Diagnosed ADHD person here. Among my acquaintances I’m known as a person who will accept coffee any time off day when I come visit. I don’t that because I really enjoy the flavor off coffee and it doesn’t seem to affect my sleep.
Anecdotally, I’ve had conversations with more than 50 people who say caffeine does not affect them who likely have ADHD or some kind of attention disorder.
For example, I was at a gas station this weekend buying coffee during a small road trip. The cashier and I we’re making small talk that it was early and I wanted my morning coffee, they said oh caffeine doesn’t affect me. When I hear something like that I usually ask if them if they have ADHD and they’ll typically respond with a yes.
There is definitely bias in my non-scientific survey, I only ask people who make the comment about caffeine not affecting them.
Do you mean it doesn’t affect their sleep? I remember the first time I tried coffee and the effect was profound, like my brain wasn’t working properly before that moment. I have also been diagnosed with ADHD, but I am affected by caffeine so maybe that’s a misdiagnosis. I also have huge variation over my life where I can sometimes handle 6+ cups without issue and other times half of a Diet Coke will send me spiraling into anxiety. It seems like it has to do with my stomach or baseline levels of anxiety, definitely worse after some sort of trauma. Maybe just a comorbidity that complicates things
