One of the most prominent struggles with ADHD is remembering. It’s not a matter of caring too little; it’s rooted in how the ADHD brain processes, organizes, and stores memories.
It affects nearly every aspect of our lives.
Leaving school assignments at home
Dropping responsibilities at work
Missing due dates for things we need to pay
Forgetting important details our partner wants or needs us to remember
It can be incredibly frustrating because even the things we know are important and need to be committed to memory can be easily lost. Again, it's not a case of forgetting on purpose, our brains genuinely take more effort to retain information and commit it to long term memory!
Executive dysfunction affects our planning, organizing, and memory retrieval. Meanwhile our inconsistent attention makes it difficult to absorb the info in the first place.
Working memory is like a mental scratchpad that holds information briefly while deciding what to do with it. In ADHD, this scratchpad can feel smaller or more slippery, making it challenging to keep hold of details long enough to cement them into long-term memory.
Our emotional dysregulation can cause us frustration, anxiety, shame, etc, around remembering details. This can interfere with encoding and recalling information in the brain.
The ADHD brain can hyperfocus on something fascinating one moment and drift off the next. If we’re not fully engaged when new information arrives, it’s far less likely to stick.
Quick shifts in focus and hopping between tasks—common with ADHD—prevent the brain from consolidating memories. Without enough “settling time,” new knowledge floats away before it can be captured.
If you have ADHD and struggle to remember important things and retain information, consider the following...
Super-Glue your Forgettables Make a point to attach your easily forgotten tasks with tasks that you do without a problem. It can help to put a reminder on top of the tools you use for the other tasks. For example, leaving your medication bottle in front of your toothbrush or attaching a sticky note directly to it.
Make it Interesting ADHD brains retain information better when it’s visual, hands-on, or emotionally affects us. Think: voice memos, emotional interest, reward yourself for remembering, and color-coded lists, charts, or diagrams.
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Coach Brooke
