Understanding and managing the adrenaline response cycle is crucial for individuals with ADHD to avoid crashes and set effective boundaries.
Prioritizing proactive and constructive recovery can prevent prolonged unproductive downtime and enhance overall productivity in the long run.
Deep dives
The Adrenaline Response Cycle and Living with ADHD
Living with ADHD often involves feeling beholden to the adrenaline response cycle, which consists of a delay, intense activity, crash, and recovery. This cycle can lead to struggles with procrastination and avoidance. Many individuals with ADHD become tired of this cycle and the cost of the crash and recovery periods. Some may even seek ways to stay in the intense activity phase, mistaking it for productive hyperfocus. However, it is important to understand and manage the cycle to avoid crashes and effectively set boundaries. Recovery plays a crucial role, and it is beneficial to prioritize constructive recovery that fills up the tank rather than non-constructive recovery periods.
Boundary Setting and the Value of Time
Boundaries are not static and change with the different phases of the adrenaline response cycle. In the delay phase, when there is no urgent task, the value of time decreases, and individuals may find themselves saying yes and giving away their time and bandwidth. However, as soon as something urgent comes up, boundaries are reinforced, and time becomes too valuable to give away freely. It is essential to understand your commitments and what you are willing to give to avoid crashes and overwhelm. By negotiating expectations and clarifying needs, it becomes possible to manage boundaries effectively, avoid crashes, and achieve mutual goals without sacrificing personal well-being.
Recovery without Crashing and Valuing Constructive Rest
Recovery is an integral part of managing the adrenaline response cycle. If recovery is only initiated by a crash, it can lead to prolonged periods of unproductive downtime. It is important to proactively prioritize recovery on your own terms, engaging in activities that fill you up and provide renewal. By differentiating between productivity and constructiveness, individuals can allow themselves to take time for activities that may not be traditionally considered productive but are constructive and beneficial for mental and emotional well-being. By setting firm boundaries around recovery and valuing constructive rest, it is possible to maintain balance, avoid crashes, and enhance overall productivity in the long run.
Ash and Cam continue to look at the dynamic nature of boundary creation and management by revisiting the very popular Adrenaline Response Cycle from Episode 4. The hosts share how our boundaries naturally adjust as a result of our current mode of activity. For so many of us with ADHD our daily mode is governed by the ARC Model – when we are beholden to the urgency of the current big signal. This urgency elicits an adrenaline and dopamine response that allows us to access our task management network and engage with our work. Ash and Cam actually focus more on the periods of the cycle other than the intense activity period, when we are enjoying a state of hyper-focus.
Asher shares how he has learned to develop healthy boundaries around his own recovery periods, distinguishing healthy recovery time from post-crash recovery time. We often put so much focus on production and hyper-focus , we don’t realize the cost of a prolonged crash/recovery sequence. Ash reshares his Hoth rebel base metaphor for recovery periods he had little agency over. Finally, Ash shares a personal example of how he actively managed boundaries around a big signal that in the past would have had him jettison all other obligations and commitments and would result in a big crash and long recovery. He discusses effectively communicating needs, clarifying ‘the ask’ and managing expectations, all the while seeing himself ‘in the picture’.
