There is a biological relationship between the body, brain, and mind. Human beings were born to move. Among the experts, the consensus is that exercise is one of the single greatest things a person can do to improve physical and mental health. Exercise would be the drug of the century if it came in a pill. For people with ADHD, exercise can be even more important, especially if done in combination with a complex sport that requires the exercising of the executive functioning brain.

The problem with exercise is that it’s a repetitive, boring, routine task—a classic characteristic around which those with ADHD struggle to engage their attention. In short, exercise is boring.

Poll the experts on an optimal exercise prescription and responses will vary. Typically, answers include frequency, duration, and intensity—something like aerobic exercise three times a week for sixty minutes at 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. I’m confident there is some biological research that backs such expert answers, which makes them technically correct. However, Jeff Copper, an ADHD and attention coach, finds in many instances such prescriptions become the obstacle to activation—they get in the way of actually doing the exercise.

Keep reading Optimal Exercise and ADHD in Attention magazine to find out more.