What is ADHD?
ADHD, or attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, is a psychological condition that can cause problems of concentration, organization and time management. People with ADHD are often impulsive or spontaneous, and are also often creative thinkers and good problems of problems.
How does ADH work?
No one knows for sure why some people suffer from ADHD.But health professionals have noticed that the brain of people with ADHD works a little differently from that of people who are not affected.
In the brain, there are parts that stimulate your ability to concentrate (your anterior cingular cortex) and parties that have an impact on your ability to prevent you from acting on your thoughts or impulses (your prefrontal cortex).
For people with ADHD, brain activity is a little lower in these areas (and in a few others) than in people who do not have ADHD. However, this does not make them less intelligent or capable.This simply explains why people with ADHD can have difficulty concentrating and organizing their lives, while being good at creative thought and problem solving, as we will see later.
What are the signs and symptoms of ADHD?
Concentration and attention problems
Mental health professionals call for "distractibility".
Lower probability of planning rewards or future consequences
Psychologists have found that people with ADHD are less likely than people without ADHD to make choices now who will have a positive effect later. Due to this reduced planning for the future, these experts say, people with ADHD are "less sensitive to delayed strengthening".
Greater probability of thinking and acting in the moment
Psychologists call this "impulsiveness".
However, a person who experiences these symptoms does not necessarily have ADHD. Many ADHD symptoms are common and are regularly felt by people without ADHD. When health professionals diagnose a person with ADHD, it is because this person presents these symptoms more than other people.
On another aspect:
The nervous system of ADHD is a unique and very special creation that regulates attention and emotions differently than the nervous system of people without ADHD. Despite his association with learning disabilities,Most people with ADH nervous system have a significantly higher IQ (intellectual quotient) than the average.
The vast majority of adults with ADHD are not openly hyperactive.They are hyperactive internally. They don't have a lack of attention. They actually pay too much attention to everything. Most people with non -drug ADHD have four or five things in mind. The mark of this nervous system is not a deficit of attention, but an incoherent attention.
People with ADHD may be aware that they are intelligent and brilliant, but they never know if their capacities will manifest themselves when they will need it.
Therapist's advice
I generally suggest that my patients transport a notebook newspaper for a month to write or explain how they enter the area.
Is it because they are intrigued? If so, what intrigues them specifically in the situation of the task?
Is it because they feel competitive? If so, what exactly, in the opponent, makes them feel this competition?
People with this nervous system tend to be major problems with problems. They are friendly people with a great sense of humor and people who have a flawless determination. They come to add a challenge and try to find solutions to him but they can lose any interest when it is no longer a challenge.
The nervous system of ADHD is rarely at rest. He wants to get involved in something interesting and stimulating. Attention is never “deficit”. It is always excessive, constantly occupied with reveries and internal commitments.
Many people with ADHD find that the comments they receive from others are different from what they perceive.They discover, several times, and often too late, that others were right from the start. Then they come to believe that they cannot trust their own perceptions. They lose self -confidence. Even if they dispute it, many people with ADHD are never sure to be right about anything.
Lingling Shi, founder of Biomed MTC
ADHD in traditional Chinese medicine
The MTC considers ADHD as a syndrome or a set of symptoms rather than a singular disease.Unlike Western providers, who rely on the diagnosis and prescription of targeted drugs, Chinese medicine approaches ADHD from a more holistic perspective. Practitioners assess the entire constitution of a patient and balance the whole body to improve symptoms.
Among these, some common patterns are most often observed in clinics, both in children and in adults:
Stagnation of the Liver's Qi:This model is characterized by irritability, mood swings and a tendency to be easily frustrated or angry. It can also manifest itself by symptoms of agitation and difficulty staying concentrated. The exercise reduces the risks of stagnation of the liver Qi, keeping everything that flows and eliminating harmful toxins. In the case of ADHD, it is important that the exercise makes you calmer and no longer agitated. Some people need high intensity exercises to spend their restless energy. But this same training could overload and exhaust others.
IQ deficit:This scheme involves fatigue, a lack of appetite, digestive problems and concentration and memory difficulties. Eat in irregular hours and too much care about everything damages the spleen. To maintain our digestive functions in harmony, take your meals at regular hours and try to avoid cold and raw food as much as possible because they slow the fire necessary for digestion.
Kids deficit (Jing) of kidneys:This scheme is associated with development problems, a weak constitution and problems of impulse and concentration control. Sleeping too late at night or not having a deep sleep has an impact on the health of our kidneys. A good sleep hygiene is another essential living habit which has a significant impact on people with ADHD. Falling into a long and deep sleep recharges your body and optimizes its functionality. After a good night's rest, you can more easily concentrate and regulate your emotions.
Whatever the predominant model, they all affect the heart in a certain way because the heart is the place where the spirit, the Shen resides. The mental processes, mental functions and cognitive processes are terms often used to designate functions or processes such as perception, introspection, memory, creativity, imagination, conception, belief, reasoning, volition and emotion. Just as the ancient Chinese believed that the bear seemed to be the central pivot of the stars, they also believed that the Shen seemed to be at the heart of all mental and physical activities.
Nourishing the Shen is a fundamental principle of the MTC, because it promotes balance, inner harmony and vitality. A harmonious shen is associated with a clear thought, emotional stability, restful sleep and vibrant presence. Conversely, the imbalances in Shen can manifest itself by anxiety, insomnia, agitation, poor memory or even mental disorders. Nourishing Shen is therefore essential to maintain optimal health and well-being.
Remember that the Shen of each individual is unique, so it is advisable to consult a qualified MTC practitioner who can provide personalized advice and recommendations.By feeding your Shen, you embark on a trip to increased vitality, mental clarity and a harmonious state.
“The only way to have optimal health is to take care of us emotionally, physically and mentally. »»
How to alleviate the symptoms of ADHD?
Being with ADHD is not inevitable, there are also several ways to alleviate the symptoms of ADHD. In Western medicine, patients with medication ADHD is sometimes recommended to help them manage their emotions.
But in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of people with ADHD turning to traditional Chinese medicine.These people are looking for a more natural, softer alternative method, and in many more effective cases.
Acupuncture is used in particular as a natural method to alleviate the symptoms of ADHD.
Acupunctureis a practice from the Chinese medical tradition. It consists of the stimulation of "acupuncture points" on various places of the body using different techniques. The best known of them is to set up needles on strategic acupuncture points.
There are many points of acupressure on the whole human body. By exerting pressure on these different points, you can, for example, soothe passing anxieties, improve your quality of sleep, find your concentration almost instantly, etc. The list of acupuncture points is long!
Don't be afraid,acupunctureCan also be done without needles, simply with your fingers.
Thomas Morillon, therapist at Biomed MTC
Photo credit: Lauren Terrigeol
Besides, here are some acupressure points that can allow you to alleviate the symptoms of ADHD:
The Shen Men
It is located just below the first line of the wrist. You just need to exert pressure with your index of the opposite hand on this point for about a minute.
The benefits: anti-stress
The Neiguan
To locate this point with precision, start from the first line of the wrist and then count a width of 4 fingers. Again, you can exert a minute pressure on this point.
The benefits: anti-stress
Tai Yang
For this point, you just have to put a pressure with your two indexes on your two temples at the same time.
The benefits: improves blood circulation, anti-fatigue, relieves migraines.
The bai hui
It is located on the highest point of your head. You have to put pressure on the five points at the same time.
The benefits: decreases the cranial pressure, improves concentration, improves the quality of sleep, helps you to let go.
We give you more details on ADHD and how to exert optimal pressure on these different acupressure points directly on yourself in this video. It is the Lingling Shi therapist, expert in MTC and acupuncture for more than 20 years, which is responsible for explaining the good gestures to take.
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