Re: ADHD and Athletics

[Anonymous]

hey there,

my name is Nichole. i was a provincial competitive gymnast for over 7 years. when i retired from the sport my adhd kicked into high gear.

gymnastics is known as one of the best sports for kids/adolescence with adhd because it’s individual (we don’t do as well in teams), highly structured and requires a crap load of cardiovascular training. martial arts and track n’ field are also great.

at my peak i was training 30 hours each week on top of going to school full time. most training sessions were 6 hours or longer. cardiovascular training is like medication for ADDers – i read somewhere that it stimulates the same parts of your brain as 1st line stimulant meds. for me personally, training keeps me calm, less restless, motivated, less scatter-brained and helps me sleep well.

the most common ‘gateway’ screening tool, used by most referring GPs is probably the ASRS. you can easily google it. CADDRA can give you a lot of helpful clinical information too.

http://www.caddra.ca/cms4/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=70&lang=en

for more general information, check out ‘ADHD for Dummies’

advice: don’t stop training. you can cut back if you need to, but don’t ever stop a basic level of cardio exercise (40minutes

4x per week was the last number suggested to me — it varies depending on who you ask). if you have adhd, getting back on the training horse once you’ve quit is HORRIBLY difficult. just don’t stop in the first place.

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