//// why do people with ADHD function better after 4pm? ////                        

Some theories suggest that the ADHD / ASD brain is actually closer to that of our ancestors than what we call a ‘neurotypical’ brain. Early humans, as “hunter gatherers”, needed to be much more reactive & creative with their thinking than post-industrial humans who are often expected to toil in the same chair for 12 hours straight, repeating the same task until they die. In this type of early human life, *when* you wake up isn’t nearly as relevant as *why* you wake up - you wake up whenever you need to do something, like hunt or weave or dance, and other than that, you can sleep. In this context an ADHD brain makes a lot of sense; consistent time-keeping is irrelevant, hunting inst improved by doing that same thing repeatedly from 9-5, as nature is constanty moving and shifting. An ADHD brain is much more at one with the rhythm of our world.

To break this down further; A neurodiverse brain acts on interest not importance - in other words, if you tell someone with ADHD it is vital that they wake up at 7am in order to get an early train and be at their desk at 9 - they will probably wake up at 9 in a blind panic, and arrive at 11. Why? Because being at a desk at a certain time is incredibly uninteresting and arbitrty, it’s assigned importance comes only from a capitalist society that places value on predicability and efficiency because it sees them as engines for profit (althought this is in fact miguided). Conversley, if you told an ADHD person that they need to wake up at 7am in order to spend 2 hours spray painting a bus / doing some other activity that causes their neurons to fire, they will happily do it for 10 hours without going to the bathroom.
When your brain is driven by interest not importance, the idea of time works differently - trying to force a brain that longs to do whatever / whenever into a structure that demands we do things at the same time every day because that’s what is easiest to manage inevitably leads to those same people waking up at 7am for no reason and mooching around like the walking dead for hours until their brain turns on naturally.

Another theory suggests that people with ADHD work on a 26hr body clock - in other words our entire rhythm is subconciously based on an expectation the day is 2 hours longer than it is, hence being perpetually late and not processing the urgency of doing things when we wake up.




Basically, nobody knows.









Directory:

- So you’re thinking of working with me, god help you

- Making a neurodiverse workplace (aka: buy lots of play-doh)

- I have been living in a cave and don’t know what ADHD or Autism is

- I watched that Ricky Gervais show ‘Derek,’ is that what Autism is like?

- I think I have ADHD and/ or Autism, send help

- Are ADHD & Austism the same thing?

- I cannot function notmally before 4pm, am I autistic?

- My teenager also cannot function normally before 4pm, are they autistic?

- My dog cannot funtion normally before 4pm, is it autistic?

- why do people with ADHD function better after 4pm?

- Is it 4pm now?