adult adhd management strategies

Adult ADHD Management Strategies

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) symptoms can easily disrupt your daily life. As an adult with ADHD, I have discovered some ways you can successfully manage your own symptoms. ADHD is not a life threatening illness and so this is something to be grateful for. By looking for Adult ADHD treatment, you are already on the road to accepting your diagnosis. This is essential because it begins your journey to taking positive action, such as learning more about ADHD and finding strategies that help you manage your ADHD. Here are 10 management strategies for Adults with ADHD or ADD.

1  Take Care

Some adults with ADHD tend to become hyper-focused on tasks they really enjoy doing, and therefore forget to eat, rest and even go to the bathroom!


2  Making Sure You Sleep Well

Poor sleeping habits can really exacerbate ADHD symptoms. Being overtired can affect your attention span and makes some cognitive tasks more demanding to try and carry out. Making sure you have had some exercise during the day and setting a regular bedtime will help you stick to a more regular sleeping pattern.

3  Declutter 

Clutter around adults with ADHD can be overwhelming and cause feelings of anxiety, so organising your space can really help to reduce these feelings. Start with one room and remove anything unnecessary. It can be quite liberating to surround yourself only with the things you need and reduces the anxieties associated with searching for things.

Conversely, organising itself can be stressful for adults with ADHD symptoms, which is why devising a schedule for clearing, and keeping unnecessary purchases to a minimum can remove the despair of organising.

4  Keep a Diary

And perhaps more importantly, keep it with you daily. This way, you can create a schedule to help organise your days, but also have a place to store notes and ideas that crop up throughout the day. As soon as you book an appointment or are informed about a meeting, put it in the planner immediately.

It can also be worth having post-it notes to write messages down on, but always transfer these into the planner at the end of the day.

5  Use Pill Boxes 

People with ADHD often tend to forget to take their medication or can end up taking it twice! Buying pill containers with the days of the week labelled on them will help you to keep organised with medication. If you buy several and fill them at the same time, it can also alert you as to when you are running low, so you will remember to book an appointment to get a new supply.

6  Set Alarms 

Many people diagnosed with ADHD lose track of the time easily when highly concentrating on a task, or can become distracted easily. Most mobile phones have an integrated alarm, so it’s easy to set alarms to help keep you focused.

7  Keep a Clock In the Shower

Or again, set an alarm. Getting a visual reminder of the time helps avoid taking too long or becoming caught up in distractions.

8  Know Yourself

 According to Dr. Roberto Olivardia; a clinical psychologist and instructor at the Harvard Medical School the department of psychiatry, adults with ADHD “are at higher risk for various addictions.” To combat this, you should know yourself and identify where your vulnerabilities lie.  Replace drugs, alcohol and other addictions with things that have a positive impact on your life, such as exercise, music or visiting places of interest.

9  Establish Your Limits

Many people with ADHD have a tendency to take on too much because they have a desire to please others. It’s important to be realistic about what you can manage. It’s still entirely possible to do nice things for and with people, as long as you allocate time realistically.

10  Seek Support



Adult ADHD, ADD Treatment