ADHD was previously thought to only affect school-aged children, but recently more adults (especially women) are being diagnosed. While symptoms like hyperactivity often decrease with age, other symptoms such as brain fog, motivation and forgetfulness tend to continue into adulthood. While ADHD doesn’t typically worsen with age, symptoms fluctuate and transform over time, and can seem more amplified due to the challenges and demands of adulthood. Cognitive decline and increased stress can also exacerbate difficulties. Take a look at ADHD symptoms that get worse with age and why it’s important.
9 ADHD Symptoms that Get Worse with Age
ADHD itself doesn’t typically get worse with age, however, certain symptoms may seem to intensify for a number of different reasons. Life gets more complicated and demanding as you get older. You have more responsibilities that have real consequences if you don’t follow through with them. You have to balance work, friends, family life, and social obligations, as well as household responsibilities. This can result in increased stress and overwhelm which can exacerbate ADHD symptoms in adulthood. Here are the symptoms that may get worse as you get older.
1. Working Memory
Working memory is the ability to store information temporarily while your brain is busy with a different task. Problems with working memory can make it harder to manage daily tasks, follow instructions and stay organized. Working memory generally declines with age and this decline is related to changes in dopamine levels, which are crucial for focus and memory. Since the ADHD brain already produces lower levels of dopamine than a neurotypical brain, this can lead to more pronounced working memory challenges as you age.
2. Inattention
Sustaining attention is a persistent challenge for those with ADHD from childhood into adulthood, and this is particularly true for women, who are more likely to present inattentive ADHD in contrast to the more hyperactive male presentation. Women are also better at masking symptoms due to societal gender norms, resulting in under diagnosis and untreated ADHD. As life’s demands grow over time, this leads to increased challenges, including inattention.
3. Brain Fog
Many individuals with ADHD experience brain fog on a daily basis. Brain fog affects your ability to think clearly, focus, concentrate and remember. You may experience feelings of sluggishness and exhaustion, as well as a general haze around your ability to think clearly. As we age, our brain goes through physical changes, which can lead to slower thinking, reduced working memory, and difficulty with multitasking, which all contribute to brain fog. This cognitive impairment, along with declining dopamine levels can cause existing brain fog to worsen for those with ADHD.
4. Focus
You may remember getting lost in movies or books for hours when you were a kid, while now the thought of watching an entire movie seems unbearable. Natural cognitive decline can impact memory, attention control and cognitive flexibility, which are all areas that are already impacted by ADHD. There are also more distractions these days, whether it’s social media, texting, the internet, your kids- there’s always something else demanding your attention, making it hard to focus.
5. Motivation
You may find your motivation to do things and get tasks done has gotten worse as you’ve gotten older. Dopamine plays a big part in motivation as well as reward processing. As the dopamine system naturally declines with age, it can exacerbate challenges with motivation. You may feel overwhelmed by simple chores or decisions, find it harder to get work done, or only be able to start tasks under extreme pressure.
6. Forgetfulness
It’s natural to experience changes in memory and focus as you age, but when you have ADHD, these challenges tend to feel more intense. You may constantly misplace everyday items like your keys and wallet, forget appointments or important dates, or struggle to recall details of a conversation. Natural cognitive decline can make it more challenging for ADHDers to manage their already-existing symptoms, which can lead to a perceived worsening of forgetfulness.
7. Disorganization
For those with ADHD, challenges with organization can affect you for your whole life, and staying organized only gets harder as life gets busier and more stressful. Disorganization can manifest as clutter and the inability to keep a clean space, struggling to manage a budget or difficulty organizing activities. As responsibilities pile up (work, family, friends, etc.), the inability to manage them can lead to frustration and burnout.
8. Sleep Problems
Sleep problems are common in individuals with ADHD and tend to get worse with age. You may experience trouble falling asleep due to racing thoughts and difficulty “shutting off” the brain, as well as sleep disorders like insomnia. You may notice you never wake up feeling properly rested and that you constantly experience poor quality sleep. Without quality sleep, other ADHD symptoms, like focus, memory and mood can worsen and seem more unbearable.
9. Time Blindness
Time blindness is characterized by difficulties perceiving and managing time and is closely tied to executive dysfunction. It manifests as symptoms such as losing track of time, the inability to estimate time and constantly being late. You may notice these struggles becoming more pronounced as you face more complex schedules and responsibilities in adulthood. While your parents may have helped you manage your time or ensure you weren’t late for things when you were younger, you may find it hard to do it on your own.
If you have ADHD, you may feel as though some symptoms have gotten worse over time. Although the disorder itself doesn’t get worse, increased stress, decreased cognitive function and greater responsibilities in adulthood can all contribute to the perceived worsening of symptoms. It’s important to work with your doctor to come up with a treatment plan to manage your symptoms as you age.
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