Sensory Stacking for ADHD Brains

ADHD Brians don’t have the same amount of dopamine neurotransmitters that neurotypicals have. We have to both not do the things that reduce our dopamine and do the things that increase it.

One way to do this is by focusing on senses. Use Sensory Stacking to increase dopamine through music, tactile tools, scents, and nature.

Listening to music/tones/beats that we intensity like can increase dopamine. This makes sense to me, as I learned in college through trial and error that rhythmic beats, and tones, early white noise machines, a noisy coffee shop… helped me focus. Today I use a wide range of music, tones, beats, rhythms, apps, etc. to help me engage more readily, and stay engaged, in things I have to do but don't have high interest in.

We can increase dopamine through other sensory avenues to support focus on something we don’t want to do. We can stack/layer them through different senses to keep the dopamine levels from crashing. Here's one stack example: Music/Sound + smelling some essential oils + a physiology spike by putting your face in ice water or jumping in a cold plunge + working outside while listening to and seeing nature.

Pick below from the first meeting of a local ADHD support group that I started.