Diseases and conditions

ADHD Dos and Don'ts

Prevention center

ADHD Dos and Don'ts: Tips and Lifestyle Changes

What you should Do for ADHD

Suggest things to do
Manage your child behavior for ADHD: parents spending quality time with their kid, all sitting happy on the couch.

Manage your child’s behavior

Foster a positive parent-child relationship by spending quality time with your child each day.

Create space for ADHD: items organized and placed properly to create proper space at home.

Create space

Organize things and create proper space home.

Designate specific areas for things like keys, bills, and other items that can be easily misplaced. Throw away things you don’t need.

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Use a calendar application

Using a day planner or a calendar on your smartphone or computer can help you remember appointments and deadlines.

Give yourself more time for ADHD: clock timer to track time and make sure you get enough time to do things.

Give yourself more time

Adults with ADHD are bad at estimating how long it will take them to do something. For every thirty minutes that you think it will take you to complete a task or get somewhere, give yourself a cushion by adding ten minutes to do it.

Take things at a time for ADHD: Woman looking at so many tasks created, written on post it notes, stick on the glass.

Take things one at a time

Break down large projects or jobs into smaller, manageable steps.

Adults with ADHD often struggle with completing tasks, and large tasks can seem overwhelming.

End distraction for ADHD: woman focusing on her work, sitting on a desk in front of laptop.

End distractions

When you have attention issues, the environment where you work and what is around you can significantly affect how much work you can get done.

Let your colleagues know you need to concentrate and take your work to an empty office if you need to.

Healthy food for ADHD: Salmon and kinoa, with vegetables in a plate.

Maintain a healthy diet

Healthy diets can help reduce ADHD symptoms like inattention, hyperactivity, and distractibility.

Sleep well for ADHD: couple sleeping next to each other.

Get plenty of sleep

Sleeping well can reduce symptoms of adult ADHD, increasing your ability to cope with stress, and maintain focus during the day.

Keep track of time: little girl holding an alarm clock.

Use timers

Give yourself limited amounts of time for each task and use a timer or alarm to let you know you when time is up.

Exercise regularly for ADHD: couple exercising at the gym, running on treadmills.

Exercise regularly

Exercising regularly can help you stay calm, minimize mood swings, and fight any symptoms of anxiety and depression.

What you should Avoid for ADHD

Suggest thing to avoid
Avoid energy drinks for ADHD: Green energy drink in a glass with ice cubes, and a full energy bottle next to it.

Avoid energy drinks

Energy drinks contain sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, caffeine, and other stimulants. They can cause hyperactivity and should be avoided by people with ADHD.  

Avoid sugar for ADHD: selection of sugar including brown sugar, powder sugar, and sugar cubes.

Avoid sugar

Avoid eating sugar because it can exacerbate the symptoms of ADHD.

Avoid caffeine for ADHD: cups filled with coffee grains and grinded coffee, with a spoon on the side.

Avoid caffeine

Drinking caffeine late in the day can negatively influence your sleep cycle and sleep deprivation can increase the symptoms of ADHD.

Avoid stress for ADHD: stressed man thinking with his hand on his face.

Avoid stress

Stress can increase inattention, maximize mood swings, and intensify any symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Avoid food additives for ADHD: Monosodium glutamate (MSG) food additive in a cup.

Avoid food additives

Compounds such as aspartame, nitrates, and nitrites, are added to some processed foods by manufacturers to preserve the foods and make them last longer.

These compounds can increase hyperactivity. Avoiding these substances is essential to help minimize the symptoms of ADHD.

Avoid junk foods for ADHD: selection of junk foods including chips, popcorn, and salty sticks.

Avoid junk food

Avoid junk food because it can exacerbate the symptoms of ADHD.

Avoid colored food for ADHD: food coloring.

Avoid colored foods

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintains that food coloring is safe and has no effects on the brain or cause ADHD.

However, some studies have shown that these dyes may contribute to hyperactivity for children with ADHD. 

ADHD Prevention

Suggest prevention
Stay healthy during pregnancy to lower the risks of having a child with ADHD: pregnant woman doing sport outdoor.

Stay healthy during pregnancy

Stay healthy during pregnancy to lower the risks of having a child with ADHD: pregnant woman doing sport outdoor.

ADHD Prevention Forum

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