There is no bad time for Coffee

I seen an article this week that referred to Dopamine Hacking- using intense hobbies or caffeine to quieten your mind.  I can confidently say I do this everyday-and my vice is coffee.  Now millions of people have a coffee first thing in the morning, nothing unusual there.  But for someone with ADHD who can wake up with a million thoughts running through their minds at one time- that first cup of coffee can silence the thoughts and slow the world down a little so that the day seems less daunting.

Now skip ahead to bed time and were a lot of people will have a cup of tea before bed to help them sleep, if you are like myself a cup of coffee before bed can help you sleep- yes the opposite effect to what should happen, but its that dopamine hit that just helps us focus on the task ahead....Sleeping.  I do try to avoid this late night one, I know I drink too much coffee already so I don't want a late night top up.

During the day things can happen that mean you are almost impulsively drawn to get that caffeine hit- it could be the kids acting up and so your mind is loud, it could be a disagreement about a work target, or most likely you want to focus on a task and so getting that coffee in just helps slow the mind and in conjunction with maybe your earphones on, you get into that zone.

3 months into my new job and my team definitely know that when I'm really zoning in on something il have a coffee in hand and a pair of noise cancelling earphones on- but its when i do my best work- and I can be very picky on the coffee.

I had seen plenty of articles talking about how ADHD and addictive personalities can go hand in hand- and there is quite a high rate of alcoholism and drug addiction in those with ADHD, and yes I can see how that would happen so I'm lucky that my vice is coffee and not something stronger,  perhaps in my youth had I found a connection more with beer I would be in a different position so I am lucky. 

I have become a coffee snob over the years but I am starting to see that its a type of self medicating, and there are times now were I purposely stop myself having it , usually due to pains in my gut lol, or the effect on my bank balance.

So if you have someone in your life who you suspect may have ADHD look out for some signs......sometimes that sign is from Starbucks or Insomnia - and Insomnia is a funny one as Coffee can help an ADHD'er with that exact problem.