October 8, 2025

Controlling attention with brain waves

I’m not really supposed to do coffee because it does increase my blood pressure, specifically the caffeine content. When I started ADHD meds, I fully switched to decaf coffee or matcha and I have had no bad effects with matcha so far. However, after the first month of being on 30mg of vyvanse, I decided – hey! Caffeine is categorized as a central nervous system stimulant and is composed of methylxanthine 61. Its main mechanism of action is the antagonism of adenosine receptors, which, consequently, increases dopaminergic actions in the cortex 62. In addition to these dopaminergic effects, caffeine produces secondary effects on acetylcholine and noradrenaline 63.

Anxiety

In contrast, a study analyzed data from 1239 soldiers with ADHD and showed that those who consumed caffeine had less impulsive behavior 77. Lisdexamfetamine also increases the release of dopamine and norepinephrine in neuronal synapses 23. However, this occurs through an action on the vesicular transport system, which is responsible for storing dopamine and norepinephrine in synaptic vesicles 24. With greater release of these neurotransmitters, there is increased activation of adhd meds and coffee their respective receptors, thereby helping to improve attention, concentration, and mood regulation 25.

Holistic Health

Today, Riggs is investigating the origins of neurodevelopmental conditions, hoping to pave the way to better treatments for brain disorders by uncovering the molecular changes that alter the structure and function of neural circuits. The researchers also hope to work with other labs to characterize the layered oscillation patterns in more detail across different brain regions. The researchers are now exploring whether measuring these oscillations could help to diagnose these types of disorders.

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Satrajit Ghosh, a principal research scientist at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, is the senior author of the study, which appears in the Journal of Internet Medical Research. “Many of those things that we do when we’re spacing out are very adaptive and important to our lives,” says Kucyi, the paper’s first author. We might be drafting an email in our heads while in the shower, or trying to remember the host’s spouse’s name while getting dressed for a party. Moments when our minds wander can allow space for creativity and planning for the future, he says, so it makes sense that many parts of the brain would be engaged in that kind of thinking.

adhd meds and coffee

3. Data Extraction

Kucyi, however, didn’t just want to identify regions of the brain that lit up when someone said their mind was wandering. He also wanted to be able to use that generalized pattern of brain activity to be able to predict whether or not a subject would say that their focus had drifted away from the task in front of them. Imbalances in how these oscillations interact with each other may be involved in brain disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the researchers say. “The psychiatric guidelines for whether a person’s ADHD is persistent or remitted are based on lots of clinical studies and impressions. Additionally, research into the long-term effects of caffeine on brain development and function in individuals with ADHD could provide valuable insights. Studies examining the potential differences in caffeine’s effects across different age groups and ADHD subtypes may also contribute to a more nuanced understanding of its role in ADHD management.

Caffeine primarily works as a central nervous system stimulant by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that promotes sleepiness and suppresses arousal. By blocking these receptors, caffeine prevents the onset of drowsiness and increases alertness. This mechanism of action is one of the reasons why many people, including those with ADHD, turn to caffeine for a quick energy boost. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects both children and adults, impacting their ability to focus, control impulses, and regulate activity levels.

Currently, those symptoms are most often treated with stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, which have widespread effects throughout the brain. Using machine learning to analyze the text of more than 800,000 Reddit posts, the researchers were able to identify changes in the tone and content of language that people used as the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic progressed, from January to April of 2020. Their analysis revealed several key changes in conversations about mental health, including an overall increase in discussion about anxiety and suicide. To study wandering minds, the researchers first had to set up a situation in which people were likely to lose focus. They recruited test subjects at the McGovern Institute’s Martinos Imaging Center to complete a simple, repetitive, and rather boring task. With an fMRI scanner mapping their brain activity, participants were instructed to press a button whenever an image of a city scene appeared on a screen in front of them and withhold a response when a mountain image appeared.

They are committed to unraveling the basic biology of those conditions, knowing that knowledge is essential to guide the development of better treatments. As information passes from layer to layer, input can be incorporated as needed to help the brain perform particular tasks such as baking a new cookie recipe or remembering a phone number. In the new paper, the researchers wanted to explore whether the layered oscillation pattern they had seen in the prefrontal cortex is more widespread, occurring across different parts of the cortex and across species.

Desimone is the senior author of the paper, which appears in Neuron on Dec. 4. McGovern Institute postdoc Yasaman Bagherzadeh is the lead author of the study. Daniel Baldauf, a former McGovern Institute research scientist, and Dimitrios Pantazis, a McGovern Institute principal research scientist, are also authors of the paper.

  • This is thought to be a sign of impairment in executive function — the management of cognitive tasks — that is separate from ADHD, but occurs in about half of ADHD patients.
  • Live support will be unavailable during regular business hours on Monday, January 20.
  • In research published recently in JAMA Psychiatry, Whitfield-Gabrieli and colleagues found that signatures predicting future development of depression and attentional symptoms can be detected in children as young as seven years old.
  • Several recent studies in animal models 69,70,71 have shown that caffeine can be an adjuvant in the treatment of ADHD.
  • Both groups of adult ADHD patients, including those who had recovered, showed patterns of simultaneous activation of both networks.
  • Its accessibility and perceived benefits have led to its widespread use among those seeking to improve focus and manage symptoms.
  • With an fMRI scanner mapping their brain activity, participants were instructed to press a button whenever an image of a city scene appeared on a screen in front of them and withhold a response when a mountain image appeared.
  • Two other studies used hot beverages for dose administration 59,60, and one study 56 used 100 mL of a solution to dilute the supplements.
  • It’s essential for individuals to pay close attention to their body’s response to caffeine and adjust their consumption accordingly.
  • We might be drafting an email in our heads while in the shower, or trying to remember the host’s spouse’s name while getting dressed for a party.
  • Recording from individual cortical layers has been difficult in the past, because each layer is less than a millimeter thick, so it’s hard to know which layer an electrode is recording from.

One group of participants was trained to suppress alpha waves in the left side of the brain, while the other was trained to suppress the right side. In those who had reduced alpha on the left side, their visual cortex showed a larger response to flashes of light on the right side of the screen, while those with reduced alpha on the right side responded more to flashes seen on the left side. Although subjects were not told anything about what was happening, after about 20 trials (which took about 10 minutes), they were able to increase the contrast of the pattern. The MEG results indicated they had done so by controlling the asymmetry of their alpha waves.

Additionally, lisdexamfetamine has a similar action to methylphenidate, inhibiting the reuptake of these neurotransmitters by terminal neurons 24. This increases the availability of catecholamines in the synapse, facilitating communication between neurons and aiding in cognitive control and behavior regulation 23. Nonetheless, it commonly presents side effects such as appetite suppression, weight loss, insomnia, irritability, dizziness, possible growth reduction, exacerbation of tics, and increased blood pressure 26.

Ravina
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Ravina Pandya,  Content Writer, has a strong foothold in the market research industry. She specializes in writing well-researched articles from different industries, including food and beverages, information and technology, healthcare, chemical and materials, etc. With an MBA in E-commerce, she has an expertise in SEO-optimized content that resonates with industry professionals.

Ravina Pandya

Ravina Pandya,  Content Writer, has a strong foothold in the market research industry. She specializes in writing well-researched articles from different industries, including food and beverages, information and technology, healthcare, chemical and materials, etc. With an MBA in E-commerce, she has an expertise in SEO-optimized content that resonates with industry professionals.

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