We all feel restless, impulsive, and distracted. This cocktail of brain problems can be harmful to 16 million Americans. What is ADHD? What is ADHD? What can you do?

I remember watching my nine-year-old son receive his attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis. I remember listening to the doctor ask him questions like Does he lose things often? Does he interrupt people often? Does he have difficulty finishing tasks often? I realized I wasn't the only one who answered "yes" to those questions. I was 48 and could easily fill a suitcase with all of the sunglasses, jewelry, and cell phones I had lost over the years.

The deadlines of the newspapers I worked for in Mexico and Rio de Janeiro kept me focused during my 12 years as a foreign correspondent. I also stayed focused with the help of a full-time assistant, scandals, coups, and natural disasters. Then I moved back to the California suburbs, where I freelanced and raised my two children. This meant combining hyper-responsibility and minimal structure with even less support. The worst part was that I was worried about the impact on the family of my "ready-fire-aim" disposition. I would hurl insults and threaten my children when under stress.

This helps to explain why, like many other adults in America, I was soon a patient, receiving my diagnosis and joining the club of several million Americans with ADHD.

The Real Glitch

It is a damaging misconception that ADHD is nothing more than an excuse for lazy people, spineless parents, and stimulant drug addicts. However, despite misusing this label, more than 16,000,000 American children and adults are believed to suffer from this genetic disorder. It is hereditary, with a higher rate than schizophrenia, and almost as tall as height.

Restlessness, impulsivity, and distraction result from malfunctioning the brain's dopamine processing. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that affects motivation, self-control, and interest. The results of longitudinal studies show that people with ADHD are more likely to experience accidents, injuries, academic failures, and divorces. Not surprisingly, we also have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. It's funny to make jokes about ADHD, but it isn't that funny.

Another big myth is that ADHD only affects children. The disorder is usually detected in the early years of childhood by parents and teachers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at last count, more than six million youths--one out of nine children between four and seventeen years old--had been diagnosed. The number of adults with the disorder is unclear since we are less closely tracked and have developed ways to hide and cope with our symptoms. However, researchers believe that more than half of children who suffer from the disorder will continue to experience serious symptoms into adulthood. A 2006 National Institutes of Mental Health survey shows that 4.4% of Americans between 18 and 44 years old suffer from some form of ADHD disability. This equates to approximately 10 million Americans.

Shire Plc (which makes the best-selling Vyvanse medication) compiled data in 2015 that revealed an astonishing milestone: the number of American adults who take ADHD medications has surpassed the number of children. This accounted for 53% out of 63 million prescriptions. Adult prescriptions are now growing twice as quickly as the market.

We can deduce that millions of adults seek help dealing with distractions. 

Peer-reviewed Prestige

Numerous studies have shown that mindfulness benefits everyone, especially in reducing anxiety and stress. Researchers were tempted to investigate whether people living with ADHD could be helped by training their attention.

Mark Bertin is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician who treats children and their families with ADHD. He uses mindfulness to treat them.

Bertin, a regular contributor to mindful.org, says that ADHD shows how difficult it is to manage daily life when you have impaired executive functions. "On the flip side, mindfulness shows how better executive functions can make everyday life easier."

Bertin refers to "executive functions" when he talks about key cognitive skills like impulse control, planning and organizing, and "working memory," which is the ability to hold two or more thoughts in your head at once. He says that when these skills are impaired (as with ADHD), it can impact not only work and school, but also daily activities such as eating, driving, and managing to-do lists. "This causes a great deal of stress and overwhelm. When you feel like this, it's even more difficult to make good choices."

In 2008, a small trial of mindfulness as a treatment for ADHD was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders. Eight researchers led by Lidia Zilowska, a psychiatrist at the University of California at Los Angeles, enrolled 32 adults, adolescents, and children in an eight-week course based on Jon Kabat Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program. The results were so promising that other researchers began testing the hypothesis. Zylowska and two colleagues summarized the results of several subsequent studies conducted on children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD in May 2015, published in Cognitive Behavioral Practice. The conclusion was that there was "promising initial support" for this treatment approach.

This review emphasizes "preliminary." Many studies reviewed were small and did not have comparison samples or "control groups." The authors called for more rigorous research, which is being conducted.

In a recent interview, Zylowska described mindfulness as "a lifesaver."

It has made a big difference in my and my patients' lives," said the psychiatrist. She now lives in Los Gatos, California, where she divides her attention between her clinical practice, mainly for adults with ADHD, teaching clinicians, and raising her 8-month-old baby.

Boys with ADHD are more hyperactive, impulsive and attract more attention. With some exceptions, girls tend to be more daydreamy. They may slip under the radar and accumulate a collection of mistakes, failures, injuries, accidents, and self-slights.

Zylowska became interested in ADHD when she was a late-twenties doctor at UCLA. She confided in her how overwhelmed she felt during a time that she thought should be happy. She had previously been able to cope with work stress by taking frequent breaks and rejuvenating herself in nature.

The therapist nodded in agreement.

In her last year as a resident, she transitioned from being incredibly busy to having more time to pursue personal interests. She was missing structure and worried that she had fallen into a rabbit hole of indecision, spending far too much time in her office alone, talking on the phone to friends, or obsessing about what should be routine administrative tasks.

She recalled, "What resonated with me was the sense of sometimes having so much going yet being paralyzed."

Zylowska had already shown an interest in mindfulness. She was already interested in mindfulness, but that moment at the clinic sparked her interest in whether mindfulness could be particularly useful to people with ADHD.

Get Rid of the Grease

Adults who have spent their lives dealing with the clumsy distractibility of ADHD may find that mindfulness and the accompanying teachings about acceptance and compassion can be especially helpful. Holly Seerley is a Mill Valley therapist who calls this "greasy buildup." Seerley has led ADHD support groups in Mill Valley, California, for over a decade. She says that this includes low self-esteem as well as negative self-talk. "Like telling yourself, 'I screwed it up again. You're a loser. "I can't believe I did it.

The ability to change your focus is a key element of meditation. Bertin says: "You move from judgment to the idea of this is the way things are and I'm trying to fix it."

Deb Rowley is a Madison, Wisconsin, psychotherapist, and ADHD Coach diagnosed in 2009. She believes that the ability to move away from negative thoughts, rather than just trying to be still, is more important.

Rowley is one of the millions who struggled with ADHD as a child but slipped through the cracks, avoiding a diagnosis. Boys of the same age were tracked down and treated. In the past, boys were diagnosed three times more often than girls. However, for adults, this is changing. ADHD can manifest differently in boys and girls. With a few exceptions, girls tend to be daydreamers, and boys are hyperactive, impulsive, and attract more attention. This picture has a problem because, by the time we are teenagers, girls have accumulated a lot of "greasy" buildup of mistakes, failures, and accidents. Women with ADHD have a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and suicide attempts than men.

Rowley recalls being a "social butterfly" who was easily distracted as a young child. She said that her first-grade teacher "tied me to my seat with my belt" but added, "It was done in the most pleasant way possible." I liked that teacher."

She was diagnosed with depression at 42 years old. She says that people kept telling her she seemed depressed. She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after a long-term struggle with ADHD and chronic health issues.

She found that stimulants made her sleepy. She never figured out the right dose. She first tried mindfulness earlier this year and is now a devotee. In an email, she said:

It is possible to improve relationships by avoiding the use of language. I was smitten the first time I heard myself calmly say "Wow" in my head. You're pausing. You won't react immediately...you will gently respond in a few moments. Woot! Woot! ).

Rowley recommends mindfulness to her clients now but cautions that it is not a natural approach for ADHD. She said, "I'm not saying that because it is impossible to sit and clear your head." "I say this because you need to have a routine and practice. If you don't do that, you will not get any benefit." Being with a friend or in a group keeps you motivated.

She also tells her clients that it is not a luxury to smell the flowers. The treatment is to be aware of the symptoms and treat them. We may be a bit further away from the mainstream on a continuum that everyone else is moving on, despite our biologically-based handicap. The savviest of us are pioneering remedies such as mindfulness that will have a growing appeal to everyone.

My new mindfulness crutch has been one of the available iPhone apps. I'm happy to report it is working well. I have a morning routine where I put on a blanket and listen to a narrator for 20 minutes. It may only be training wheels, but it's better than nothing.