ADHD is responsible for modern humans…

[The Puzzler]

Okely dokely, I said it….

After consideration of everything, I believe people on the autism spectrum, even the end…ADHD people, acted in a way they actually contributed to the survival of Homo sapiens over Neanderthal,  who I don’t believe had this ? Genetic trait, dysfunction, defect…lots of words we could use….

Were the builders of ancient civilisations so imbued with the “need”, not even recognised by themselves to use dysfunctional ways to move forward…such as lack of give a stuff, intrinsic knowledge or following blindly, ability to put 100% into something, then discard it…. social disunity or unity, ability to write and draw incredibly or terribly…things like that….is anyone else seeing this? 

 

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

Think about it. Overthinking everything or thinking of nothing…

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

My man is watching Mrs Doubtfire…talking about Robin Williams, knowing I’m on this trip…suicide…he’s like really? I’m like yeah…I suppose he was ADHD?….”Yes, massively.”.

Now I haven’t Googled this but manic depression is in the category imo.

The irony. So upbeat and funny, yet so sad inside….how many times do we see this in people…?

Again, these autistic traits shaped mankind x

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

Many food additives can contribute to it…my brother was severe ADHD….but it did t have a medical term back then, just hyperactivity…he did what he liked, no matter to conform, he excused himself from everything by his behaviour, he was a drug addict, couldn’t handle life, he died at 51. My mother wouldn’t let him eat Chinese food or chicken salt, full of msg but he ate it anyway…

Smoking, at my Nanas, left handed….he was older than me, my poor mother had to wait 7 years to have me, because he was such a handful, she prayed for a nice little girl, she got one….my own behaviours to “be good”, descend from his bad ones, my empathy is over the top… he never meant to inflict pain on us all…it’s just how he was.

But that what humans do….

Is that a core feature of Homo sapiens, I think it is.

 

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[Abramelin]

22 minutes ago, The Puzzler said:

My man is watching Mrs Doubtfire…talking about Robin Williams, knowing I’m on this trip…suicide…he’s like really? I’m like yeah…I suppose he was ADHD?….”Yes, massively.”.

Now I haven’t Googled this but manic depression is in the category imo.

The irony. So upbeat and funny, yet so sad inside….how many times do we see this in people…?

Again, these autistic traits shaped mankind x

His death was ruled a suicide. According to his widow, Williams had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and had been experiencing depression, anxiety and increasing paranoia. His autopsy found "diffuse Lewy body disease", and Lewy body dementia professionals said that his symptoms were consistent with dementia with Lewy bodies.

[The Puzzler]

Googled it, well f me…

Clinical relevance: ADHD traits like distractibility and excessive movement might have helped early humans in foraging for resources, suggesting they conferred an advantage in certain contexts.21 Feb 2024

https://www.psychiatrist.com › news

 

ADHD Might Have Been an Early Evolutionary Edge | Psychiatrist.com

[The Puzzler]

11 minutes ago, Abramelin said:

His death was ruled a suicide. According to his widow, Williams had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and had been experiencing depression, anxiety and increasing paranoia. His autopsy found "diffuse Lewy body disease", and Lewy body dementia professionals said that his symptoms were consistent with dementia with Lewy bodies.

Interesting….so is this disease a homo sapien disease or were other human types susceptible to it?

Lewy body dementia is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. Protein deposits called Lewy bodies develop in nerve cells in the brain. The protein deposits affect brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement. This condition is also known as dementia with Lewy bodies.

Also interesting…

A study involving Caucasian patients showed that individuals classified as haplogroup J or K demonstrated a significant decrease in risk of Parkinson's disease versus individuals carrying the most common haplogroup, H.^[45]Additionally, a study from 2020 found that the presence of haplogroup K served as a protective agent against ADHD, with a significant value ().^[46] Used in conjunction with haplogroup U, the precursor to haplogroup K, was shown to have an even more significant effect in protecting against ADHD in the participants ().^[46]

 

Like seriously, I shouldn’t even have ADHD but my daughter is on medication for it, it’s real and even mtDNA K is certainly known to have it. But less than most others, so gosh, I pity all you others, cause we suffer enough x

 

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

Must have come from Dads side…

To test their theory that there might be more to ADHD than just random genetic mutations, Barack and his team assembled 457 adults and had them complete an online assessment that had them conduct foraging tasks. The drill had participants attempt to collect as many berries as they could within a set time.

Additionally, the computer foragers could either linger at a single foraging site in a bid to dig up more berries, or they could move on to other potential sites.

After the exercise, the scientists tested each of the participants for ADHD.

CONSISTENT RESULTS

Nearly half of the participants screened positive for ADHD on a short self-assessment, a statistically higher share than one would normally expect for a random sampling.

https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/adhd-might-have-been-an-early-evolutionary-edge/#:~:text=Clinical relevance%3A ADHD traits like,an advantage in certain contexts.

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

It turns out that the ancestors of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients received an evolutionary gift. Even if it doesn’t necessarily translate into today’s society.

Scientists from Pennsylvania University and the Indian Institutes of Technology collaborated on a research project that shows traits tied to ADHD – distractibility and excessive movement – might have helped early humans when foraging for resources.

“If [these traits] were truly negative, then you would think that over evolutionary time, they would be selected against,” lead author and Penn researcher David Barack, PhD, told The Guardian. “Our findings are an initial data point, suggestive of advantages in certain choice contexts.”

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

So, my OP statement appears to be true…probably mtDNA K is the ones who don’t suffer it, maybe why Jewish people are different… but it’s come through my Dad…my father is the ADHD, I see that now…

In competitive environments where foragers must keep track of other foragers, impulsively leaving patches could yield a competitive advantage by enabling learning about competitors and capturing newly renewed resources first,” the authors in the study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. “The increased foraging proficiency of participants with ADHD-like behavior observed here suggests the prevalence and persistence of ADHD in human populations may serve an adaptive function in some environments.”

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

Caveat…my Man’s like you Googled this beforehand, he’s a tough taskmaster…I’m like, no I didn’t, until I showed you all, I’m convinced I’m right and the article shows I am.

ADHD is responsible for modern humans being so successful x

[The Puzzler]

My daughter comes home…lives in my old home, with my Dad, she’s like I come home and Pops got this happening….

My Dad is 85….had the 60 year old Monstera that really is part of our retro house taken out, we are mortified but Pops like, it’s getting in the drains and brickwork….practical over aesthetics…didn’t even tell us lol xx

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[Piney]

10 minutes ago, The Puzzler said:

My daughter comes home…lives in my old home, with my Dad, she’s like I come home and Pops got this happening….

My Dad is 85….had the 60 year old Monstera that really is part of our retro house taken out, we are mortified but Pops like, it’s getting in the drains and brickwork….practical over aesthetics…didn’t even tell us lol xx

I saw a monstera take over and out the whole back of a greenhouse. I think it was about 50-60 years old. 

[The Puzzler]

2 minutes ago, Piney said:

I saw a monstera take over and out the whole back of a greenhouse. I think it was about 50-60 years old. 

Yes, as nice as it was, yes….

[The Puzzler]

Nearly half of the participants screened positive for ADHD on a short self-assessment, a statistically higher share than one would normally expect for a random sampling.

The researchers discovered that the subjects who scored higher on the ADHD self-assessment spent less time with each berry patch than others. They were willing to leave a berry patch after the yield dwindled and search for a new one. And maybe most importantly, those participants consistently posted higher scores in the game.

In competitive environments where foragers must keep track of other foragers, impulsively leaving patches could yield a competitive advantage by enabling learning about competitors and capturing newly renewed resources first,” the authors in the study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. “The increased foraging proficiency of participants with ADHD-like behavior observed here suggests the prevalence and persistence of ADHD in human populations may serve an adaptive function in some environments.”

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[Opus Magnus]

The overdiagnosis, overtreatment and unnecessary treatment of these diseases for gaining profit through government medical insurance subsidies is a legitimate issue and approaching market failure.  The United States has the highest amount of government spending in healthcare insurance, and a side effect of this is administrative complexity, fraud and abuse, failure of care delivery, low-value care, pricing failures, and the misuse of medical materials¹.  This is estimated to lose $765 billion a year in waste nationally².  The Washington Health Alliance performed a study for the year 2015-16 on insured patients in the state of Washington.  They found that 47 treatments commonly known by the medical community were overused and account for millions of dollars in waste annually.  45% of these services are considered low-value or wasteful, 1.3 million people received one of these 47 services and 47.9% of them received a low-value service, 36% of spending went to these services accounting for $282 million in medical spending waste³.  Insurance and public government healthcare is causing a market failure, and an increase in disease.

This is a paradox.  When Medicare is given to the public this allows people to pay less for healthcare, healthcare providers to charge more, and taxpayers pay for the price increase.  This gives incentives for doctors to overdiagnose and overtreat.  When people get this healthcare they disregard the notion to exercise, eat healthy, and avoid illnesses.  This causes more illness.  Abusing this system also results in low quality treatments, unnecessary surgeries, the overtreatment of the elderly, and the rejection of people who are truly sick because hospitals are able to raise the prices of medical procedures to impossibly high levels⁴.  So, this is really happening, and I would take ADHD with a grain of salt.

1. Peter G. Peterson Foundation, "Almost 25% of Healthcare Spending is Considered Wasteful. Here's Why," April 3, 2023, https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2023/04/almost-25-percent-of-healthcare-spending-is-considered-wasteful-heres-why

2. Marshall Allen, "Unnecessary Medical Care: More Common Than You Might Imagine, " NPR news, February 1, 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/01/582216198/unnecessary-medical-care-more-common-than-you-might-imagine

3. Washington Health Alliance, "First, Do No Harm: Calculating Health Care Waste in Washington State," February, 2018, https://www.wacommunitycheckup.org/media/47156/2018-first-do-no-harm.pdf

4. Martin Hensher, John Tisdell, and Craig Zimitat, “"Too much medicine”: Insights and explanations from economic theory and research," Social Science & Medicine, no.176 (2017): 77-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.020

 

[The Puzzler]

8 minutes ago, Opus Magnus said:

The overdiagnosis, overtreatment and unnecessary treatment of these diseases for gaining profit through government medical insurance subsidies is a legitimate issue and approaching market failure.  The United States has the highest amount of government spending in healthcare insurance, and a side effect of this is administrative complexity, fraud and abuse, failure of care delivery, low-value care, pricing failures, and the misuse of medical materials¹.  This is estimated to lose $765 billion a year in waste nationally².  The Washington Health Alliance performed a study for the year 2015-16 on insured patients in the state of Washington.  They found that 47 treatments commonly known by the medical community were overused and account for millions of dollars in waste annually.  45% of these services are considered low-value or wasteful, 1.3 million people received one of these 47 services and 47.9% of them received a low-value service, 36% of spending went to these services accounting for $282 million in medical spending waste³.  Insurance and public government healthcare is causing a market failure, and an increase in disease.

This is a paradox.  When Medicare is given to the public this allows people to pay less for healthcare, healthcare providers to charge more, and taxpayers pay for the price increase.  This gives incentives for doctors to overdiagnose and overtreat.  When people get this healthcare they disregard the notion to exercise, eat healthy, and avoid illnesses.  This causes more illness.  Abusing this system also results in low quality treatments, unnecessary surgeries, the overtreatment of the elderly, and the rejection of people who are truly sick because hospitals are able to raise the prices of medical procedures to impossibly high levels⁴.  So, this is really happening, and I would take ADHD with a grain of salt.

1. Peter G. Peterson Foundation, "Almost 25% of Healthcare Spending is Considered Wasteful. Here's Why," April 3, 2023, https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2023/04/almost-25-percent-of-healthcare-spending-is-considered-wasteful-heres-why

2. Marshall Allen, "Unnecessary Medical Care: More Common Than You Might Imagine, " NPR news, February 1, 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/01/582216198/unnecessary-medical-care-more-common-than-you-might-imagine

3. Washington Health Alliance, "First, Do No Harm: Calculating Health Care Waste in Washington State," February, 2018, https://www.wacommunitycheckup.org/media/47156/2018-first-do-no-harm.pdf

4. Martin Hensher, John Tisdell, and Craig Zimitat, “"Too much medicine”: Insights and explanations from economic theory and research," Social Science & Medicine, no.176 (2017): 77-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.020

 

Yes, it should be taken as a natural subsidy of being a normal hunan, not a health affliction.

[The Puzzler]

So, I wonder if the people who painted cave art in Europe were ADHD? ie being a normal homo sapien…

Evolution of ADHD…

https://www.londonpsychiatry.clinic/blog/hunter-gatherers-to-modern-biohackers

”Imagine being a part of a nomadic tribe from millennia ago, where every day is a new adventure, filled with unexpected twists and turns. This lifestyle fostered certain characteristics — hyper-awareness, quick reflexes, and impulsive actions — which we now associate with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

‍Fast forward to today. Although we've traded wild landscapes for digital screens, those ancient traits haven't left us. We're cavemen and women living in a world of fast Wi-Fi and faster food. In this modern era of smartphones and instant gratification, people on the ADHD spectrum may find themselves more susceptible to the siren call of modern distractions, prone to hyperfocus on instant notifications and gratification. The survival instincts of our ancestors now make us more prone to the allure of our high-speed, high-stimuli present, and even potentially addictive behaviours.”

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[The Puzzler]

The real problem of humanity is that we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology” – E.O. Wilson, 1998

[The Puzzler]

The hunter-gatherer brain is closer to the ADHD brain

Did our nomadic ancestors pass down ADHD traits? According to a study in Nature Genetics, hunter-gatherers likely had more ADHD traits because they provided a survival advantage.

‍

Imagine the advantage these traits would confer to hunter-gatherers: an alertness to the subtlest signs of danger, a focus that zeroes in on moving prey. In essence, ADHD could have been Mother Nature's wild card, a survival strategy for our roving ancestors. 
 

How an evolutionary edge created a modern mismatch

Evolutionary mismatch theory suggests that the ADHD traits that once empowered us have become maladaptive due to radical changes in our environment. 

‍

Fast forward to our modern world, people with ADHD are more likely to struggle with:

• lack of stimulation (classrooms,  office cubicles etc) 
• constant distractions from smartphone notifications 
• immediacy of digital interactions may feed into impulsivity
• blue light from screens disrupting sleep-wake cycles
• modern sedentary lifestyles prevent using pent-up energy through physical activity
• noise pollution disrupting focus and concentration
• overwhelm and anxiety due to information overload from news and social media 
• boredom from highly repetitive routines and schedules 

‍

So, while the ADHD traits that once aided our survival in a nomadic lifestyle may no longer serve us in our current environment, they're a stark reminder that our evolution is a work in progress, shaped by the world we've come from as much as the world we're heading into.

[The Puzzler]

Isn’t it normal for all of us to be a bit ADHD?

Indeed. 

[cladking]

4 minutes ago, The Puzzler said:

The hunter-gatherer brain is closer to the ADHD brain

Did our nomadic ancestors pass down ADHD traits? According to a study in Nature Genetics, hunter-gatherers likely had more ADHD traits because they provided a survival advantage.

‍

Imagine the advantage these traits would confer to hunter-gatherers: an alertness to the subtlest signs of danger, a focus that zeroes in on moving prey. In essence, ADHD could have been Mother Nature's wild card, a survival strategy for our roving ancestors. 
 

How an evolutionary edge created a modern mismatch

Evolutionary mismatch theory suggests that the ADHD traits that once empowered us have become maladaptive due to radical changes in our environment. 

‍

Fast forward to our modern world, people with ADHD are more likely to struggle with:

• lack of stimulation (classrooms,  office cubicles etc) 
• constant distractions from smartphone notifications 
• immediacy of digital interactions may feed into impulsivity
• blue light from screens disrupting sleep-wake cycles
• modern sedentary lifestyles prevent using pent-up energy through physical activity
• noise pollution disrupting focus and concentration
• overwhelm and anxiety due to information overload from news and social media 
• boredom from highly repetitive routines and schedules 

‍

So, while the ADHD traits that once aided our survival in a nomadic lifestyle may no longer serve us in our current environment, they're a stark reminder that our evolution is a work in progress, shaped by the world we've come from as much as the world we're heading into.

I don't disagree but I do disagree that ADHD is "maladaptive".  Every individual must learn  to use his nature to his advantage. Such problems are strongly associated with autism and obsessive/ compulsive disorder and these can be used to excel at a broad spectrum of many types of activities.  One can become exceptional at things like billiards or chess or turn them to invention and discovery.  Sir Isaac Newton was autistic and remade the world into mathematics which while possibly misguided has certainly spurred science and theory.  

Alertness and sensitivity to ones surrounding can still be beneficial to the individual and the commonweal.   Such individuals can be the canary in the coal mine.  

[The Puzzler]

11 minutes ago, cladking said:

I don't disagree but I do disagree that ADHD is "maladaptive".  Every individual must learn  to use his nature to his advantage. Such problems are strongly associated with autism and obsessive/ compulsive disorder and these can be used to excel at a broad spectrum of many types of activities.  One can become exceptional at things like billiards or chess or turn them to invention and discovery.  Sir Isaac Newton was autistic and remade the world into mathematics which while possibly misguided has certainly spurred science and theory.  

Alertness and sensitivity to ones surrounding can still be beneficial to the individual and the commonweal.   Such individuals can be the canary in the coal mine.  

But in todays society it’s seen as overload, it’s too much, I can barely function when I need to confirm passwords…

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler

[cladking]

1 hour ago, Opus Magnus said:

the overtreatment of the elderly,

I used to believe this myself but now believe that medical practices should not be used on the elderly with fatal conditions.  

There is also a tendency for many older people who have always availed themselves of medical care to request treatment for conditions related more to aging than to disease processes.  

The first problem is easily rectified by changing practices but the second will prove to be more intractable.  The first problem has been a major problem with the medical system ever since some twit dreamed up health insurance.  As the population ages the second problem  will be a growing problem but will never be a major problem.  

Edited October 12 by cladking

[The Puzzler]

18 minutes ago, cladking said:

I used to believe this myself but now believe that medical practices should not be used on the elderly with fatal conditions.  

There is also a tendency for many older people who have always availed themselves of medical care to request treatment for conditions related more to aging than to disease processes.  

The first problem is easily rectified by changing practices but the second will prove to be more intractable.  The first problem has been a major problem with the medical system ever since some twit dreamed up health insurance.  As the population ages it will be a growing problem but will never be a major problem.  

Lest we be a society that rids itself of the elderly, like some did…

Theres a great Star Trek episode where they go into this.

Herodotus touches on it…”According to Herodotus, the Issedones practiced ritual cannibalism of their elderly males, followed by a ritual feast at which the deceased patriarch's family ate his flesh, gilded his skull, and placed it in a position of honor much like a cult image.
But that’s not really the point….

Edited October 12 by The Puzzler