FunctionFitness

Exercise May Help Treat ADD/ADHD as Well as Medication

Many experts agree that the one area we have the least knowledge of in this industry is the effect of exercise on the brain, or neuroscience. One particular area of interest in neuroscience is the potential for exercise in the management of ADD/ADHD. Attention Deficit Disorder, a condition characterized by impulsiveness, attention difficulties, and in many cases hyperactivity, affects nearly 2 million children under 12 and up to 8 million adults. Current management of ADD symptoms includes medication and behavioral therapy to learn techniques to enhance focus and productivity. Interestingly, exercise may help people with ADD to the point of reducing or eliminating the need for medication.

In a Medscape Today interview with the John J. Ratey, MD, the author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Dr. Ratey suggests that exercise will become more integral to management of ADD in the coming years.

Dr. Ratey suggests that the neurotransmitters released during exercise, specifically nor-epinephrine and dopamine, act similar to Ritalin and Adderall, two commonly prescribed stimulants used to treat ADD/ADHD. He also suspects that chronic exercise effects on the brain results in increased volume of neurotransmitters along with increased capacity for binding in the brain.

Although many of Dr. Ratey’s theories are novel, he is relying on connections previously confirmed by neuroscientists who have studied the effects of exercise on the frontal cortex of the brain, the area most challenged in ADD/ADHD. Moreover, in practice Dr. Ratey has found a connection between long distance athletes and ADD following periods of detraining due to injury.

He began to recognize that individuals who were previously very active were seeking treatment for depression and exhibiting other symptoms of ADD when they no longer exercised as frequently or with as much volume. Thus, Dr. Ratey believes that severity of ADD and quantity of exercise to manage may be linearly correlated based. He uses Olympic Champion Michael Phelps as an example, whose ADD symptoms normalized after he began accumulating at least 3 hours of swimming practice daily.

Because of the variability in severity amongst ADD/ADHD cases, exercise may become the tertiary component in management in the future. Because hyper-focus on a single task is common amongst persons with ADD, and if Dr. Ratay’s theories are valid it might be possible that many long distance athletes have been healthfully self-medicating for many years.

Wyong, P. (2009) Exercise and ADD: An Expert Interview With John J. Ratey, MD. Medscape Online. October 8.