Tune In To Focus

Have you ever experienced a release of tension from your body while listening to your favorite song? Or had the chills when a song really speaks to you or the beat grabs your mind?

Music can not only help you relax, it can also be a useful tool when you have ADHD. Music can make it easier to focus, pay attention, and cross things off your to-do list. You might be surprised to know that for many people with ADHD, music isn’t distracting; it helps them feel more focused.

You may find that music makes it easier to start or finish tasks you’ve been putting off. Music can help you process and better regulate your emotions, and it activates multiple parts of the brain, which can boost your focus or motivation.

The science of music and ADHD

A new study looked at the use of background music by young adults who have ADHD and peers who do not. Researchers found the young adults with ADHD relied on background music to perform tasks that were more or less cognitive, such as studying or problem-solving, cleaning or engaging in sports, more often than their peers without an ADHD diagnosis. Also, people with ADHD in the study tended to prefer more stimulating music, while those without ADHD preferred calmer music, such as classical.

Using these results, researchers suggest that someone might want to try out several types of music to find what helps them the most. They caution, though, that some people could find stimulating music overwhelming instead of helpful.

The chills you get as you really connect with a song happen when music activates your brain in a powerful way. Dopamine, sometimes nicknamed the “feel happy” neurotransmitter in the brain, is responsible for attention, focus, and emotional regulation. Music can help the brain produce more dopamine.

“If a task is inherently boring to someone with ADHD, dopamine levels are so low that their brain is unable to ‘activate’ to do the task,” says Vidya Guhan, a licensed speech pathologist and ADHD coach. This is why you may struggle to get your dishes done, she says, or to write a paper, organize a closet, or complete a project for work.

If the task is not interesting enough, you may feel like you are trying to move mountains to finish it. But have you ever noticed that cleaning your floors or starting a task you often put off seems a bit easier with music playing in the background? Next time you need a boost to get motivated, stay focused on a task, or process your emotions, try playing your favorite music or try out different kinds of music to see what helps wake up your brain.

Finding the right beat

Listening to music can tap into the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain where the reward and motivation center gets activated, says Roberto Olivardia, PhD. He is a clinical psychologist and lecturer in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, as well as a member of CHADD’s professional advisory board.

During the 2024 International Conference on ADHD, Dr. Olivardia described how music can be a tool to help ease ADHD symptoms in his presentation, “We Got the Beat: The Impact of Music on ADHD.”

“Especially for folks with ADHD, we just want to stimulate our senses,” he says. “We just want to stimulate our emotions, feel alive, conquer that boredom, and keep our mind occupied or distracted.”

Listening to music is one way to activate the brain when you are doing tasks that are boring or uninteresting. He suggests trying different types of music to see which helps you focus better.

As an example, Dr. Olivardia shares that while struggling to write his dissertation, he listened to fast-paced punk and rock music by the Ramones, Green Day, and his favorite band, The Go-Go’s. Listening to this type of music, he says, helped him to get his dissertation done and earn his doctoral degree.

In high school, he says, completing school assignments was often challenging. But something magical happened when he keyed into Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.” He was able to complete an assignment he previously avoided, typing to the beat.

“I distinctly remember that Queen song,” Dr. Olivardia says. “I’m a very visual thinker, and I said to my dad, it’s like a bridge just opened up in my head, and just everything was coming in.”

Parents often ask him if it is okay for their child to listen to music while doing homework or other tasks. They worry the music could keep their child from paying attention. Dr. Olivardia reassures them that it is the opposite. Music stimulates their brains, making it more likely they will get their homework done.

Dr. Olivardia cautions that background music is not a one-sized-fits-all approach. Music as a tool for motivation or attention needs to be tried out by the individual, since what works for one person may not work for another. Some children or adults with ADHD find music without lyrics better suited to help them complete projects. Other people might need more stimulating music, like Dr. Olivardia, and prefer more heavily modulated music like punk or rock.

Whether it helps you get things done or work through emotions, music is one tool that can help ease your ADHD symptoms.

“I think for a lot of reasons that music is such a solace, it’s such a safe space for a lot of folks in general, but especially a lot of folks with ADHD,” says Dr. Olivardia.

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