3 ms·

Citation needed.

bitexploder 11y ago
Agreed. It's not a complete wild-ass-guess, though. So, I draw from a couple of resources. From the Lore of Running, by Tim Noakes (a well respected exercise physiologist) he discusses the mental energy required to stick with a training program that involves hard workouts. He notes it is a pretty well observed phenomenon for him (and many others), that doing thinking tasks on hard workout days can be harder. His example was writing and his research work in the midst of training hard. From Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman shows how the brain sort of "crashes" when glucose levels fall. He also discusses how we have this finite bucket of cognitive energy and I don't think it is a stretch to say that working out hard drains that bucket. There is enough anecdotal data that supports this at a high level. And finally, in the book The Sports Gene I was introduced to some fascinating studies in rodents. "Here at Axon Sports, we talk a lot about the brain’s role in playing sports. From vision to perception to decision making to emotions, the brain plays a critical role in sports success. What have we learned about neurogenetics that can influence an athlete’s performance from a cognitive perspective? DE: One of the most surprising things I learned in my reporting was that scientists know quite well that not only does the dopamine system in the brain—which is involved in the sense of pleasure and reward—respond to physical activity, but it can also drive physical activity. One of the scientists I quote in the book suggests that this may be why very active children who take Ritalin, which alters dopamine levels, suddenly have less drive to move around. That’s precisely what he sees when he gives Ritalin to the rodents he breeds for high voluntary running, anyway. And it appears that different versions of genes involved in the dopamine system influence the drive to be active. (Interestingly, native populations that are nomadic and that migrate long distances tend to have a higher prevalence of a particular dopamine receptor gene; the same one that predisposes people to ADHD. I discuss in the book the possible link.) " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21676789 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21676789 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3441939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3441939/ I think you can coherently weave these together to get a picture of how hard exercise can benefit someone with ADHD. Maybe the mechanisms aren't correct, but the end result is pretty clear to me.

Citation needed.

Agreed. It's not a complete wild-ass-guess, though. So, I draw from a couple of resources. From the Lore of Running, by Tim Noakes (a well respected exercise physiologist) he discusses the mental energy required to stick with a training program that involves hard workouts. He notes it is a pretty well observed phenomenon for him (and many others), that doing thinking tasks on hard workout days can be harder. His example was writing and his research work in the midst of training hard. From Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman shows how the brain sort of "crashes" when glucose levels fall. He also discusses how we have this finite bucket of cognitive energy and I don't think it is a stretch to say that working out hard drains that bucket. There is enough anecdotal data that supports this at a high level. And finally, in the book The Sports Gene I was introduced to some fascinating studies in rodents. "Here at Axon Sports, we talk a lot about the brain’s role in playing sports. From vision to perception to decision making to emotions, the brain plays a critical role in sports success. What have we learned about neurogenetics that can influence an athlete’s performance from a cognitive perspective? DE: One of the most surprising things I learned in my reporting was that scientists know quite well that not only does the dopamine system in the brain—which is involved in the sense of pleasure and reward—respond to physical activity, but it can also drive physical activity. One of the scientists I quote in the book suggests that this may be why very active children who take Ritalin, which alters dopamine levels, suddenly have less drive to move around. That’s precisely what he sees when he gives Ritalin to the rodents he breeds for high voluntary running, anyway. And it appears that different versions of genes involved in the dopamine system influence the drive to be active. (Interestingly, native populations that are nomadic and that migrate long distances tend to have a higher prevalence of a particular dopamine receptor gene; the same one that predisposes people to ADHD. I discuss in the book the possible link.) " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21676789 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21676789 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3441939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3441939/ I think you can coherently weave these together to get a picture of how hard exercise can benefit someone with ADHD. Maybe the mechanisms aren't correct, but the end result is pretty clear to me.