My Philosophy My experience More about Karate
Achilles Tendon Problems Intelligence Pages Nutrition
Attention deficit Hyperactivity Time on Task Treatment
Useful Links
Making Hyperactivity a Strength
Hyperactivity is a condition in which people are noticeably more active than most other people. When high levels of activity interfere with the person's life performance, then the person is diagnosed as hyperactive.
As some one who grew up as a hyperactive child and is a hyperactive adult, I have turned my hyperactivity into one of my greatest assets. My view on hyperactivity is that it can be very good if managed well. A hyperactive person needs less rest than other people. Most hyperactive people are very fast in every thing they do. Therefore they can get work done more quickly than most people and work very long hours without fatigue. For me this has meant I benefited from working overtime; I got the extra pay, and the extra time I put in was not tiring to me at all. Further, it meant I could work full time and go to college full time without fatigue, doing all of my required work and more. Now I work many hours heading a developmental program for a child, and I do kickboxing and karate, and I bike, and compose music every day. However, I did have to learn how to handle my hyperactivity so that it could benefit me.
It is difficult for hyperactive people to stay on a task for a prolonged period of time unless the task is an adrenaline arousing task. When the adrenaline starts pumping is when the hyperactive person can stick to the task and get it done. Also, most hyperactive people can thrive on tasks that allow them to switch fast from activity to activity. I solved some of my problems with hyperactivity and academic work by studying different subjects in the same session. I simply took two or three books and studied one until I couldn't take it any more (about 10 minutes), then I switched to another, and so forth, going back and forth between them. This solves a good part of my restlessness. But it is not enough.
There are several keys that can help many hyperactive children and adults gain control of their hyperactivity and turn it into an asset. These keys fall into three areas and all of these keys are important.
1 - The first key is that hyperactive people need many physical activities. Sports tend to help a lot. But many hyperactive people do not thrive in teams. It becomes work for them to wait their turn and to follow many rules. If you want to help a hyperactive child use physical activities to overcome his or her hyperactivity, allow them to choose their activities without pressure. They may choose adrenaline stimulating activities such as kick boxing, mountain biking, roller blading, surfing, rock climbing, skateboarding, etc. At 50, I still love and practice mountain biking and kick boxing. As long as you are hyperactive, you need to consume your energy, no matter how old you are.
2 - The second key is that activities become stressful to hyperactive people when the activities last too long. Hyperactive children and adults need to switch activities before the activity starts becoming stressful. Forcing a hyperactive person to continue on a task after stress levels are building up just teaches him or her to hate the task. Therefore switching activities while an activity is still fun or engaging will ensure the hyperactive person will continue to enjoy the activity.
3 - The third key is that hyperactive people must view quiet activities as active activities to be able to get the most out of the activity. This is very important for children and college students because most book-learning requires sitting still. Viewing studying, a quiet activity, as an active activity means the hyperactive child and college student must use dynamic means to study. For instance, recording a book chapter turns reading into something very active. Then the hyperactive person has his or her recording to listen to while walking, canoeing, or running. Another example of dynamic studying is charting on paper the main information in book chapters. This is a very effective studying technique that hyperactive and normal people benefit from enormously. The hyperactive person then can go on a walk, reviewing the chart as they walk. Another dynamic way of studying is making summaries of what has been learned. Then, going on a walk and memorizing it, the hyperactive student can improve his or her grades by a good margin. Taking a walk with fellow students, parents, teachers, friends, or significant other and summarizing for them what has been learned is a great way to assist fellow students and have an interesting conversation.
Let’s summarize these three keys that will help hyperactive people use their energy to their advantage.
1. Do non-team sports; the best sports are adrenaline stimulating.
2. Switch activities before you are stressed by the activity.
3. Make quiet activities active: use dynamic studying techniques; make charts, summaries; walk and review.
Note that the above summary is enough to memorize the concepts in the 1000 words in this information on the three keys to controlling hyperactivity. Such summaries are a very dynamic way to learn.
There is one last and very important point to remember for parents of hyperactive children. A big problem for hyperactive children is that adults tend to get tired of the hyperactive behaviors produced by the child.
Just remember, other adults are probably loosing their patience with the hyperactive child very often.
If you loose your patience too, you are just aggravating the child’s problem more. Patience is a great virtue when dealing with hyperactivity. How do you develop patience with a hyperactive child or adult? First, remember that there really is nothing wrong with all of that running. Think of ways to channel that running. Tell the hyperactive child where to run. Suggest another highly physical thing for the child to do. If you are living with a hyperactive adult, save all the really active types of chores for that person--climbing up the stool or ladder to change the light bulbs; dragging all the trash cans out to the curb; shoveling, raking; the quick run to the store.
Next watch for signs of stress in your hyperactive child when he or she does an activity so you know at what point to have them do something else. This will keep the child happy and a happy hyperactive child is much better than an unhappy one, oh my, yes! Take your hyperactive child on walks and ask them to tell you about what they have been studying. For younger children you will need to look at what they are studying before the walk so that you can be sure the child summarizes accurately.
If your hyperactive child tends to wake up in the morning before you do, be sure to tell the child what sorts of activities he or she may do before you get up. Make sure that crayons and paper are always where the child can get them on his or her own. Remember the hyperactive child is apt to stay awake longer at night and wake up earlier than other children do. Set clear rules for what they may do with this time. Many hyperactive people keep busy until the moment they lie down and then they go right to sleep. Remember that there is nothing wrong with this; indeed it is an asset! Preventing activities at night, to help a hyperactive child "relax" before going to bed may cause him insomnia.
"Relaxing" is not part of the vocabulary of many hyperactive people, including this 50 year old.
Let’s summarize how to remain patient with a hyperactive child.
1. Remind yourself running is ok.
2. Give your child safe times and places to run and channel the child’s running into other activities.
3. Switch your hyperactive child’s activity before it causes the child stress. But don't force the child to switch too soon.
4. Take your child on walks to have the child summarize to you what he or she has learned.
5. Make sure there are quiet but enjoyable activities your child may do without waking you.
Remember that all of these techniques are important. A hyperactive person is hyperactive in every area of his or her life. Therefore, learning to direct one's energy is necessary for every aspect of life. What's more, every aspect of one’s life is going to affect every other aspect of one’s life. So if your hyperactive child has been stressed out at school, then your hyperactive child is going to come home stressed and need to be able to do some very physical things until he or she is happy again. Similarly, if the hyperactive adult has a job with a variety of duties, some of which are physical, the hyperactive adult is going to be perfectly content working lots of overtime.
Useful Links
My Philosophy My experience More about Karate