179 The Science of ADHD Part 2: What High Performers, Women & Kids Are Never Told About Their Brain | Lindy Hadges
Performance IntelligenceShow Notes
Most conversations about ADHD stop at the diagnosis. This one goes further. ADHD expert, Lindy Hadges, gets specific across the three groups where ADHD is most misunderstood and most consequential: high performers in business and sport; women, who are being diagnosed in their mid-50s after decades of masking; and children, whose ADHD behaviours look very different at home than at school. Lindy is an ADHD specialist, clinician, and director of the ADHD Foundation Australia. She brings science, honesty and genuine compassion to a conversation that is long overdue. If someone in your life needed to hear this, send it to them. 1:45 Why the 9 to 5 desk job is one of the worst environments for the ADHD brain, and what works instead. 4:20 Brain breaks, pulsing and the panoramic gaze: practical strategies for ADHD in a corporate role. 5:55 How the ADHD brain self-medicates with stress, deadlines and adrenaline, and why that often backfires. 7:40 Why ADHD brains need protein every two hours, and why fasting may be working against the ADHD brain. 12:15 The only way to recharge an ADHD brain to 100% and why it has to be done alone. 15:15 ADHD and sleep: why the brain skips REM, the long term costs of that, and what magnesium can do about it. 17:50 Why ADHD people need a body double, what that relationship looks like when done well, and how to avoid making it exploitative. 22:20 Self disclosure at work: who to tell, what to say, and why transparency protects the whole team. 27:30 ADHD in women: why it's chronically underdiagnosed and why menopause is one of the most common triggers for late diagnosis. 31:05 The grief of late diagnosis at 55: finally understanding three failed marriages. 33:40 Lindy's choice to homeschool five children, and what the classroom gets fundamentally wrong for ADHD kids. 37:25 The brain girdle: why ADHD children behave at school and fall apart at home, and what parents can do. 41:35 Practical school advice: Montessori, monthly brain break days, and what good classrooms can look like. 47:30 What Lindy wants to see in the next ten years: moving past both deficit language and toxic positivity. 50:25 Where to get help: ADHD Foundation Australia, low-cost counselling, and the next practical step to take today. View the ADHD Cake model: https://performanceintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ADHD-Cake-of-Understanding.png Find out more about the ADHD Foundation: https://adhdfoundation.org.au/about-us Connect with Lindy: https://ccaa.net.au/practitioner/200102-14/
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