ADHD: 4 Key Tips to Help

Here are 4 easy to follow kep tips you can do at home:

Food Diary

A key way to help with ADHD is to keep a food diary for a week noting everything you / your child eat(s) each day including how much water is being consumed and the times of meals or snacks.

Then check it over for:

i) substantial breakfast with protein, positive carb, fruit, warm drink, water and no refined sugar

i) water during the morning and no sugary snacks

iii) substantial energy-giving lunch with protein, veg / salad, and no refined sugar, warm drink and water for hydration

iv) water throughout the day, especially important to drink enough water by 3pm

v) no sugary snacks throughout the afternoon

vi) substantial and healthy dinner of protein, healthy carb and no refined sugar / low sugar pudding, warm drink

Typical problem-food-diaries will show up as:

A) no substantial energy releasing breakfast which produces sustaining slow release energy throughout the morning and grounds the body. This could look like sugary cereals or hardly any breakfast at all.

Switch for a small bowl of porridge, some egg or egg whites, a portion of fruit and warm drink or root vegetable soup. Breakfast should be substantial and supportive.

B) sugary snacks should be removed and switched out for savoury alternatives. Try oatcakes, veg and nuts (if not allergic).

C) remove all processed food and replace with homemade. Processed food is an assault on the body and causes both mental and physical imbalances. It’s worth batch-cooking one day a week to have homemade food available throughout the weekdays.

D) water intake is important and very important to get enough in by 3pm to avoid mood imbalances in the afternoon so buy a nice water bottle you’re going to enjoy drinking out of and track your intake with water-counting.

If you want more detailed advice on food diaries get in touch for a lesson but the above should be enough to get you started.

2. Environmental Check

An environmental check is good for anyone to do on a regular basis and helps us keep our environments conducive to wellbeing rather than us becoming used-to or normalising non-conducive regular settings. Try the following:

I) Having your house clean, clear and tidy with no clutter is enormously helpful for mental well-being, emotional and physical stability. It gives both body and mind a sense of order and safety and allows processing to take place. It is also good for the energetic system. Ensure there’s a good supply of fresh air flow by keeping windows open for fresh air and maximising the amount of day light. For added wellness you can use air-purifiers or simply keep ontop of dusting and hoovering more regularly which improves the air quality.

II) Switch off the TV and radio and normalise quietness at home. Home should be a sanctuary for the senses. When we help people with this, I often go into homes with the tv blaring in the background, music on, dogs barking and general chaos, and once this has all been calmed and quietened down the home restores to a more serene environment. Home should be a physical spiritual safe space of sanctuary with an atmosphere to match.

III) Reduce screen time. I know this is said everywhere but it is so important that certain areas of the home are no-device zones. To designate a no-screen zone is easier than trying to discipline each family member to limit their screen time.

Reduced screen and phone usage allows us to ground, come back to ourselves and for children to properly establish their positioning in the world, the actual not virtual. Without significant time away from devices a disconnect to the physical world begins and mental health suffers.

IV) Establish a place you can happily go to for exercise. This could be in your house, garden, local park, gym, community centre or nearby countryside. Allocate it as your place to go to and make it a part of your weekly routine. When you go there make your environment comfortable by taking a well-organised gym or exercise bag carrying everything you need.

3. Exercise & Deep Breathing

Deep breathing is paramount for physical and mental health. It can be difficult to get into a daily routine of breathing discipline so it’s therefore a good idea to do a sport or exercise which requires deep breathing as pat of it like swimming, karate or yoga. I’ve talked in previous articles about the importance of psychomotor learning for children. If you keep an eye on this site and blog we’ll be posting soon our e-book for Autism which provides some great psychomotor learning exercises you can do at home, but in the meantime you can start sports like karate, swimming, climbing, which utilise repetitive psychomotor behaviours and combine mindful use of breath.

Deep breathing calms the nervous system, recentres and clears the energy system, helps to reground the body and stabilise the mind.

Psychomotor learning, of which I have done decades of, gives a person enormous inner stability. Combine that with a life saving skill such as karate or swimming and you build confidence, sense of self, mental discipline and learn how to start to cultivate your own inner peace.

Karate, climbing and swimming also have the added benefits of developing the muscles in alignment with the growth plate in children and are 3 of the most beneficial regular exercises for child development.

4. Nature

Spending time in nature and with animals is crucial for wellbeing. Being around fields, trees and water increases your exposure to negative ions which are a health spa for the whole of the human system. Getting out into the countryside once a week or even once a month gives you a chance to inhale better air quality, bathe your system in negative ions, ground, see beauty which harmonises the mind, and provides views , horizons and landscapes which enable perspective. Countryside exploring peeks childlike curiosity, adventure and creativity. Switch off your phones!

If you would like further help with any of the items in this article contact us for our online Individual and Family Coaching sessions which can be booked at www.fiveringstraining.com