Eli5 how Adderall works
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Think of the ADD brain like a chipmunk. Dopamine, the chemical that makes our brain feel happy, is kind of like a delicious nut.
Most chipmunks have gotten really good at planning and organizing their days – so they have their own steady supply of nuts that come to them every day. They have also learned how to balance their day so that they can hunt for an appropriate amount of nuts relative to their needs.
But this chipmunk, for whatever reason, doesn’t have their own steady supply of nuts. So instead of having the ability to plan out their day on other things, like building shelter or working on projects, they must be constantly on the hunt for nuts.
All day, this chipmunk is searching for nuts. It’s basically all it can think about.
Even worse, sometimes our chipmunk gets so hungry that he can’t finish a hunt. One simple obstacle might be enough for him to decide to try to hunt in a different way, go to a different tree, or just give up all together.
As you can imagine, hunting for nuts all day like this is exhausting.
It would free up a ton of energy and time if our chipmunk just had a nut dispenser. Then they could finally focus on other things, like projects or upgrading their little home.
That being said, our chipmunk is much better at hunting for nuts than many other chipmunks.
With the right conditions, they can sometimes build up a huge supply of nuts.
Buuuuuuttt, having so many nuts can make it difficult to balance hunting and living.
Since they aren’t used to balancing their nut intake, if they do happen to have a large supply of nuts they are likely to expend that supply much quicker too.
After all, having that many nuts is exciting! So exciting that it’s distracting! How can our chipmunk *ever* hunt for more nuts when they have *so many* right here.
Or maybe, if our chipmunk *doesn’t* find the nuts they need, they can end up procrastinating the hunt out of discouragement.
They’ll get so stressed and hungry until finally they can’t take it anymore and finally go on a *super hunt* where they might be up well into the night and next day finding hunts at a voracious pace.
Then they get that big pile again, and well…you know the rest.
Adderall (and other Stimulants) act as a sort of Nut Dispenser with exactly the right amount of nuts that our chipmunk needs to dedicate their energy to other tasks. They might still need to hunt for nuts on their own, but they won’t be so preoccupied with it since they can count on a steady supply of them every day.
As a result, our chipmunk feels less anxiety, is more productive, and isn’t so distracted at the thought of finding nuts.
Where other chipmunks might get a nut dispenser and feel good as well, it’s really more nuts than they need.
They can often end up with weird side effects, since these chipmunks don’t really know how handle so many additional nuts in their routines.
They might end up staying awake all night working on their projects or having fun, because they have the nuts to justify it.
But our ADHD chipmunk goes to bed at a consistent time with their nut dispenser, because they feel less stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious overall. Instead of feeling super excited like other chipmunks might with a nut dispenser, they feel calm, focused, and “normal.”
They now have the time and the energy when they need it, and with the ability to balance it all with their own hunt for nuts – not as important or overwhelming as it once was.
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