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Your Free Guide to Music for Healthy ADHD Brains

Music can work wonders on the ADHD brain, improving everything from language development to impulse control—and even restlessness.

By ADDitude Editors

Shakespeare once rhetorically wondered whether “music be the food of love.” Now, some scientists contend that it might actually be the food of healthy brains, pointing to mounting research showing the influence of music on our bodies’ neurologic functioning.

Here, we share eight songs that could have natural healing effects for the ADHD brain. Specifically, music’s distinct structure can help an ADHD brain stay on a linear path, and it may increase the brain’s dopamine levels. This neurotransmitter — responsible for regulating attention, working memory, and motivation — is often in low supply for kids with ADHD.

“Nothing activates the brain so extensively as music.” — Oliver Sacks, M.D.

“Music exists in time, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. That structure helps an ADHD child plan, anticipate, and react.” — Kirsten Hutchinson, music therapist

NOTE: This resource is for personal use only.

3 Comments & Reviews

  1. A single senior with recently diagnosed ADHD combined, I can vouch for the great benefits of music in the form of choral participation. I call it my free Dopamine Boost. Retired for 12 years i have always participated in my local church choir,but co incident with a major depression 5 years ago i heard about the beneficial effects of music and increased my participation to three choirs singing 4 or 5 times a week. For 2 to 3 hours.
    The first improvement i noted besides the pleasure of social comraderie was the tremendous improvement in my memory. When younger i had an almost total recall ability but this had largely disappeared in retirement. Then as if a switch had been turned ,first i was able to memorize 20 pieces of music some as long as 14 pages in a few weeks (with very little practice at home. Later that spring I joined another chorus and the results were spectacular. No home practice yet in a matter of a few practices I was able to effortlessly incorporate all the new music into my repertoire memory. A much greater feeling of calmness and confidence had replaced my normal moods.
    Besides the new music 100 plus pieces includind Mozarts Requiem last year, the evryday working memory boost has been outstanding. No longer do i occasionally leave a burner on, miss an appointment, or forget to pick up groceries. I am looking forward to when i will remember names of people i recently met, and important events involved. My savant like math and computer skills have returned and I have a very busy social life between the choral music, the church and the veterans snooker league on the other side of the city I joined..
    For this senior and others that i have recruited to this activity (7) the results have been universally part of a new habit.

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