.
Okay, she has. She has a PhD. Maybe she's not a medical doctor.
(23:56):
Kathleen, I don't know how you say your last name is.
It's D E S. Dace. Like Dace Masons. M A
I S O N S. Ph.D. in addictive nutrition.
And so she did call it sugar addiction, but she talked
about
how carbohydrates, natural carbohydrates, can help balance that
(24:17):
out. And she even said that, you know,
you know, my, My numbers aren't great.
I think it was 1/3, 1/4, 1/3 people.
But this was studied back, like in the early 2000s.
When was the first book published? This one must be
a newer one. Well, it says 2008. Maybe
(24:40):
it says it's revised. Maybe it was 2008.
That's early 2000s. Right. So she said that there's
just like some people can drink alcohol and not
have a problem, not become alcoholics.
A lot of people can eat sugar and they don't care about it.
They really don't. And then there are some who are just like,
(25:00):
I gotta eat, I gotta eat again. You know, I have a sweet tooth
and that kind of thing. And if you are
able to balance your dopamine in another way, whether
it's medication, ADHD medication, my need to eat
sugar totally has plummeted since I started ADHD medication.
(25:21):
Crazy Crazy to see, but that's noticing my brain
now that I know that my brain needs more dopamine and
I was getting it a different way with the caffeine in the morning,
the energy drink or whatever and not saying I
don't do that anymore but maybe not to the same degree or
(25:42):
the sugar thing. And then you get that dopamine need met
in a different way and find oh yeah, my brain.
So you start to notice when my brain is craving the sugar.
Is there another way to get that dopamine?
Is there another way to get it? Because that sugar's not gonna
last very long, it's not gonna be a long term solution.
(26:03):
Or am I having a hard time getting stuff
done in the morning now? But I didn't when I used to exercise
first thing. Well, you were able to boost that serotonin.
Yeah. So noticing those patterns in your body is
noticing the patterns brain. Your brain does everything.
It does everything. It all starts with your brain.
(26:23):
So in order to learn how to work with your brain, you need to
understand how it's working or when it's not working.
And I think that's going to be it for today.
But yeah, notice what trips you up, literally like falling
down. For me that's the impulse control problem.
(26:44):
My brain's incapacity to slow down and think before it
acts. That one's not always easy to stop.
But sometimes I tell I'm able to tell myself to
slow down. So yeah, whatever system you hear about
to do, and even for me
it may work great and it may not, it all
(27:05):
depends on your brain. So learning about your brain so you can
know when you hear about a new way to do something or what
might be helpful to adhd, you can fine tune that for
you. And I think that's going to be it
for today. Thank you so much. Little shorter episode, actually
a lot shorter. Less than half the size of the last one.
But that's okay. I'm going to Disney World tonight, tomorrow
(27:28):
and Friday, so I needed to do this before I go
and after I teach my yoga class, I'm on
my way. But thank you so much for being here.
Thanks for supporting me just by listening.
And if you have never downloaded an episode and I
don't know if you just subscribe or if you just click automatic
(27:50):
downloads, but if you can do that, if it doesn't take up too
much room on your phone, it helps. Helps my visibility a lot.
I think it helps more than reviews, but if you want to leave
a review too, a five star even if you don't say anything, that'd
be great. It's always hard to say goodbye.
That I will. Thanks so much. Bye.
(28:16):
The silence of sound has yet been found but
not by me
(28:39):
I butter my toast spread on some grape
jelly I don't mean to pass But
I'm a chef and a good wine My grandma
can't hear me me that breakfast is done ever
getting cold
(29:22):
Call
time for a pause,
rewind like run out of time to sing
(29:44):
melodies and harmony Peace, I'm cut short
the silence of sound has yet been found but
not by me.
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