Coffee is the mainstay of treatment for the inattentive symptoms that run rampant in our house.
This is an amazing drug that has been around for years.
Coffee has been recently shown to reduce your risk of developing both Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
There are even scientific reports stating that there are fewer patients with ADHD symptoms in South America because both adults and children drink lots of coffee in this part of the world!! Research studies show that caffeine helps with working memory as well as with maintaining focus.
It is thought that caffeine blocks Adenosine receptors in your body and stimulates the production of adrenaline and dopamine.
Common ADHD medications work by stimulating the production of dopamine.
A recent study from the Journal Brain Cognition published in September of this year found that caffeine improved alerting and executive control functioning in a dose-response manner.
The best results were obtained using a dose of 400mg.
The adrenaline and dopamine actions of caffeine have been well documented but the Adenosine blocking effects are less well studied.
A recent review of studies on Adenosine and caffeine confirmed that caffeine (a nonselective adenosine receptor antagonist) and selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonists can improve memory performance in rodents evaluated through different tasks.
These studies confirm the positive roll that caffeine can play in the treatment of ADHD.
Caffeine is present in many drinks available today.
A 5 oz cup of ground brewed coffee contains 85 mg of caffeine, instant coffee contains 60 mg, and Decaf coffee contains 3 mg.
A 5 oz cup of black or green tea contains about 30 mg of caffeine.
Cola's have about 18 mg of caffeine per 6 oz serving, and a can of Red Bull contains 80 mg of caffeine.
You can find a link with the different caffeine amounts in different drinks and food here: http://www.
cspinet.
org/new/cafchart.
htm Caffeine is considered safe in doses as high as 400mg for adults and 250mg for children.
I have found it to be a life saver for my primarily inattentive son and I.
Brain Cogn.
2009 Sept Caffeine Modulates attention network function, Brunye TT, Mahoney CR, Lieberman HR, Taylor HA Other ADHD tools that can be pulled right from your kitchen counter can be found here: