bewilderbrain

Healing with nature, distracting the ADHD brain, finding joy, surprise and mindfulness outdoors, the magical powers of walking…

1. Exercise and movement outside is good for everyone. It calms the brain by pumping fresh oxygen through the body, releases feel-good brain chemicals, and exposes you to vitamin D. A simple triple whammy of benefits just by stepping outside anywhere for a walk. Studies have shown that as little as ten minutes walking outside can make a difference.
   
2. Nature – being exposed to the natural world and green spaces has been proven to raise one’s mood, affecting symptoms such as anxiety and depression, which are so frequently comorbid with ADHD, and making us feel more connected, calmer and more grounded in our lives. See this post on why Nature is the perfect therapy for a neurodiverse brain.
   
   

   

3. Movement is a particular balm to the ADHD brain. Engaging part of the brain with physical movement can direct and calm hyperactivity, in both body and thought, also requiring focus on co-ordination, which helps to regulate attention.
   
4. Simplicity – for ADHD, you can’t beat this one. We know we need to exercise, but there are no complicated rules, routines, postures, training plans or kit to find here. You just need to put your shoes on and leave the house. It really is as attainable as it gets for us.
   
5. Peace – ADHD affects us all so differently, but overstimulation via external stimulus is a common misery. Not everyone has a country path, park or open fields to access from the front door, but many of us can find quieter roads or back lanes, more off the beaten track routes, that cut down the noise and stimulus of traffic, tvs, music, multiple conversations happening at once etc. I have found that a relatively short time away from noise stimulus acts as a kind of soft reset on my brain on days when I am struggling.
   
   

   

6. Space – one of the things people with ADHD need to do most when overwhelm is approaching, or has arrived, is to get out of their homes. Paradoxically, (because paradox is our brains favourite thing), one of the things people with ADHD find hardest to do when overwhelmed, is to leave their homes. There is too much stuff around us, there are too many things to be done, there are too many things vying for attention in our heads, the last thing we can think about doing is changing mental track enough to leave the house.
   
   This of course is paralysis: task paralysis, decision paralysis, overwhelm paralysis, you name it, we’ve got the stack. We’ve got the paralysis t-shirt. Anyway, I digress, let me tell you this:
   
   You. Must. Leave. The House.
   
   Getting outside, even for a few minutes, will change your perspective, distract your brain, break down a few bricks in the wall of awful. Your brain just wants space – and help from the outside world is the single most powerful way to accommodate it.
   
   

   

   
   Space and change are part of the strategy for handling ADHD overwhelm I talk about in this post here.
   
7. Distraction – That much maligned trait of ours, often happens because we find the find the world so bloody interesting. Our difference in function is not due to a lack of attention, but an excess of attention, and trouble controlling it. Things. Are. Just. Too. Interesting….
   
   This becomes problematic when excessive stimulus or internal worries overwhelm us, but when we are out walking, our journey is a continual series of interesting distractions, ever moving, one to another, constantly changing enough to keep our exploration brains interested and occupied.
   
   Which in turn, can give us some relief from the raft of stressful internal distractions or those in the home. Walking outside reminds us of, and immerses us in, a world outside ourselves.
   

   

   
   Look, I love looking at birds, trees, waterfalls, landscapes in dusk light, and I have plenty to say elsewhere about the power of these things.
   
   But, I’m not gonna lie, I also love peering into peoples living rooms in the liminal light of early evening, when they’ve put their lights on but haven’t drawn the curtains yet. I’m pretty nosy.
   
   I love to look at little snippets of people going about their everyday lives, how they have arranged their homes, little snapshots of family lives and hidden places, and I can find continued interest and mystery there.
   
8. Discovery – is a dopamine hit right there. Following on from distraction, is the joy of exploration and discovery.
   
   There have been many times when I have set out for a walk and my other half (a keen runner) has asked me if I have a route planned. Occasionally I will, but more often I will just plan to head in a certain direction, sometimes I won’t even know that until I leave the house.
   
   And I love this.
   
   I have said before, all ADHD brains are different, but I am sure I am not alone in having so little sense of direction as to be a disability in its own right.
   
   My brain simply doesn’t compute direction, or my place in space and time, in the same way that a neurotypical brain does. This is another huge ADHD hurdle, and will be the subject of another post, but in these circumstances, I feel that I may have stumbled upon an inadvertent advantage.
   
   Heading out of your front door knowing that you can probably find your way home, but other than that being constantly surprised by where a road, back lane, or pathway leads to, is a thrill.
   
   Each road I’ve never walked down before, each unknown shortcut, each new discovery while walking is a mini-thrill- it’s a little dopamine hit, the satisfaction of discovery, the love of finding something new or different.
   

   

   
   An added advantage for an ADHD wanderer is that our memories are often poor enough that if you don’t walk a certain way for long enough there is every chance you will have forgotten parts of the route and get to discover it all over again!
   
   And the joy of walking outside is this; even if you were to walk the exact same route every day of the week, it would never be the same. Day by day, the light is different, the season, sights and sounds are changing, the nature around us develops, withers, blooms, evolves, and the weather throws up countless challenges and adventures in our experience.
   
   When you step outside, your brain is smiling.
   

What do you love about walking outside? Has it helped you manage your ADHD? Do you have any tips for getting out of the house, or for getting the most out of a walk? Let me know in the comments. Happy Bewildering.