Health
7 signs you might have ADHD and what steps to take
With 15.5 million U.S. adults currently diagnosed with ADHD, there is a growing focus on warning signs of the disorder.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a “developmental disorder marked by persistent symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity,” as defined by the National Institutes of Health.
“ADHD is often misunderstood as just being overly distracted or hyperactive — in reality, it’s a neurodevelopmental condition that affects focus, emotional regulation, time management and impulse control,” Lisa Anderson, a licensed clinical social worker and clinical director at Brooks Healing Center in Tennessee, told Fox News Digital.
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More than half of the adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder didn’t learn they had the condition until adulthood, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Approximately 15.5 million U.S. adults are currently diagnosed with ADHD, according to CDC data. (iStock)
Fox News Digital spoke with multiple mental health experts, who identified the most common signs and symptoms of ADHD in adults.
1. Impulsive behaviors
Adults with ADHD have difficulty managing impulsivity, according to Zoë Kahn, a licensed psychotherapist and ADHD therapist in Pasadena, California.
“This can look like blurting out answers in a classroom setting, interrupting in conversation and difficulty thinking through the long-term consequences of choices,” she told Fox News Digital.
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Impulsivity can also lead to making snap decisions without considering long-term consequences, Anderson added.
“It might also manifest subtly, like overspending on impulse purchases or having trouble waiting your turn in group discussions,” she said.
2. Difficulty focusing or staying on task
Procrastination and difficulty following through on tasks are common signs of ADHD, Anderson noted.
“You might struggle to start tasks, even when vital, or abandon them halfway through,” she said. “You might jump between tasks without finishing anything or focus on smaller, less urgent tasks while the bigger, more critical ones remain untouched.”
“It’s a persistent challenge that affects work, relationships and daily responsibilities.”
It’s not about laziness, Anderson noted, but about feeling overwhelmed by what needs to be done.
“ADHD-related daydreaming is persistent and often disruptive, especially when it happens during crucial tasks or conversations,” she said.
Procrastination and difficulty following through on tasks are common signs of ADHD, experts said. (iStock)
“This isn’t just about occasionally zoning out during a long meeting — it’s a persistent challenge that affects work, relationships and daily responsibilities.”
3. Trouble with time management
People with ADHD may struggle to manage their schedules, often underestimating how long it will take to complete a project or reach a destination.
“Deadlines might sneak up on you, or you might feel perpetually behind on tasks, no matter how early you started,” Anderson told Fox News Digital.
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“This can create a constant cycle of stress and underachievement, leaving you feeling frustrated with yourself.”
4. Mental fatigue
Mental fatigue and burnout are widespread in individuals with ADHD, according to Anderson.
“The ADHD brain often works in overdrive, juggling competing thoughts and struggling to stay on track,” she said.
“ADHD-related daydreaming is persistent and often disruptive, especially when it happens during crucial tasks or conversations.” (iStock)
“This constant effort to stay focused and organized can leave you feeling drained, even after relatively short periods of productivity.”
5. Forgetfulness
Another sign of ADHD in adults is general disorganization, Kahn said, which can lead to an inability to follow through on tasks, meet important deadlines, pay bills on time or keep appointments.
“The ADHD brain often works in overdrive, juggling competing thoughts and struggling to stay on track.”
They may also find themselves misplacing important items, like car keys.
“Adults with ADHD have a hard time finding and keeping focus, which could look like not paying attention in conversation, missing key details, being easily distracted in certain settings, or even focusing on the wrong details,” Kahn added.
6. Inability to sit still
People with ADHD often find themselves fidgeting and feeling generally restless, according to Dr. Michelle Dees, a board-certified psychiatrist at Luxury Psychiatry Clinic in Chicago.
People with ADHD may find themselves misplacing important items, like car keys. (iStock)
“In adults, this may present as inner disquietude or incomplete calmness,” she told Fox News Digital.
Anderson reiterated this common symptom, noting that in children, it often takes the form of physical hyperactivity.
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“It often transforms into internal restlessness in adults, where you feel like you can’t fully relax or sit still without feeling jittery,” she said. “This constant sense of being ‘on edge’ can become exhausting over time.”
7. Relationship challenges
“Many adults with ADHD have difficulty maintaining relationships with others due to inappropriate social behaviors, such as frequently interrupting, losing interest in conversations, difficulty paying attention and forgetfulness,” Kahn noted.
“You might forget to call friends back or forget about commitments to others, which can cause issues in your relationships.”
Emotional sensitivity often accompanies ADHD, which can manifest as mood swings, irritability or heightened responses to minor frustrations. (iStock)
Emotional sensitivity often accompanies ADHD, according to Anderson. This can manifest as mood swings, irritability or heightened responses to minor frustrations.
“Many people with ADHD describe feeling like their emotions are more intense and more challenging to control than those of others around them,” she added.
When to seek help
If you’ve experienced several of the above signs and they interfere with your daily life, experts recommend seeking help.
“ADHD is not a flaw nor something to be ashamed of — it’s simply a different way of processing information and interacting with the world,” said Anderson.
The first step is to speak with a health care professional specializing in ADHD, such as a psychologist, psychiatrist or even your primary care physician, she suggested.
“They can provide a proper evaluation and help you explore treatment options, including therapy, medication or lifestyle adjustments,” Anderson noted.
Potential solutions include mindfulness exercises and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which can help people with ADHD to improve their organization, time management and emotion regulation, the same source stated.
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“For many people, medication is also an essential part of managing ADHD, as it can help balance brain chemistry and improve focus,” Anderson added.
Brooke Bardin, a licensed clinical social worker and director of Clinical Quality Assurance in Los Angeles, pointed out that ADHD can sometimes be confused for other conditions.
It is important to be assessed by a psychiatrist or mental health clinician if you experience multiple ADHD symptoms, experts advise. (iStock)
“ADHD has overlapping symptoms with other disorders and is often comorbid with other diagnoses,” she told Fox News Digital.
Anywhere from 40% to 70% of people with autism spectrum disorder also have ADHD, according to Bardin.
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It can also occur in tandem with learning disorders, anxiety disorders and mood disorders.
“Because of this, it is important to be assessed by a psychiatrist or mental health clinician,” Bardin advised.
“ADHD is not a flaw nor something to be ashamed of — it’s simply a different way of processing information and interacting with the world.”
As you seek out the right support and strategies, Anderson emphasizes the importance of being kind to yourself.
“ADHD isn’t a limitation — it’s a unique way of experiencing the world, and with the right tools, you can learn to harness its strengths and work through its challenges.”
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Eating too much salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but new research suggests it could trick the immune system into prematurely aging the blood vessels.
A preclinical study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has identified a biological chain reaction that links a salty diet to cardiovascular decay.
Scientists at the University of South Alabama observed that mice on a high-salt diet experienced rapid deterioration in their blood vessel function.
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After just four weeks of high sodium intake, the small arteries responsible for regulating blood flow lost their ability to relax, according to a press release.
The team found that the cells lining these vessels had entered a state of cellular senescence, a form of premature cellular aging in which cells stop dividing and release a mix of inflammatory signals that can damage surrounding tissue.
Excess salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but a new study goes deeper into its effects on the cardiovascular system. (iStock)
The researchers tried to replicate this damage by exposing blood vessel cells directly to salt in a laboratory dish, but the cells showed no harmful effects.
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This suggests that salt isn’t directly causing damage to the vascular lining but that the real culprit may be the body’s own defense mechanism, the researchers noted.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16 (IL-16), which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16, which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study. (iStock)
Once these cells age, they fail to produce nitric oxide, the essential gas that tells arteries to dilate and stay flexible.
To test whether this process could be reversed, the team turned to a class of experimental drugs known as senolytics.
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Using a cancer medication called navitoclax, which selectively clears out aged and dysfunctional cells, the researchers were able to restore nearly normal blood vessel function in the salt-fed mice, the release stated.
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By removing the decaying cells created by the high-salt diet, the drug allowed the remaining healthy tissue to maintain its elasticity and respond correctly to blood flow demands.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system into stopping the cells from dividing, the study suggests. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations. The transition from mouse models to human treatment remains a significant hurdle, the team cautioned.
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Senolytic drugs like navitoclax are still being studied for safety, and the team emphasized that previous trials have shown mixed results regarding their impact on artery plaque.
Additionally, the researchers have not yet confirmed whether the same IL-16 pathway is the primary driver of vascular aging in humans.
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Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests.
The observational study, led by Jorge Nieva, M.D., of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine, was presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego. It has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Researchers looked at dietary, smoking and demographic data for 187 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer at age 50 or younger.
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They found that among non-smokers, there was a link between healthier-than-average diets – rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and the chance of lung cancer development.
Young lung cancer patients ate more servings of dark green vegetables, legumes and whole grains compared to the average U.S. adult, the researchers found.
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests. (iStock)
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association.
“Commercially produced (non-organic) fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more likely to be associated with a higher residue of pesticides than dairy, meat and many processed foods,” according to Nieva. He also noted that agricultural workers exposed to pesticides tend to have higher rates of lung cancer.
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“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” Nieva told Fox News Digital.
The disease is becoming more common in non-smokers 50 and younger, especially women – despite the fact that smoking rates have been falling for decades, the researcher noted.
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association. (iStock)
“These patients tend to have eaten much healthier diets before their diagnosis than the average American,” he went on. “We need to support research into understanding why Americans – and women in particular – who no longer smoke very much are still having lung cancer,” he said.
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The study did have some limitations, Nieva acknowledged, primarily that it relied on survey data and was limited by the participants’ memories of their food intake.
“Also, the survey participants were self-selected, and this could have biased the findings,” he told Fox News Digital.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking.”
The researchers did not test specific foods for pesticides, relying instead on average pesticide levels for certain types of food. Looking ahead, they plan to test patients’ blood and urine samples to directly measure pesticide levels, Nieva said.
Although the study shows only an association and does not prove that pesticides caused lung cancer, Nieva recommends that people wash their produce before eating and choose organic foods whenever possible.
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“This work represents a critical step toward identifying modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young adults,” said Nieva. “Our hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future investigation into lung cancer prevention.”
“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but is by no means certain,” a doctor said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said the study is “interesting,” but that it “raises far more questions than it answers.”
“It is a small study (around 150) and observational, so no proof,” the doctor, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.
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“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but it is by no means certain,” Siegel went on. “How much exposure is needed? How much of it gets into food and in which areas? This requires much further study.”
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Kayla Nichols, communications director for Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, a distributed global network, said the organization agrees with the study’s conclusion that more research should be done on the rise in lung cancer, particularly in individuals eating diets higher in produce and fiber.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” the researcher told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“There is a bounty of existing research that already links pesticide exposure to increased risk of multiple types of cancers,” Nichols, who was also not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. She called for more research on chronic, low-level exposures to pesticides, as well as more effective policies to protect the public from pesticide residues on food.
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The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as industry partners including AstraZeneca and Genentech, among others.
Fox News Digital reached out to several pesticide companies and trade groups for comment.
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