How to Actually Calm an ADHD Nervous System (And Change Your Life)

**Jenna Free** (0:00)
My executive functioning goes up when we get out of fight or flight. That's the main complaint of ADHD. So the symptoms go down because the dysregulation is going down, enjoyment of life goes up, so we have a much higher quality of life when we're out of fight or flight. Kind of my biggest complaint about the current ADHD field is we're really flapping that label on it and going, everything you're experiencing is ADHD. Nothing you can do about it. All you can do is cope. Good luck to you. No, it can get so much better.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (0:28)
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Welcome, Jenna, to the podcast. So great to have you on.
I'm excited to talk about ADHD. It's a big problem for a lot of people. I think you have a very interesting frame on it and an interesting way for people to navigate, you know, differences that people have that are often debilitating if you don't know how to handle it. So I'm really happy to get to talk about this.

**Jenna Free** (2:18)
Me too. Thank you.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (2:19)
So I want to dive into it.
And particularly your framework around how biological dysregulation, nervous system dysregulation really amplifies the symptoms and makes functioning sometimes very hard in people with ADHD. And, you know, I just want to sort of start out by first saying that, you know, we are a spectrum of expressions as human beings and not all of our neurological differences are pathologic or problematic. In fact, they can be superpowers. And I think, you know, we are going to talk about that. But it's how you harness them and how you regulate yourself to use those differences in a way that actually help enhance your life rather than harm your life. But with that said, I wanted to just zoom out for two seconds and give people a perspective that I developed as a functional medicine doctor, treating patients with the whole spectrum of neurodevelopmental issues from dyslexia or ADHD to all the way to autism spectrum disorders and the whole gamut in between. And I think there are increasing evidence that the brains are very responsive to what's happening in the body and that a lot of times when people have dysregulated brains, it often can be factors that are treatable, whether it's nutritional factors, nutritional deficiencies, gut issues, environmental toxins, infections, food sensitivities. There's a lot of things that go into understanding how to optimize brain health. And I've written a whole book about it called The Ultra Mind Solution. We have a course, a curriculum on it called The Brainshaping Academy, really about how do we optimize our brain. But that's sort of a topic for another podcast. I just want to sort of lay that out there as something people also should pay attention to if they're struggling with ADHD. They should really understand that there are often biological causes that should be looked at as well as just learning how to actually enhance your superpowers with the talents you have. So that said, I want to sort of dive in by asking you, Jenna, why are so many adults, especially women and people who are high achievers, suddenly being diagnosed with ADHD or ADD in their 40s, 50s and 60s?