Why is everyone talking about ADHD?
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Why more adults are starting to recognise this in themselves and how you can support
yourself if this resonates.
You sit down to reply to an email that should take five minutes. Instead, you make tea, tidy
something that didn’t need tidying, scroll on your phone, start another task, and somehow
never send the email at all.
Then later, you spend three hours deeply focused on something else and forget to eat, drink, or move.
Sound familiar?
As a nurse and health coach, I increasingly hear women describing patterns like these. While I am not an ADHD specialist, more adults, particularly women, are starting to recognise themselves in conversations around attention, focus, overwhelm, procrastination, and mental overload.
For years, ADHD was mainly associated with hyperactive young boys. This was certainly the
case during my long school nurse career. We now understand it can look very different in
adults, especially women, who were never identified because they coped well on the
surface, achieved academically, or internalised the struggle rather than expressing it
outwardly. What has changed is not that ADHD has suddenly appeared everywhere, but
that the language around it has expanded, so that more people are able to recognise
patterns in themselves that previously had no clear explanation.
What I often hear is not lack of intelligence or ability, but difficulty with follow-through,
prioritising, starting tasks, managing mental clutter, or sustaining attention on things that feel repetitive or unstimulating.
One of the reasons this can feel confusing is that we may be able to focus brilliantly on
things that are interesting, while struggling with everyday admin or routine tasks. It is less
about laziness or lack of discipline and more about how the brain responds to motivation,
reward, and stimulation.
Whether these patterns relate to ADHD, stress, burnout, hormones, or simply modern life,
there are some practical habits that can help support focus.
Food and Energy
Attention and focus require energy. Long gaps without eating, irregular meals, or reliance on sugar or caffeine, can contribute to fluctuations in energy that make concentration and
decision-making more difficult.
Regular meals with adequate protein can help create more stable energy across the day.
Nothing extreme, just more predictable input. (For specific nutrition support, please speak to a qualified nutritionist).
Sleep – Prioritise this.
I can’t say this enough. Poor sleep affects focus, emotional regulation, memory, and
decision-making. Consistency matters more than perfection. Small habits around sleep
routines often make a noticeable difference.
Simple Structure
When everything feels important, the brain can become overloaded. More complicated
systems or lists are not always the answer but rather, starting with one task, one decision, or one small action works better than trying to overhaul everything at once.
Many women notice these patterns more strongly during PMS, perimenopause, or
menopause, when hormonal shifts can affect sleep, mood, focus, and cognition.
For some people, a formal ADHD assessment can provide clarity and support. For others,
simply understanding these patterns can reduce self-criticism and help them work with their brain rather than against it.
If parts of this resonate with you, it does not mean something is wrong with you. It may simply mean you need more support, more structure, more rest, or different strategies than the ones you have been using.
And that is a worthwhile place to start.
If you have any questions, please get in contact.
Carrie Cannon Health Coach
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