Natural Stimulants for ADHD

Over the years, we have used a variety of items to help Munchkin work with her ADHD, as well as, what I use daily to keep my brain in rhythm. For a time, while Samantha attended school she was on a prescribed stimulant. We found that it was effective to help with focus, however, the "rebound" effects were very negative.  

Often, when we hear the word stimulant, we think that it will cause our children to become more hyper, when in fact, for most individuals struggling with ADHD stimulants actually calm the speed of the mind. For example, the ADHD mind is moving at warp speeds, like watching a movie in fast forward. The stimulant will slow the mind to regular watching speed, allowing more time to fully process information and focus on tasks. Then when the stimulant wears off the speed begins to pick up again, until it returns to fast forward. This returning to beginning speed is known as rebound. It can cause some kids to act out because during this transition the brain is flooded with messages and there is no time for the brain to process all of them. 

After we removed Samantha from private school to an unschooling style of learning, we have found that we rarely need a stimulant to help her focus. However, there are a handful of tasks that require extra focus and for those we help with a natural stimulant. In this video I show you the Natural Stimulants that we use in our home and why I have chosen them. 

REMEMBER - if you opt to try a natural stimulant to discuss it with your child's medical professionals first and TRACK the results of which stimulants you try. 

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When working with a natural stimulant you want to track the following: 

• What natural stimulant is effective?
• At what dosage was it effective?
• How long was it effective?
• Did it have any rebound effects? 

The natural stimulant we use for ADHD management is caffeine. Here are the our favorite 5 products:

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1. Avitae Caffeine Water - love this one as it has no sugar in it and helps add more water to the day.
2. Equal Exchange Organic 100% Baking Cocoa Powder - who doesn't love chocolate. I use this for hot cocoa and tons of recipes. 
3. Lily's Dark Chocolate - Again...CHOCOLATE!!!
4. V8 Energy - You can sneak in veggies too. A little heavy on the sugar, but still a great alternative. 
5. Bigelow Organic Green Tea - Can be steeped and mixed into all sorts of beverages or recipes. 
6. Coffee - Kids may not like, unless it so flavored up, its really not coffee anymore, but for me this is my liquid sanity in a cup. 

Do you use a natural stimulant to help manage symptoms of ADHD? If so, which ones?