5 ms·

No offense, but that's kind of a load of shit. As someone diagnosed with ADHD, I can get by alright without Adderall, but there is no denying the profound inten

No offense, but that's kind of a load of shit. As someone diagnosed with ADHD, I can get by alright without Adderall, but there is no denying the profound intensity of focus I get when I take it. And a good night's sleep doesn't even come close. There are plenty of good arguments against enhancement-style use of stimulants, but to suggest they don't do anything more than decent rest is just silly.

wysifnwyg 7y ago
I would imagine that when articles like these are posted, that their target audience is the average healthy individual without any medical issues which directly conflict with the subject at hand. As someone with ADD, I realize that the advice and guidance from my medical providers should come first and foremost and that my experiences and treatment paths will not be typical compared to the average individual.
justwalt 7y ago
I have ADD myself, and while I agree that adderall is something of a wonder drug in this regard, adopting a regular sleep schedule has had absolutely immense benefits for me. Almost every activity where it’s possible to gauge performance has seen a benefit. I think the parent’s point about it being the biggest relative increase in cognitive function is correct.
tvanantwerp 7y ago
I don't think the parent comments's author was suggesting that stimulants are no more effective than sleep. Rather, I think he was suggesting that--if you aren't also struggling with ADHD or some other medical condition requiring stimulants--working on your sleep hygiene should be one of the first things you do before even considering stimulant use. Trying to patch over bad sleep with stimulants is long-term harmful.
blauekapelle 7y ago
Different people respond differently to different things. What he says (reliable sleep being remarkably effective for improving attention and focus) is very true, and was also recommended to me as a treatment for my ADHD because medication didn't work for me. Reliable rest worked better for me. So what you said is just silly.
Gene_Parmesan 7y ago
I have ADHD as well, and sure, the stims absolutely help our focus. But we have ADHD. We have less dopamine and norepinephrine floating around our brains (in addition to other issues, like smaller-than-average size of the prefrontal cortex, by volume). These are the chemicals released by the medication. The goal with the meds, however, is to bring us up to baseline -- to a normal level of focus. To us, it feels like "Wow, look at all this FOCUS! I can actually CONCENTRATE!" But we feel like that because we have lots of experience knowing what it's like to be physically unable to do so, and merely operating at a normal level feels like magic to us. I can't focus or perform adequately at all without my medicine. I didn't get diagnosed until 28, so I have a lifetime of evidence to back this claim up. And once I started taking meds, I went from a depressing career I hated to spending significant time and effort self-teaching programming and computer science in the evenings while working full time, and eventually changed careers. Something I absolutely never could have achieved without medically prescribed stimulants. But it's really hard for me to take my experience as someone with a neurological disability/impairment, and try to apply it to other people without that impairment. For instance, even with my condition, there is a very delicate balance that has to be achieved with dosing. If I take even a little bit too high of a dose, I am hyperfocusing in a way I can't control, and on non-productive tasks. Spending three hours furiously rearranging books alphabetically is not productive. And since "normal" people don't have the same deficits that I do, I genuinely feel like have those people take any significant amount of stimulants would do something similar. I was around plenty of people who "used adderall to study" in college but clearly didn't actually have the condition. Let's just say "studying" tended to involve many things that weren't actually studying.

wysifnwyg 7y ago

I would imagine that when articles like these are posted, that their target audience is the average healthy individual without any medical issues which directly conflict with the subject at hand. As someone with ADD, I realize that the advice and guidance from my medical providers should come first and foremost and that my experiences and treatment paths will not be typical compared to the average individual.

justwalt 7y ago

I have ADD myself, and while I agree that adderall is something of a wonder drug in this regard, adopting a regular sleep schedule has had absolutely immense benefits for me. Almost every activity where it’s possible to gauge performance has seen a benefit. I think the parent’s point about it being the biggest relative increase in cognitive function is correct.

tvanantwerp 7y ago

I don't think the parent comments's author was suggesting that stimulants are no more effective than sleep. Rather, I think he was suggesting that--if you aren't also struggling with ADHD or some other medical condition requiring stimulants--working on your sleep hygiene should be one of the first things you do before even considering stimulant use. Trying to patch over bad sleep with stimulants is long-term harmful.

blauekapelle 7y ago

Different people respond differently to different things. What he says (reliable sleep being remarkably effective for improving attention and focus) is very true, and was also recommended to me as a treatment for my ADHD because medication didn't work for me. Reliable rest worked better for me. So what you said is just silly.

Gene_Parmesan 7y ago

I have ADHD as well, and sure, the stims absolutely help our focus. But we have ADHD. We have less dopamine and norepinephrine floating around our brains (in addition to other issues, like smaller-than-average size of the prefrontal cortex, by volume). These are the chemicals released by the medication. The goal with the meds, however, is to bring us up to baseline -- to a normal level of focus. To us, it feels like "Wow, look at all this FOCUS! I can actually CONCENTRATE!" But we feel like that because we have lots of experience knowing what it's like to be physically unable to do so, and merely operating at a normal level feels like magic to us. I can't focus or perform adequately at all without my medicine. I didn't get diagnosed until 28, so I have a lifetime of evidence to back this claim up. And once I started taking meds, I went from a depressing career I hated to spending significant time and effort self-teaching programming and computer science in the evenings while working full time, and eventually changed careers. Something I absolutely never could have achieved without medically prescribed stimulants. But it's really hard for me to take my experience as someone with a neurological disability/impairment, and try to apply it to other people without that impairment. For instance, even with my condition, there is a very delicate balance that has to be achieved with dosing. If I take even a little bit too high of a dose, I am hyperfocusing in a way I can't control, and on non-productive tasks. Spending three hours furiously rearranging books alphabetically is not productive. And since "normal" people don't have the same deficits that I do, I genuinely feel like have those people take any significant amount of stimulants would do something similar. I was around plenty of people who "used adderall to study" in college but clearly didn't actually have the condition. Let's just say "studying" tended to involve many things that weren't actually studying.