Monday, January 27, 2020

Is ADHD rooted in biological evolution?

I am less evolved than my husband.  Seriously.  I am okay with saying it.

Several years ago, my husband and I realized I could do certain things with my facial muscles that he could not do.  These included rolling my tongue, flaring my nostrils, cocking both eyebrows individually, and wiggling my ears.  I joked that I was more evolved than him.  But, in fact, it was just the opposite.  An article I read said that if you press your middle finger against your thumb of the same hand, and a tendon pops up at the inside of your wrist, this served an evolutionary purpose back in the day, and you were, in fact, less evolved.  It dawned on us that all the things I could do, that my husband could not, were leftover evolutionary products.  It meant that I was, in fact, less evolved.

Continuing with this theme, I get significant anxiety, and have a heightened fight-or-flight response, both of which serve an evolutionary purpose.  Knowing I am less evolved, it follows that I believe my recent diagnosis of ADHD also served an evolutionary purpose.  I exhibit pretty much every symptom of ADHD.  The main theme is being unable to perform mundane tasks.  Some describe a "skin-crawling" sensation when faced with such a task, an almost pain-like feedback loop.  Our bodies are telling us that these tasks are not worth our time.  From an evolutionary perspective, it seems correct that we would not have wasted energy performing non-essential tasks.  Instead, our energy would be conserved for important, life-critical tasks, such as hunting or gathering, where the reward/payoff was greatest.  Therefore, ADHD in present-day individuals is one of those evolutionary remnants that serve no purpose in today's world, and actually inhibits everyday living.

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