By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – April 14, 2025
As an ADHD and attention coach, I am often asked whether exercise is good for those with ADHD? The answer is a resounding yes! In fact, if exercise could be bottled into a pill, it would be hailed as the drug of the century—not just for everyone, but especially for those with ADHD.
I’ve noticed something intriguing in my coaching experience, that is, that many adults diagnosed with ADHD later in life say that their symptoms became noticeable about two years after they stopped regular physical activity. Whether due to injury, life changes, or other circumstances, losing that consistent movement seemed to coincide with an increase in ADHD-related challenges.
Exercise might take effort, but the payoff is enormous. It helps you focus, improves your mood, promotes better sleep, and supports overall well-being. Plus, it’s the ultimate natural remedy for both ADHD and depression.
Of course, we know exercise is good for ADHD. But let’s be real—it’s effortful. It takes time, energy, and planning to incorporate it into your routine. ADHD brains often resist repetitive or boring tasks, which means that finding ways to make exercise engaging is key.
In fact, exercise is one of the most effective non-prescription treatments for ADHD. It boosts dopamine and norepinephrine levels, the very chemicals that ADHD brains often need more of. It helps with focus, sleep, mood, and overall mental health. As a natural antidepressant, it’s a powerhouse for your body and brain.
So, if you’re asking what’s the best thing you can do for your ADHD, my answer is simple—EXERCISE. Find a way to make it work for you and stick with it. For more insight on the connection between ADHD and exercise, please check out my video, The Best ADHD Prescription – Exercise.
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome, everybody, to this edition of Attention Talk Video. I’m your host, Attention and ADHD Coach Jeff Copper, and I’m here today to talk about ADHD and exercise. Is exercise good for those with ADHD? In the most simple way, if exercise could be put into a pill, it would be the drug of the century for everyone, and especially of those with ADHD. It’s probably the single-best non-prescriptive treatment that one with ADHD can do.
I’ve done interviews with Dr. John Ratey on his book, Spark, and talk with countless people that have ADHD. Many of them admittedly don’t take medications. They actually medicate or they self-medicate with exercise. Rob Tudisco is one who’s a very big ADHD community asset. He’s a lawyer, advocates for the community, runs a bunch of marathons, and there’s a period of time that he was training for marathons basically because he didn’t have to take medications.
It’s without a doubt probably the best thing that you can do. The problem with it, it’s very effortful and you’ve got to find some time to make time to go do it, but I get this question often, “What should I do to help my ADHD?” I encourage exercise is the best thing you can do. Anecdotally, in other stories, it’s been fascinating to me the number of adults that I’ve coached later in life that were diagnosed with ADHD, oddly enough, about two years after they were no longer about to run, whether they got injured or they were in an accident, or they moved in a situation it was more difficult for them to run.
The question is, is exercise good for ADHD? Yes, across the board. I think all the experts agree, and like I say, it’s probably the single-best thing that you can do that’s non-prescriptive to help your ADD.
My tips to you, though, is if you’re trying to do it, ADHD is, excuse me, exercise is a repetitive, boring, routine task. You need to find a way to couple it with something else that’s more interesting like doing it with somebody else, doing it while you’re watching TV or reading a book or some type of adventure. Anyway, if you have ADHD and you want to help your lot, I really encourage you to be diligent and find a way to exercise. It will help you focus. It will help you sleep. It will help you concentrate. It’s healthy and it’s also, as an aside, it’s probably the body’s most natural antidepressant.
With that, we hope you’ve enjoyed this tip. Subscribe to Attention Talk Video at the button just kind of below this, and we hope you’ve enjoyed this episode.