Alcohol: that sweet elixir that can feel us with a sense of empowerment or get us acting like an absolute idiot. I’ve never been particularly enamoured with it myself, I mean yes, I love an occasional glass of gin, but I could go weeks or even months without drinking any.
Interestingly, there is a strong link between ADHD and alcohol. Sadly, many teenagers and adults with ADHD turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Just like anything the alcohol is being used to mask something. 25% of people who are diagnosed with substance and alcohol abuse, are found to have ADHD.
‘If you drink just the right amount it can actually slow down your processing speeds.’
ADHD Girl
However, I have found that there is an upside to drinking alcohol when you have ADHD, that no one really talks about. The fact that alcohol slows down reaction speeds for a lot of people because it affects processing speeds. For many people, this is a bad thing because it impairs their ability to think of things normally. However, for people with ADHD, if you drink just the right amount it can actually slow down your processing speeds to that of a normal processing speed.
I have noticed that when I have a few alcoholic beverages at the night time, the next day I wake up and I have complete peace. My mind is finally operating at a level where I am not filled with a constant need to do several things at once and that can be very addictive. Don’t get me wrong; am I going to start drinking my troubles away? Probably not! As much as I love the feeling of having a sense of peace inside my own head, I don’t think a good way to achieve that peace is by downing unhealthy amounts of alcohol.
