THE CAUSATIVE FACTORS BEHIND ADHD
So what actually causes ADHD, you might ask? To reveal the answer, let’s distill this question into more specific terms. What would overexcite your child, hinder their ability to focus, and scatter their thoughts? Could all this be caused by a genetic defect that renders your child irreparably damaged? Or rather could it be caused by any number of the environmental risk factors that have only recently been introduced into your child’s delicate and developing life? To the latter question my answer is a resounding YES! The foremost environmental risk factors associated with the development of ADHD symptoms are cable television, video games, environmental toxins, processed foods, and chemical food additives – all of which can wreak havoc on your child’s developing brain.
KILL YOUR CABLE SUBSCRIPTION
Cable television for starters, undeniably plays a central role in shaping and molding the ADHD brain. However, television is like any other piece of technology – its usefulness lies in how it’s used. It can either become the monster in the room, assaulting your child’s eyes and ears, or it can live up to its potential as a source of education, inspiration, and healthy entertainment. The television has become an easy conveyor of profound knowledge for the whole civilized world. But it has also become a purveyor of the greatest and the most shameless filth. The racy, disruptive, turbulent tone of TV commercials, teeming with rapid zooms, abrupt cuts, and jarring noises, has reduced the human attention span to that of a chimpanzee’s. Commercials are especially damaging, not only because corporate advertisers are out to exploit your basest desires, but they are also trying to inundate your brain with an idea in 30 seconds or less; ideas that are often trivialized, hypersexualized, and just plain stupid. The best solution to this psychological affront is to cancel your cable subscription altogether. It will benefit you and your entire family. Since cutting out commercial television from my life, I feel much more at peace.
FOOLPROOF YOUR TV
Sometimes the television can be used as a nanny, allowing you to get a moment to yourself. But because watching television is a passive activity and children thrive on human interaction, you should keep exposure to a minimum. TV time should be monitored and limited to pre-screened programs that are void of commercials, have a slower pace, and rely on storytelling. DVD’s and digitally streamed programs can provide sources of this kind of content. Failure to live by this rule and you can increase your child’s risk for ADHD exponentially. In fact, as reported in the journal Pediatric, researchers at Children’s Hospital in Seattle found that the more television a child watches between the ages of 1 and 3, the greater his or her likelihood of developing attention problems by age 7. More specifically, for each extra hour per day of TV time, the risk of concentration difficulties increases by 10 percent, compared with that of a child who views no TV at all. Excessive viewing was associated with a 28 percent increase in attention problems. Children who watched more television were also found to enjoy reading less and be less involved in reading-related activities.
Make no mistake about it. Like anything else that artificially induces a mind-altering high, video games are a drug, and their addictiveness is probably the most overlooked and underplayed (no pun intended) of any addiction. As someone who personally developed an addiction in my younger years, I can say everything I formerly enjoyed in life before the introduction of video games failed to arouse my attention or give me a sense of fulfillment. Video games detracted from the quality of every facet of my life. Even when I limited my screen time to no more than a few hours per week, I still found myself obsessively thinking of and craving my next gaming experience. In between each gaming session, I would have to try to block out the intrusive thoughts from entering my mind. My ability to concentrate suffered and my creativity was sapped.
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES
In summation, video games are an epic time waster, a highly addictive vice, and a detriment to the health and integrity of your child’s brain. In light of these facts, I cannot condone the use of video games in any amount for any duration for the same reason I cannot endorse the use of any other highly addictive drug in any dosage. While it is tempting to provide your child access to the latest home entertainment gadgets, you should have no qualms or guilt about establishing a home free of video games. There are plenty of other games that stimulate rather than degenerate the mind, including boardgames such as Chess, Trivial Pursuit, and Scrabble to name a few. There are also many different electronic brain games available on tablet devices that stimulate learning and cognition. Spending as much time possible enjoying the great outdoors and the healing energy of Nature with camping, fishing, hiking, bike riding, swimming, boating, and an infinite number of other activities is another great way to enrich the mind, body, and spirit of your children.
AN OVERLOOKED DRUG
The second-screen related activity that can pose a threat to your child’s interest and performance in academics are video games. In addition to the rotten and depraved themes that have become a hallmark feature of video games, they are now known to act upon the same addictive pathways and stimulate the same centers of the brain as cocaine and amphetamines. The riveting intensity, lurid effects, chaotic warfare, and immersive realism of virtual gameplay can make ordinary life dull and unsatisfying by comparison. The progressive rewards and upgradable accessories within the games incentivize the user to remain glued to their seat in isolation as they travel deeper and deeper into a removed realm of computer-generated imagery. The dopamine rush that follows this experience entices the user to keep playing without pause. The knowledge learned and the rewards earned in the real world no longer equal the stimulation and gratification they experience within the game.
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON VIDEO GAMES
It has been reported that video games can positively influence brain function and activity by challenging the player’s reaction time and by prompting them to memorize controls. However, researchers have found this is only initially true. Once the same game is played for prolonged periods, the patterns that were learned become repetitive and thereby reactionary and unconscious. This means the user’s brain enters a zombie-like state as they go through the motions without conscious thought. Research has shown that when these mindless, repetitious actions are performed in a sedentary position for hours on end, the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for spacial memory and awareness, begins to atrophy – leading to memory loss and shortened attention span.
NEUROTOXINS
Scientific research suggests that exposure to toxic chemicals, including secondhand smoke and pesticides found in food, may contribute substantially to disorders such as ADHD. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to toxic chemical exposure because their biological systems are still developing. When toxins disrupt brain development, disabilities like ADHD can occur. These pollutants are identified as neurotoxins at certain levels of exposure. In fact, scientists say exposure to harmful chemicals are largely responsible for the increase in both ADHD and autism diagnoses, especially considering children are more vulnerable to toxin exposure than adults.
PESTICIDES IN OUR FOOD SUPPLY
In the United States, more than 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides and herbicides are sprayed on food crops each year. The most neurotoxic are the organophosphate pesticides, which are bug killers that disrupt the nervous systems of insects. Researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics that children with higher levels of organophosphate pesticide metabolites in their urine were more likely to have ADHD than children with lower levels. Dr. Maryse Bouchard of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health who authored the study said, “Each 10-fold increase in urinary concentration of organophosphate metabolites was associated with a 55% to 72% increase in the odds of ADHD.” Dr. Bouchard also noted, “It is very well established that organophosphates disrupt brain neurochemical activity. Indeed, their efficacy as pesticides result from their toxic effect on the central nervous system of insects.”
Non-organic produce is one continuing source of exposure to these insecticides. It is advised that children avoid conventionally grown foods known to have high pesticide residues, such as cantaloupe, green beans, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, winter squash, and apples. Soaking fruits and vegetables in a hydrogen peroxide and water solution will not completely remove the residues, but it will reduce them. The best solution, however, is to select organic produce. A University of Washington study that analyzed the levels of breakdown products of organophosphorus pesticides in the urine of 39 children aged two to four years old found that concentrations of pesticide metabolites were six times lower in the children who ate organic fruits and veggies than in those who ate conventional produce.
EFFECTS OF SECONDHAND SMOKE
Secondhand smoke has also been tied to ADHD. If a family member smokes, children in the household should be protected from exposure. Studies show that exposure to secondhand smoke for as little as one hour a day increases a child’s risk of ADHD dramatically – up to triple the risk compared to children who are not exposed. Every day on the way home from school I remember my mother lighting up in the car. Even with the window rolled down, I would get massive headaches that would take hours to subside. I would even beg my mom to put the cigarette out because of how rotten it would make me feel, but her addiction was stronger than her sense of responsibility. I can’t say how much secondhand smoke exposure contributed to my ADHD symptoms, but I can say I sure felt ill every car ride home. Science clearly shows that brain toxicity caused by pesticides and secondhand smoke can promote neurological malfunction and elicit symptoms of ADHD.
GET AWAY FROM GRAINS
Despite what the processed food industry and their lapdog the FDA tell us, whole grains in the form of cereals, breakfast bars, muffins, bagels, breads, pastas, pastries and so forth, are not healthy for us. The primary reason is that wheat contains an inflammatory, hyper-allergenic protein known as gluten. The amino acid sequence of gluten is so convoluted that it’s unfit for digestion. The complex structure of gluten puts undue stress on the digestive system, making it difficult to break down and assimilate. This can allow undigested molecules of this protein to “gunk up the works” of the micro-villi (finger-like projections lining the intestinal wall that aid in nutrient absorption), causing inflammation and impaired digestion. Add the herbicide Roundup that is commonly sprayed on non-organic wheat to the equation, and you have quite a toxic addition to your daily diet.
There is a strong, scientifically-substantiated link between gluten sensitivity and ADHD. In many of the studies, however, patients with celiac disease were not distinguished from those who had non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Some research has found that up to 51% of children with gluten sensitivity also have ADHD. The impairment whole grains can have on one’s cognitive abilities is commonly referred to as “grain brain.”
MILK CAN DO THE BODY HARM
Dairy is another common irritant in our modern diet because it also contains a pro-inflammatory, hyper-allergenic protein known as casein. Peptides that result from the incomplete break down of both gluten and casein can have an “opiate-like” effect on the nervous system, including brain fog, restlessness, and sudden changes in behavior. The opiate-like effect of gluten and dairy on the nervous system was first described in children with autism by Dr. Reichect in the 1980’s. In children with ADHD whose digestion is often compromised, the enzymes in their gut are not fully breaking down casein and gluten. The resultant compounds are called casomorphines for casein and gliadomorphines for gluten. Their protein structure is similar to morphine. These proteins get absorbed into the bloodstream through the gut, they cross the blood-brain barrier and bind to opiate receptors in the brain, as well as along the GI tract.
For most people, there’s nothing wrong with periodic consumption of gluten-containing grains and dairy products. As the saying goes, moderation in all things. However, because we’re living in the medieval times of nutritional science, the FDA neglects this basic truth with their recommended daily intake (RDI) of whole grains and dairy products, which completely defies the laws of Nature. Before the advent of industrial farming, which constitutes 99% of our human existence, we ate according to the seasons. Now that the government subsidizes wheat and commissions corporate farmers to grow massive, environmentally destructive monocultures year-round, we are told that the bulk of our everyday diet should consist of wheat. This couldn’t be further from our natural, ancestral eating habits. Our eating habits may have changed, but our genes have not yet caught up.
People should be relying on a rotational diet rather than a habitual diet because variety is what prevents the formation of food intolerances and the ill symptoms commonly associated with proteins. Proteins, like those contained in wheat and milk, are especially important to rotate because of all three macronutrients, proteins are most likely to provoke an immune response that can result in a wide variety of symptoms. The bottom line is we need to return to our ancestral way of eating. Learning how to rotate your foods is a great place to start!
TOXIC FOOD ADDITIVES
In addition to moderating our consumption of inflammatory foods, we also must be cognizant of the chemical additives within our food supply that can trigger symptoms, including neurological problems. There are a wide variety of toxic food additives to be avoided, but given the scope of this article we will limit our discussion to the two most correlated to the cause of ADHD. A complete list of the 10 most common food additives and their associated risks can be found here.
The first food additive to be wary of is glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid, and one form of it is commonly known as MSG (monosodium glutamate). It is a compound many of us know we should avoid, thanks to the popular press, but many of us aren’t exactly sure why. The reason being, glutamate is excitatory to our nervous system; so much so that studies have shown in excess it can cause neuron death! Eating excitatory foods can cause hyperactivity. Although glutamate is needed for proper functioning of our nervous system, most children are getting it in excess with the high amounts of dairy, wheat, and packaged, processed foods they are being fed. Ideally, we want our children’s diet to be varied, anti-inflammatory, natural and nutrient dense.
ARTIFICIAL DYES
Food dyes have been controversial since pediatrician Benjamin Feingold published findings in the 1970s that revealed a link between artificial colors and hyperactive behavior. After a 2007 study in the U.K. showed that artificial colors increased hyperactivity in children, the European Union began requiring disclaimers on any packaged foods containing one of the six commonly used artificial dyes. The disclaimer states, “This product may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” Despite the sizable amount of scientific evidence and the EU’s decision to take regulatory action, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stubbornly maintains artificial food dyes are safe. Call me crazy, but I think it’s more sensible to assume the research is valid than it is to gamble with children’s health by assuming it’s wrong. While the FDA bides its time, you can take action by eliminating artificial dyes from your child’s diet and opting for organic whole foods.
TREAT THE CAUSE NOT THE SYMPTOM
The key to solving any problem lies in understanding its causation. If the cause is identified, a cure can likely be achieved. Drugs counteract the symptoms of disease, but without further intervention, the underlying cause gets neglected. If the cause is identified and eliminated, drug use becomes obsolete. Suppressing symptoms without eliminating their cause is a morbid misuse of medical technology. Technology is supposed to make life more convenient; but only insofar as it does not conflict with our health. And yet, in almost every sphere of life, we find ourselves willing to sacrifice our greatest asset – the promise of a long and healthy life – in exchange for a quick fix. In the modern era, we as a people take better care of our automobiles than our own bodies.
While it’s true that all life on earth pursues the path of least resistance, it is incumbent upon us to refrain from making expedient decisions and to opt for sustainable solutions. In order to do so, we are faced with a most important task: we must roll up our sleeves and get back to the basics by modifying our behaviors and eliminating the toxins that underly our symptoms. By stepping outside the box and rising to the occasion, we can empower ourselves and our loved ones. In the final segment of this series, I will lead by example by outlining how I was able to put knowledge into action and overcome my own ADHD symptoms.