Yoga and Breathing Exercises Aid Children with ADHD to Focus

Re:Yoga and Breathing Exercises Aid Children with ADHD to Focus by interleave on Monday May 17, 2021 @03:09PM (#27187075)

As someone who used to 'self-medicate'[1] my (then-undiagnosed) ADHD with breathing techniques and Yoga – mostly Hatha and Kundalini Yoga – for 15 years I am - personally - very skeptic of these claims.

Don't get me wrong, I still love breathing techniques and Yoga and practice both on a daily basis.

But I DON'T see how stimulating your nervous system this way will do what ADHD medication actually does: Inhibit dopamine/norephedrine reuptake / increase dopamine/norephedrine secretion.

In other words, in my n-equals-one world, the difference the right medication has made in managing ADHD has been an order of magnitude greater compared to regular, intense and consistent breathing, Yoga and meditation.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=interleave

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Yoga and Breathing Exercises Aid Children with ADHD to Focus by nefitty on Monday May 17, 2021 @03:34PM (#27187396)

I’m in the same boat. I love meditating, and I have noticed positive effects, but it is no comparison to actual medical treatment. I think that meditation extends my capacity for focus in one sitting, but it never helped with the “ugh” factor, the actual push to do things I didn’t want to do.

Medication helps with the latter part. Meditation helps me capitalize on it further.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Yoga and Breathing Exercises Aid Children with ADHD to Focus by loveistheanswer on Monday May 17, 2021 @03:40PM (#27187463)

>But I DON'T see how stimulating your nervous system this way will do what ADHD medication actually does: Inhibit dopamine/norephedrine reuptake / increase dopamine/norephedrine secretion.

Why do you assume thats the only way to mitigate behaviors associated with ADHD?

[ Parent | on HN ]