Society's Neurodivergenet Superpower

Why do people have autism, ADHD and other neurological 'disorders'? Recent research tries to understand the condition in terms of evolutionary theory. It's opening up a debate about public policy.

An emerging group of anthropologists and psychiatrists argue that Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is neither a 'deficit' nor a 'disorder' but a distinctive cognitive style with strengths and benefits.

The talk by Dr Annie Swanepoel is fascinating. She refers to the work of Chuan-sheng Chen and Luke Matthews, who both make the case that a dopamine receptor variation (DRD4) linked to ADHD is more prevalent in populations with a migration history.

So when modern humans left Africa to populate the rest of the world about 50,000 years ago, we ADHD types were either best equipped to deal with the challenges that new terrain threw at us, or we were the first to make a move because we had itchy feet. It's sparked a debate.

Dr Swanepoel argues that we now have an evolutionary mismatch in the modern world. We throw kids with ADHD into classrooms where they're expected to sit still and stay quiet while their genetic inheritance screams at them to scale mountains and cross rivers. 

Numerous people claim that ADHD is a superpower. I don't see it this way, but the evolutionary need for solving interesting problems and exploring new places can be helpful in the proper context.

As my friend and colleague in ADHD Adult UK, Alex Conner, says, people with ADHD who are more impulsive than the average homo sapien are helping the population by taking one for the team. 

So whilst the condition is not an individual superpower, it is society’s superpower, shared with every neurodiverse adult. I like the idea of this. We can all make a difference in our own way.

I’d love to hear what you think. If this resonates, leave me a comment?

A multivitamin a day keeps dementia away

A multivitamin a day keeps dementia away. That's the finding of the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study. Supplementation with the multivitamin improved cognitive function, episodic memory, and executive function.

The survey showed a 52% slowing of cognitive decline in participants who took a daily multivitamin for three years. This seems pretty convincing to me, though similar studies have not shown this correlation.

It is thought that differences in composition of the multivitamin used in this study may have been the game changer. To simplify the difference, this study contained a higher dose of Vitamin D than used previous studies.

I’ve just published a note for paid PoP Club subscribers on Vitamin D (click here to read on Substack), but there is research that suggests low vitamin D levels are associated with cognitive decline.

Recommended reading & more?

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