Eat a BIG BREAKFAST. The egg part, of that big breakfast delivers a supply of tyrosine to your brain, which helps your brain STOP, stopping ADHD tendencies

The modern world is DISTRACTING.

Keeping focused on the task at hand, is challenging at the best of times, for people with ADHD tendencies, it is almost impossible. Being able to STOP the frenetic mind drift, is the holy grail of productivity. And getting the job done ………….is the key to success, at school, in business, in life.

So how do you get more focus ?

It is easy to believe that “focus” is a biological trait you inherit………… if you received the “wrong” gene package, you’re at a distinct disadvantage.

Your options………

• Flit through life, like a bee on speed
• Sit down long enough to become a master of the art of meditation.
• Medicate. Drugs known to help hit the brake on distracted thinking include Ritalin ® and Modafinil®?
• Eat a BIG breakfast.

Eat a BIG BREAKFAST – could it really be that simple ?

EGGactly

The egg part, of that big breakfast, delivers a supply of tyrosine to your brain and tyrosine improves the ability of your brain to STOP and think….

Do I really want to do THIS right now ? Or should I just keep doing what I am currently doing ?

Exactly what you need, if you have ADHD tendencies.

This is the finding of a group of researchers from Leiden University, who used a computer simulation to test volunteers ability to engage in response inhibition i.e. stopping to THINK.

Stopping task

The researchers had volunteers repeatedly respond to the appearance of an arrow on a computer screen. When the arrow was green, they needed to react immediately, by hitting the matching arrow key on the computer keyboard.

Every now and again, a red arrow flashed across the screen. The response to the red arrow – no contact with the keyboard i.e. STOPPING.

To stop in the midst of the DOING, is taxing for the brain. It has to hit the brake and engage in response inhibition, to interrupt the pattern.

Hitting the brake

The team had their volunteers do the test under two sets of circumstances.

On one occasion they drank plain orange juice and hour before the test, on a second occasion they drank orange juice that had been spiked with tyrosine, an hour before the test.

When they consumed tyrosine, the volunteers were much better at stopping, their doing skills remained unchanged. The tyrosine seemed to help the brain stop and think, the stopping to think, helps the brain avoid doing “unwanted” things.

Such as “flitting”………….

The dopamine factory

Flitting from pillar to post, is often caused by a shortage of dopamine, deep in the recesses of the brain. Being able to PAY ATTENTION requires adequate levels of dopamine…..

Tyrosine is the raw material the body uses to make dopamine. As with any manufacturing process, the greater the supply of raw material, the more of the final product can be produced. So………. consuming tyrosine, ensures the brain has what it needs to make all the dopamine, it needs.

Since tyrosine is an amino acid, anytime you include protein in a meal, you will be getting a little tyrosine. EGGS are a particularly good source of tyrosine, so is spinach and cheese.

Tyrosine delivery 

If you’ve got a BIG day ahead……………..DO a BIG BREAFAST.

The BIG BREAFAST will provide your brain with the raw material it needs, to churn out sufficient quantities of dopamine. And the more dopamine, will help you do the things you NEED to do and might just help you stop yourself doing the things that you DON’T NEED TO DO.

It’s the DON’T NEED TO DO THINGS that slash your productivity………

PS. If the thought of a BIG BREAKFAST gives you indigestion – you may need to ease into it.

Further reading

Use body chemistry to improve your wheeling and dealing	Eating breakfast is the SMART THING to do	Eating protein saves your muscles while the fat cells burn

Want to think better ?

Subscribe to E-spoons, to get e-mail updates once a month to learn how to create better brain chemistry.

NOTE : Privacy & spam policy. Spoonful of Science will not rent, trade or sell the e-mail list to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any time by following the unsubscribe link.