Learning to recognise baseline needs whilst navigating ADHD

The older I get, the more I find that I crave simplicity. In the past, I did not understand the true value of simplicity and I also hadn’t believed in the importance of it, complication felt interesting and more compelling. Nowadays, complications are proving tiresome to me, my mind is often attempting to find the simplest way through. 

I have both observed and experienced the impact of the societal pressure of being constantly ‘tuned in’. Our minds are always awake and on, we live with consistent distractions and many are living to find a balance in life.

As a person with ADHD, I understand that I am susceptible to these pressures as my mind naturally moves at high speed with what sometimes feels like several streams of consciousness. I began to ask myself is it possible to disconnect fully? Is it feasible? Is it viable? Is it doable? Quite often for me, the impact of this is burnout. 

People with ADHD can find themselves experiencing cycles of burnout, when I have experienced this, I have often wondered how did I get here? In pursuit of simplicity, I found myself pondering what my basic needs look like when all complication is stripped away.  

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What are my baseline needs?

Simply, making sure I drink enough water, eat enough food, have daily access to sunlight, and ensure I have rest. This sound simple enough?

I realised that I often didn’t do these things on a consistent basis. Having ADHD can impact a person’s ability to complete ‘basic’ tasks. When I am not fulfilling my baseline needs, my body and mind are working at a disadvantage, I am not getting the minimum I need to go about my day and I will be working harder to cope with the lack of the vital. 

The time I spent in burnout allowed me to explore myself, it quite often served as a time for recalibration. I wanted to put things in place in order to stop hitting burnout. In true ADHD fashion, I endeavoured to come up with some solutions which could help me create more consistency for my well-being. I also wanted to learn about the roadblocks that make it difficult for me to be consistent.

Throughout my experience of working with people with ADHD, I realised I was not alone in these challenges. Of course, what works for one person may not work for the other, it is important to explore what challenges we are facing or experiencing in order to begin to create change. Here is what I have found are the most important for me.

Drinking enough water

Well, the amount of times in the past, that I have gotten to the end of the day and wondered why my head ached and why I felt unwell and not understood why. And then, the reoccurring lightbulb moment - ‘I haven’t drank any water today. Coffee, coffee, coffee and more coffee. But yeah, no water. Why haven’t I drank any water?'

The more I learned about ADHD and my own symptoms, I managed to unpick the roadblocks to such a seemingly simple task….drinking water. I bought a reusable water bottle and I found I couldn’t get enough water, I was drinking SO much. Again, another lightbulb moment. ‘It’s the vessel that is the issue’.

If I drink water from a glass, it’s not really happening, I have issues with object permanence, I forget the glass is there, and I forget to fill it up when I do have to fill it up I get distracted and I will start 3 other tasks and before I know it…it’s the end of the day again and I have a headache. The water bottle solved all of these issues, sensory-wise, it’s more pleasurable to drink out of...why? I am not sure. I only have to fill it 3 times a day and the BEST thing? It’s got time stamps on it, which act as a constant reminder and I can visually see when I have drank enough. 

Again, back to the simplicity, I genuinely couldn’t believe how much better I actually felt just by being hydrated, who knew? I think sometimes when people suggest simple things it can feel a little dismissive, SURELY it’s something more complicated than that? No, no you just needed a drink. 

Eating enough food

I have found that ADHD can affect my ability to consistently eat regularly, for a lot of people with ADHD they can experience hyperfocus with tasks which can take all of their attention, medication can kill appetite and sometimes you don’t realise you need food until the end of the day. 

Again, I was wondering why I felt so tired, shaky and anxious at the end of the day. I was also wondering why I couldn’t concentrate and why I felt lightheaded. When I would backtrack through my day, I realised I had eaten very little. 

Lack of nutrition can of course impact us in many different ways, to name a few it can have a knock-on on effect our immune system, and energy levels and can impact our sleep. I recognised that eating regularly is a part of my baseline needs that I needed to ensure that I was paying close attention to. 

Some things that I have found help me get enough nutritious food to keep my brain and body fuelled are:

• Set regular alarms and reminders throughout the day to remind me to grab some food. 
• Challenge myself with different cooking tasks to keep meal-making exciting, last year I learned how to cook my favourite meals from different countries. I also get different ingredients each week to try and cook something new. 
• On days when I have more energy, I batch-cook meals and freeze them so I have them on hand for the busy days, the days when I don’t have anything in my fridge or simply for the days that I can’t be bothered to cook. 
• Having nutritious snacks on hand in case I am in a rush and also have snacks in my bag/car for when I am out and about.

Getting outside 

I would consider myself to be an outside type of person, I love being outside walking and swimming, I find that’s where my brain does its processing. The outside for me is an opportunity to get sensory rest, it’s where things are often quiet, where I can unmask and where I get time to recoup and recalibrate. 

Some days can be busy and some days I can’t get outside as much as I want. Also, living in Manchester…it’s famous for the rain and grey skies. If things get in the way I try to get outside for at least 15 minutes a day. 

I added this to my baseline checklist as it’s something that I know I personally need.

Getting enough rest

When I think about what rest looks like in society, it can sometimes be difficult to see where it exists in people’s days and weeks. The ever-increasing popularity of grind culture feels like the antithesis of rest. People are expected to be constantly switched on..emails, texts, phone calls. We ‘should’ be using time efficiently, doing something fulfilling, doing things that are productive, have a ‘growth’ mindset whilst also ensuring we maintain our wellbeing, social lives, relationships and careers. It’s easy to understand why people don’t rest or don’t feel able to. 

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But listen, when was the last time you rested? 

I have come to understand that rest looks different for everyone. The research suggests we need 7 different types of rest which are: mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, sensory, social and creative. When I first heard this, I became overwhelmed by the thought of having more things to factor into my week.

Looking through an ADHD lens, we sometimes don’t know we need rest until that burnout hits. Some of the tools I have incorporated to help me understand if I am in need of rest are:

• Checking in with myself about how my physical energy levels are
• Building rest time into my weekly schedule, so I know that it’s there should I need it
• Looking at my sleep in the recent week 
• Learning what I find restful - I didn’t know movement could be counted as rest
• Having breaks from technology - turning off my phone and not using screens 
• Taking the time to understand that rest IS productive

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Final thoughts 

I have noticed a few important things in the way of understanding my baseline needs, the biggest learning so far has been to accept that it’s okay if I don’t get everything right all of the time. It can be hard to maintain balance. This is about having a compassionate conversation with myself to help me restore balance if things have tipped.

Nowadays, if I experience feelings of overwhelm or if I am feeling more tired than usual, I ask myself the following questions:

• Have I drank enough water?
• Have I eaten enough food?
• Have I gotten outside today?
• When was the last time I got some rest?

Once I’ve answered these questions, if I am missing something I will reconnect and make sure I get back on track. If I have done everything, I take some time to explore further what may be causing issues.  Of course, this is not the remedy for everything, nor is the lack of these things the root of every issue that may arise in life. However, we need the basics for our body to function, we need them to operate, without them, it makes taking on other things more difficult and the lack of them adds strain.

When I work with people who have ADHD, I often explore their needs and take time to look at what their ‘baseline’ looks like. 

I wonder….what’s your baseline?