If you didn’t know, people with ADHD (and Autism) have problems with interoception, your internal perception of your body and its states, though ADHD and Autism can both affect it differently. I like Cleveland Clinic’s description, though I wouldn’t say it’s prescriptive to everyone with ADHD/Autism or that it will always be the same way for those who do experience it.
Autism . Interoception accuracy (how correct you are at identifying feelings) is low. For example, it might be hard for you to regulate or express your emotions. You might also have trouble identifying bodily needs, like hunger.
ADHD . Interoception attention (how often you notice signals) is strong but you may have trouble acting on those signals. For example, you feel thirsty but can’t decide what you want to drink.
It could be that you simply don’t even notice your body saying you have to eat or go to the bathroom because you’re hyperfocused on something, you mix up hunger with thirst, or it could be that you notice but can’t bring yourself to do something about it.
Either way, ADHD and Autism can both affect how you understand the state of your body. That is not the same as your impulse control, desires, cravings, or planning skills. You can listen to your body saying it’s hungry, be tempted to get the high-dopamine cookies out, but make a sandwich instead.
Listening to your body is NOT the same as doing exactly what your brain wants. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy or always possible to actually do what’s best for yourself when your brain is actively working against you, but I think that painting listening to your body as something that fundamentally means giving up control to your impulses is just plain reductive and stupid.
If anything, choosing not to listen to your body can mean you don’t listen to signals that could prevent those unwanted behaviors. For the longest time I just ate as many treats as I could because I felt as though I couldn’t stop myself, and eating sugar just felt too good, until I eventually realized that it always gave me a stomachache and made me feel sluggish, so now I can more readily stop myself by comparing my current state (no treat, feeling fine) with my possible future state (momentary treat, stomachache for the rest of the day), and decide that maybe I shouldn’t have my 10th cookie of the day 💀
I spent YEARS putting myself through pain while overeating unhealthy food because I simply didn’t pay enough attention to my body to realize that I didn’t always feel this way… until I began overeating treats that day. And now that I’m medicated, if I don’t pay attention to my body, I won’t realize I should be hungry and I won’t eat food until the evening when I’ve been running off 400 calories all day.
The 400 calorie day sounds like me before I started calorie counting, to make sure I at least eat a minimum of 1500 calories. I just don’t notice when I should eat, and then food is hard to put together so I put it off.
Drink, on the other hand, I’m good at. I’m up to maybe 3 liters a day because salty water helps my circulation and makes me feel good.
Your story about overeating sweets and feeling like crap and not putting it together… that reminds me of taking a daily multivitamin with my lunch, then consistently feeling so very sick to my stomach an hour later. Took me maybe 2 weeks to figure out the pill was the problem. (I went back to Flintstones with iron, no problem. I’m hesitant to try an adult multivitamin again because I had such a bad reaction before. Plus, I like chewable pills.)
If you didn’t know, people with ADHD (and Autism) have problems with interoception, your internal perception of your body and its states, though ADHD and Autism can both affect it differently. I like Cleveland Clinic’s description, though I wouldn’t say it’s prescriptive to everyone with ADHD/Autism or that it will always be the same way for those who do experience it.
It could be that you simply don’t even notice your body saying you have to eat or go to the bathroom because you’re hyperfocused on something, you mix up hunger with thirst, or it could be that you notice but can’t bring yourself to do something about it.
Either way, ADHD and Autism can both affect how you understand the state of your body. That is not the same as your impulse control, desires, cravings, or planning skills. You can listen to your body saying it’s hungry, be tempted to get the high-dopamine cookies out, but make a sandwich instead.
Listening to your body is NOT the same as doing exactly what your brain wants. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy or always possible to actually do what’s best for yourself when your brain is actively working against you, but I think that painting listening to your body as something that fundamentally means giving up control to your impulses is just plain reductive and stupid.
If anything, choosing not to listen to your body can mean you don’t listen to signals that could prevent those unwanted behaviors. For the longest time I just ate as many treats as I could because I felt as though I couldn’t stop myself, and eating sugar just felt too good, until I eventually realized that it always gave me a stomachache and made me feel sluggish, so now I can more readily stop myself by comparing my current state (no treat, feeling fine) with my possible future state (momentary treat, stomachache for the rest of the day), and decide that maybe I shouldn’t have my 10th cookie of the day 💀
I spent YEARS putting myself through pain while overeating unhealthy food because I simply didn’t pay enough attention to my body to realize that I didn’t always feel this way… until I began overeating treats that day. And now that I’m medicated, if I don’t pay attention to my body, I won’t realize I should be hungry and I won’t eat food until the evening when I’ve been running off 400 calories all day.
And then there’s my body:
"Drink. Water. Always.
Also sometimes Whiskey, and 1-2 ‘caffeine’ a day, but have a water open at the same time."
It’s in my hand as I type this…
The 400 calorie day sounds like me before I started calorie counting, to make sure I at least eat a minimum of 1500 calories. I just don’t notice when I should eat, and then food is hard to put together so I put it off.
Drink, on the other hand, I’m good at. I’m up to maybe 3 liters a day because salty water helps my circulation and makes me feel good.
Your story about overeating sweets and feeling like crap and not putting it together… that reminds me of taking a daily multivitamin with my lunch, then consistently feeling so very sick to my stomach an hour later. Took me maybe 2 weeks to figure out the pill was the problem. (I went back to Flintstones with iron, no problem. I’m hesitant to try an adult multivitamin again because I had such a bad reaction before. Plus, I like chewable pills.)