When we tend to think “computer games = bad for us”. Usually because they involve sitting still for long periods with no social interaction and eat up time when there’s something more productive to do. However, there is a new generation of games that are good for you, your brain and your ADHD.
Here are 3 I recommend:
Meditation and yoga are great for calming ADHD kids
Like kids on the autism spectrum, kids with ADHD tend to struggle with anxiety. Anxiety can rightly be defined as an excess of mental energy turned inward. An anxious child with ADHD may develop anxiety and compulsions in response to a flood of overactive thoughts or sensory stimulation.
Both mindfulness meditation and yoga act as ways for ADHD to develop mental fitness and ultimately develop a mental anchor against intrusive thoughts that lead to feelings of generalized anxiety or bouts of boredom.
Miitopia
I absolutely loved Miitopia. This was originally a gift for my kids to play on their Nintendo Switch Lite, but I ended up playing it religiously until I finished the game. In Miitopia you are constantly given small and quick tasks, especially when you first enter a new area.
You see, in Miitopia, Nintendo went all-in on the “Mii” bit. You use a Mii to build your character. You use a Mii to build each member of your party. It goes further. Whenever you enter a new area or meet a new character, the game describes the character you are about to meet and then you draw them. That alone gave me little dopamine boosts as the stalwart senior shopkeeper became Betty White. The cowardly little man who wanted to flee the city when danger arrived became Ted Cruz. Building and releasing these characters into the fictional world gave me that quick shot of “I did something” energy. And that’s not even the “play” part of the game.
How did I get here?
I took a look at my apartment and it was destroyed. The dishes hadn’t been washed, the trash hadn’t been taken out, and my apartment looked like it had been trashed by a frat house.
57 hours. I could have started a small business, got fit and so on. Ten minutes after putting the controller down, my ADHD wanted me to pick it up again. Another try. I sighed, deleted everything and realized I had nothing, absolutely nothing to show for those 57 hours.