Perhaps you already have heard people tell you to keep your focus and you can do anything. It may sound easy but to anyone with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), this type of pressure can be a source of struggle. In fact, you have probably heard some people complaining about how they have a hard time concentrating at work or school.
However, according to some experts, there are ways to focus our brains by more than just “trying harder”. One of the ways experts discovered is to fidget. This article will answer the question, “Can fidgeting sharpen focus on people with ADHD?”
Purdue University’s Sydney Zentall, Ph.D. created a study on how to help children with ADHD become successful in school. In her study on ADHD and education, she states that attention “deficit” increases with the length and repetitiveness of an action. In short, you lose focus when the task becomes really boring.
Another study by John Ratey, M.D., author of the book “Spark”, states that physical activity brings the rate of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine up. These chemicals are crucial in sharpening focus and increasing attention.
But can fidgeting sharpen focus on people with ADHD? According to Zentall, it can help. These fidgets, or “distractions”, are the monotonous activities that you can do while working on a primary task. An activity that uses a sense other than what is required for a primary task, according to Zentall, can make accomplishing tasks easier for people with ADHD. Playing with a fidget toy while reading is one example of how fidgeting can enhance a performance.
Although it’s true for most of us that doing one task at a time brings success, the opposite is true for people with ADHD. And for that, fidgeting can help. It is also important to understand neural diversity – people have biologically different ways of doing things.