Why Simple Tasks Can Feel So Hard with ADHD
Dr. William Beecroft
| 3 min read
Key Takeaways
- ADHD can make routine tasks feel overwhelming because it affects executive functioning, including focus, decision-making, time management and organization. Mental load and decision fatigue can further increase stress and reduce daily functioning.
- While ADHD is not curable, symptoms can be managed through strategies such as prioritizing tasks, breaking large projects into smaller steps, reducing distractions, using timers, practicing healthy habits and working with a health care provider on treatment options.
- An accurate ADHD diagnosis requires a thorough evaluation by a trained professional using DSM-5-TR criteria. Experts recommend seeking a professional assessment rather than self-diagnosing, as symptoms can affect both children and adults and may be mistaken for other conditions.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common condition diagnosed in the United States, with about 7.1 million children and 15.5 adults.
This condition can make seemingly simple tasks difficult, and the mental work surrounding those tasks can be both emotionally and physically draining. Here’s more about why this happens, strategies to manage and how to get an accurate diagnosis.
Why simple tasks can feel difficult with ADHD
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the inability to focus, inattentiveness and impulsivity. It can lead to challenges with executive functioning, including time management, staying on task, following directions and making plans and decisions. These challenges can result in procrastination, frustration and inconsistent performance at work or school.
ADHD is a genetic condition that affects the way the brain is wired. This change makes it difficult for those with ADHD to focus on things they don’t find interesting, and it takes a lot of energy to focus.
For those who struggle with executive functioning, making decisions can become more difficult through the course of a day as they become fatigued. Adults make as many as 35,000 decisions a day.
Mental load is another aspect that can be challenging for everyone, but especially those with ADHD. This is a term for the weight of the to-do list people may deal with daily. Mental load can take a lot of energy to create priorities, juggle tasks, strain working memory and manage competing demands. For those who have a hard time with executive functioning, decision fatigue and mental load can make them even more overwhelmed and contribute to even worse daily functioning.
Strategies for managing tasks with ADHD
While ADHD isn’t curable, the symptoms are treatable with coping skills, lifestyle changes, therapy and even medication. While those with the condition should work with their healthcare providers, here are some strategies for dealing with the everyday workload:
- Take 10 to 15 minutes in the morning to organize the coming day and make a to-do list.
- Lists tasks by priority and tackle the most important ones first. Try a color-coded list or other organizing system to create a reasonable timeframe for each item, then cross each one off.
- Break down large tasks into smaller ones to prevent overwhelm or spend a particular amount of time on one task and do as much as possible within that timeframe.
- Minimize distractions from cell phones, TVs or anything else.
- Use a timer and clocks or watches to keep track of time.
- Test quiet background noise such as lo-fi music or low-frequency sounds to potentially improve focus.
- Create a small reward for completing tasks.
- Move around throughout the day and in between tasks.
- Practice completion rather than perfection.
Those with ADHD can also practice a healthy lifestyle by getting enough sleep, eating a nutritious diet that is low in added sugar and getting at least 150 minutes of exercise per week.
ADHD diagnosis
Rates of ADHD diagnoses have been increasing in recent decades. In 2003, about 4.4% of American adults received an ADHD diagnosis. That figure is now about 6%. Some experts believe the condition is over-diagnosed.
Those who think they have symptoms or their children show symptoms should first talk to their primary care provider about an assessment from a professional. Self-diagnosis can do harm and lead individuals to try at-home treatment that is unnecessary or even risky.
Getting a thorough screening for ADHD as an adult includes a trained provider assessing the individual based on criteria in the American Psychiatric Association’s current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5-TR. This includes detailed questions about symptoms and how they affect an individual’s life in childhood and in the present, and questionnaires or skill tests to measure attention, memory and organization.
Dr. William Beecroft is the medical director of behavioral health at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. For more health tips and information, visit AHealthierMichigan.org.
Photo credit: Getty Images
