Self Care and Mental health

It is always important in life to take a step back, slow down your thoughts and check how you are doing mentally. Sometimes, you can be so busy, with work, school or helping others that you forget about someone else just as important- yourself.

Self-care can be as simple as going for a run, eating a healthy diet, and making time to clear your thoughts. Often times, people with ADHD get caught up with other issues and helping other people that they do not look after themselves.

One way to practice self-care is to take time to meditate, exercise and do yoga. People with ADHD tend to daydream, forget things, lose things and feel overwhelmed. Yoga is an activity that could help people slow their thoughts and approach the day with a calmer mindset.

Yoga and Mental health

While medication and therapy are the first lines of treatment for ADHD, there are alternative options such as yoga and mindfulness techniques. During yoga, participants focus their breathing and attention and became more aware of their thoughts and surroundings. Studies have shown the efficacy and benefit of yoga as a stress reliever and a therapeutic technique.

Yoga is said to reduce stress, depressive symptoms and even decrease pain. Yoga reduces cortisol levels, slows down your heart rate, and works to balance neurotransmitters in the brain. Yoga specifically increases the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain which elevates mood. When your body is low on GABA you feel more anxious and overwhelmed. Research studies have found how bi-weekly yoga sessions can help with reducing depressive symptoms which can be caused by this increase in GABA in the brain.

Yoga for ADHD

People with ADHD often experience a disconnect between their body and mind and yoga works to bridge this gap. During yoga, you slow down your breathing, which works to relieve stress and calm your body. Relaxing your body will, in turn, help your brain slow down and not automatically resort to the stress response.

With each pose (downward dog, happy baby etc), your mind is focusing on performing a specific movement. Slowing down your body helps you balance your mind which is especially helpful to people with ADHD. People with ADHD experience racing thoughts and a flux of ideas and yoga works to reverse this process. Taking part in yoga has been shown to help people with ADHD, especially younger people, fidget less and release pent-up stress.

Start Yoga Today 🙂

Over 20 million Americans practice yoga and this number only continues to grow. 90% of the people who start yoga, do it for stress or health benefits but continue to practice yoga for the emotional effects.