Evolutionary BENEFITS of ADHD

ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. It affects around 5-10% of the global population.

The symptoms of ADHD mainly revolve around decreased productivity and inability to learn things that aren’t stimulating. In the past, ADHD was approached with alternative learning methods, now it is dealt with medication.

In most cases, ADHD meds are amphetamines. This is where we are starting to get into the biology of ADHD. Amphetamines act through blocking the reuptake of dopamine, which simulates a stressful condition and provides sufficient stimulation for the brain to focus on whatever it needs to focus on.

If you have been following my channel for longer than a couple videos, you should be able to instantly draw the connection between ADHD and the COMT and MAOA genes, which are primarily responsible for the breakdown of dopamine and norepinephrine.

In case you don’t know what those are, and it’s no problem most people don’t really have a solid grasp on this, dopamine and norepinephrine are essentially the most important neurotransmitters that help our body regulate our movements, regulate our mood, help us think and notice patterns in things, motivate us, make us fear certain things we’re biologically designed to avoid. Dopamine is the chemical you definitely don’t want to mess with. If you’re watching this video and you frequently abuse coke or amphetamines or -- may God help you - methamphetamine, you know how brutal the comedowns are. Don’t take amphetamines unless you absolutely have to and were prescribed them by a competent professional.

Amphetamines act by blocking the reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine. COMT and MAOA enzymes act by breaking down dopamine and norepinephrine.
COMT and MAOA are not only enzymes, there are actually genes named COMT and MAOA that regulate those enzymes. How neat, I love it when geneticists name things sensibly.

Regarding the genetics of ADHD, there are many other genes besides COMT and MAOA that influence it, I’m not saying that your COMT and MAOA genotype is the end all be all to determining your risk for ADHD, but the bulk of the biological causes for ADHD lie in genes functional in the regulation of dopamine production, transportation, and reuptake. That is simply a fact.

ADHD may be an unfortunate trait for modern humans, but in the past a genetic profile typical for someone with ADHD may have actually been very beneficial. Reduced dopamine levels in the brain, although being detrimental to a modern person who has to do boring tasks such as data entry or programming, are actually very useful to someone who deals with stressful or stimulating events, such as a police officer or a hunter. During these stressful situations more dopamine is produced, and the dopamine level hits the threshold for perfect functioning.
Someone with a naturally high dopamine level would not be able to handle the stressful situation well because of dopamine overload, which manifests itself as anxiety, psychosis, loss of coordination, basically an overall inability to function.
But someone with a chemistry profile typical for ADHD, so those with lower levels of dopamine, would be able to perform at optimal capacity under these stressful conditions.
In short - The people with a predisposition to ADHD are also the people most capable of handling stressful situations. And that is why ADHD is still around despite multiple millennia of evolution. Because it’s not entirely a detriment.

Видео Evolutionary BENEFITS of ADHD канала Andrei DNA