Caffeine & ADHD

Hello everyone! How are we halfway through the year already!? It literally felt as though everyday from NYD has just flown by.

As the above title states, I will be talking about how caffeine & ADHD work well together. And as luck would have it, this article on WebMD explains EXACTLY that! Obviously, as I intend on maintaining this blog to professional standards, I will be explaining everything into my own words, as I don't want to be lazy by just copying & pasting. This was another article which I have been saving for a long while, (my unforeseen absence period) in case if I'm having trouble thinking of anything creative for me to publish onto my site.

  

Overview: It's not uncommon that people living with ADHD tend to display compulsive behaviour. If we look at drinks for instance, people living with ADHD often crave on caffeine. (Any in the above picture) They have a tendency to crave caffeine, mainly because of the excessive energy effects that comes with it.

It's also not uncommon for people living with ADHD to eat/drink something to help them maintain their focus throughout the day. From what I've gathered in the article, and from a couple of in-person witnesses as well, caffeine is popularly associated with ADHD. This is because that caffeine can become additive, and ADHD folk have been known to create addictive behaviours to anything possible.

Here's my source link if anyone is interested to read through: https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/adhd-caffeine

*This post actually got started on the previous day (28/6/23), but ended up being pushed back to complete today (29/6/23) due to me being out working*

The psychology of addictive smartphone behaviour

Yes, welcome back to yet another small, but insightful research project of mine! I say small, as this is something which I've only been doing research on for a short period of time. I did ensure to scroll down slowly though, so I could take in every single word of what I was reading to help my head process everything.

What I've chosen to publish for this post, is an inspiration from a picture I had come across on one of my psychology groups on Facebook, and I said to myself that I'll get round to making a post on my blogging website about it at some point. I thought this today would be my ideal time for me to do it! Although I had the picture, I needed to find a piece of research that would link well with the picture. I had typed in "psychology & smartphones" in the Google search bar, which took me to this article that came up 1st in the results page: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.573473/full Here's my evaluation:

*This was the picture I had come across on one of my psychology groups on Facebook*

Overview: It is without any doubt that people like to spend their boredom time on their smartphones. I for 1, can even happily hold my hands up to this as well. We like to use our smartphones for the purpose of connecting with other people around us. That being said, most of our modern social life in this day & age revolves around communicating/connecting with people on social media. While social media can be a good purpose for connecting with other people, it can also become too addictive by constantly having to feel the need to check it all of the time. If you're curious to know more about this, see: The psychology behind social media It's not just social media that can cause smartphone addiction though, using a smartphone to continuously replace basic tasks can even put an enormous strain on our mental health. (Mine included) When I say basic tasks, I'm referring to checking the time, checking emails & doing work on it. It would be definitely safe to say that smartphones are taking over mental health, and that is not good at all.

Evidence: On the subject of communicating to one another, a smartphone may seem like a perfect use to do so, as you could have friends who could be going through a difficult time, and they would love somebody to communicate to them. Unfortunately, they could be too far away to communicate to a friend in person, which is why smartphones can provide the most affective use to communicate with people, regardless of whereabouts they are in the world. Highlighting social media for a few seconds, it can be a good way for anybody looking into the creative industry by creating their own content. Moreover, creating popular content on social media can help you to earn money.

Now for the downsides. It has been proven that teenagers' mental health have typically been effected the most by smartphone addiction, as they feel the need to crave their use of social media for the benefit of socially connecting with others. This can also include craving to seek support from their social media followers in a bid to make them feel valued. Although a smartphone my not seem like much to begin with, but the more that people, especially teenagers, mindlessly play about on their smartphone, the more they are at risk from dysfunctional systems. This is just something else besides poor mental health. 

If excessive smartphone use eventually gets to the point of becoming too addictive, then it causes aggressive behaviour to come out of oneself due to their addictive use of a smartphone interfering with their life in general. Endless use of a smartphone could very well be easily done if repeating its excessive use too often. Doing so can make your mind go numb by not even thinking about doing it. This is where the depression comes into play, as your mind will get bored of doing the same thing every time, but feel like there is no escaping the addiction at the same time.

Conclusion: All smartphone addictions have a different story to tell. Meaning, they are not all the same. In theory, it really all depends on what way people behave addictively on their smartphones. Regardless of what smartphone addictive behaviour, they can all have poor mindset consequences at the end.

Why does eating a variety of different foods give you different thoughts?

Hello one and all! It's good to be back blogging once again.

Only because I've been keeping extra priotized with revision for my course this academic year lately, which can be quite full on at times.

Anyway, hope you're all doing well and enjoying the autumn so far.

This is a topic I've been looking into this week, so I thought about distributing it out to you guys, as you may find it interesting, as well as being able to take away some learned information too.

Now, you're probably thinking to yourself: "Why this picture?! It looks crazy!"😂

But... I can only assure you, this is a pictured definition of what foods THAT person is thinking about, when THEY'RE in a calm mood.

As for myself, I like to think about egg when I'm in a calm mood, as the taste of it makes me feel healthy and nutritious. It's also good for you in general.😊

What thoughts go through your mind when eating different foods?

Let's say, you like to crave on pizza, therefore meaning, eating pizza gives you these good thoughts that you never want to let go, such as: "Ahh, this is the life. I hope it never ends"

The problem is, if that inner message keeps on repeating itself over and over, it will eventually tell your mind, that pizza is the only thing keeping your happiness sane. It then becomes an addiction. You can choose to do this with any type of food.

In contrast, try another piece of food which make you experience a more positive emotion, such as nostalgia. You may like to have something, you haven't had since you were a kid, and it happens to be something you liked to eat a lot back then. I also like to do to this from time to time, and it feels so refreshing to your mind!

Or, you might want to feel energized, by eating a banana, cereal or even a protein bar. (Grenade) These foods will tell your mind to find a way to be active for a long period of time, so your mind will therefore tell you to use that fueled energy, by running it all out. I guess you can refer this as to hyperactivity.

Final conclusion: It is always a good thing to experience a variety of thoughts and emotions, when having different foods, as they keep a steady line on your health and wellbeing.

Just in case if you're not familiar of the saying: "Eat well for less" This is the definition displayed on the iconic food plate.

I've pretty much covered everything now.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through my extensive post. Please do feel free to comment down below or talk to me in person.

Have a great weekend!

My helpful research source: Food and Mood

The psychology behind social media

Hello all, Happy Sunday! I hope it's been a good one for you, especially with the hot weather today.😎

Since my last post, I've been keeping myself occupied, by staying off the internet and going out walking, which is what will be bringing up today's topic of social media.

What is social media?

Social media is a multi-communication app, which allows us to connect with friends and family, by making your own posts, pictures and stories to share online with them.

Even though, it may be fun and enjoyable to use for posting about your happy moments for everyone to see, such as going out travelling, clubbing or just hanging out with your friends and family etc. It can otherwise be very well known for "Controlling your happiness" (This is a quote, which has been taken from a friend of mine's documentary that'll be displayed at the end of the discussion)

Going back to my last point, social media sometimes has the capacity to control your happiness, especially when you're feeling depressed and bored, by saying to yourself: "Do you know what, I feel like just scrolling through my social media feeds, to see what everybody else has been doing, so that it makes me feel happy" 

Doing this, only shows that you have no interest on focusing on yourself, by looking into other people's lives on social media, which will then lead your mindset to start "Comparing yourself with other people" (Another quote taken from the upcoming documentary) As you judge yourself where you stand in your life progression, against other people in theirs. This is when your mind starts saying: "I feel like I'm doing A LOT better in life then these people, as I've got many pictures, as well as posts on there, which always gets likes and comments. Whereas, this person is boring, as they can never be bothered to post anything"

Don't get me wrong, whenever people like and comment on your posts, it does feel "Rewarding" (Another quote) to you, as those people do genuinely appreciate what you are doing in the making of that post, as well as yourself for that matter, as it makes YOU appreciate what you actually physically do in life, in order for you to receive that amount of praise. I always feel the same way too when this happens on my social media.

Finally and foremost, it is NEVER a good idea to spend lots of long hours on social media everyday, as it drains all of your productive time, which you could be physically doing something towards your goal or hobby, as these are the things you're interested in to make you become into a successful person one day in your life. Plus, it drains your mental health, by constantly looking into your eye-damaging phone screen, so that it brainwashes your mind, by making it think there's nothing fun to do in the outside world anymore, and you'd rather be indoors constantly surfing the internet 24/7, as this becomes your new favourite form of entertainment.

I think I've pretty much concluded everything in that topic now.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read through this long and extensive post today, and as promised, here is my friend's awesome documentary about his outtake on social media.

The topmost reason I wanted to share it with you all in this post, is that he words every single thing about my OWN use of social media, meaning, I couldn't word it any better, as he explains everything. I'll leave you to enjoy.

Documentary: Detached

If you want to see of more of what my friend does, then click on: Nicholas Stone

What happens to your mind whilst craving fast food?

Hey everyone, I hope you're all enjoying your weekend, even though the weather has not been great right now. In this post, I thought about answering a somewhat curious question, which some of you may have or may not have asked.

I know it's good to have fast food every now and again as a treat, but it's NEVER a good thing to have fast food EVERY SINGLE DAY.

At the end of this post, I will attach an educational video explaining why.

Why do people love fast food so much?

For one, they are popular grown restaurant chains originated in the US, (I'm talking about McDonalds, KFC and Burger King etc.) since then, they have become popular restaurant chains in the UK, Europe, Africa, Australia and even China. This was because these companies made millions enough money for other restaurant chains to expand.

Secondly and foremost, they use the same recipe over and over again which is extremely unhealthy, but does taste horrifically good in the way which they make the food. If this makes sense to anyone?

What happens to your mind after eating fast food and what does it do?

After taking just one mouthful of food, your mind goes through all of these "nice thoughts" as you cherish the mouthful of that horrifically good food by saying: "Ohhh, this is so good, I love this taste so much, I never want it to end!"

After finishing your food, your mind is suddenly nagging you: "I must have more of that food, as it's so good" This is because it wants to cherish the taste forever and ever, so therefore, you waste more money, all because you now have an addiction to fast food. More to the point, you're also in the position where you don't know when to stop yourself anymore, as your newly fast food addiction has taken over your WHOLE mindset and craving fast food is all you can think about.

To make a long story short, this was the EXACT reason why I chose to stop eating fast food all together.

As mentioned, here is the attached video. It is a documentary by the way.

 

Thank you for reading through. As always, please do feel free to share your thoughts on my posts in the comments or with me in person and I shall see you all soon!