Different time: How people with ADHD experience the day
Stretchy like rubber, compressible like air: People with ADHD often perceive time very differently than neurotypical people—and therefore have more difficulty estimating and planning. Examples, reasons, and useful tips.
Stay with it for another 15 minutes because it's interesting. Then look at the clock and realize: the bus left 15 minutes ago because you were on the computer or smartphone for a whole hour. For people with ADHD , "time blindness" or at least very poor estimation of time is a daily companion . Not exactly an easy lot in a society that plans its work, mobility and often even leisure time down to the minute. The opposite is downright torturous: routine tasks that don't demand mental performance are experienced by people with ADHD as a kind of "silent death by installments" . An hour of this can feel like half a day; inner nervousness rises, frustration and anger spread, and voluntary concentration becomes even more difficult.
Why are people with ADHD often “time blind”?
Researchers have been trying to solve the mystery of time perception for decades – but so far, the results have been relatively modest. There doesn't seem to be a single central clock in the brain, but rather multiple systems that control different aspects of time perception. Emotional experiences, such as the first kiss or moving into one's first apartment, are deeply etched in our memory and also influence our retrospective perception of time. As we age and have fewer new experiences, the years seem to pass more and more quickly – because not much new is happening anymore.
The key to momentary time perception appears to lie in dopamine , the neurotransmitter (messenger substance) that is made available in the form of medication for ADHD.
Drugs that affect the dopaminergic system (cocaine, amphetamine) can also speed up our internal clock. Research on mice has also shown that dopaminergic nerve cells in the substantia nigra, a deep brain region, directly control our perception of time. Parkinson's patients in whom these nerve cells die often have an impaired perception of time. One thing is certain: emotions and attention can change the number of registered impulses, which in turn influences our internal clock. This can easily be seen with another example. Films in the cinema play at 30, maybe 60 frames per second. The only reason we see a film is because we cannot process so many images one after the other as individuals . If we were to go to the cinema with the eyes of a bee, the film would be an extremely lengthy, never-ending slide show. Bees see up to 200 frames per second .
In summary, our perception of time is a complex interplay of brain regions and neurotransmitters, with dopamine playing a central role. In people with ADHD, whose dopamine metabolism is disrupted, this leads to an altered perception of time almost daily . Various studies have concluded that people with ADHD estimate the length of time periods 30% differently than those without. They also found it more difficult to reproduce a time interval correctly (e.g., "draw on this piece of paper for one minute"). This weakness correlated directly with increased impulsivity.
How does time blindness in ADHD manifest itself in everyday life?
Lateness: People with ADHD and time blindness often struggle with punctuality. The reason? A distorted estimation of time during preparation and task duration. Furthermore, the complete ignoring of other topics when hyperfocus sets in.
Procrastination: People with ADHD time blindness often procrastinate until the last second. Their main motivator, which works well, is stress. Due to executive dysfunction, their willpower often doesn't function well. The result: overwhelm in many areas of life.
Time management problems: Effective time management is a challenge. Difficulty setting priorities and creating schedules leads to frustration—both for yourself and for others.
Uneven work performance: Work experiences ups and downs. Sometimes people with ADHD are high performers, other times progress stalls. Time constraints play a key role here.
Preference for immediate gratification: People with ADHD often struggle with delaying gratification. They live much more in the present moment – and are passionate about immediate results. A project isn't due for another three months? For someone with ADHD, it's "out of sight, out of mind." They can only imagine committing to it if they regularly see partial results from their work.
Seeing time, feeling the future: Time management with ADHD
The following time management strategies can help people with ADHD to manage their attention, detach themselves more from the present, and broaden their time horizon – “to also feel the future”:
Reduce temptations: With ADHD, every interruption in attention is like a roll of the dice—you never know if you'll get back on track. Sheer willpower is too unreliable to resist time-wasting distractions like your smartphone and social media. Put it away, lock it up.
Keep track of the passing time at all times: Don't rely on your internal clock. Use analog clocks nearby to see the time. Even better, especially for short time periods (up to 60 minutes), are visual timers that visually indicate the passing of time in color. Set reminders on your phone or even a simple kitchen timer for when you're ready to leave.
Feel the future: Construct consequences. How will it feel if I have to complete three weeks of work in one week? If not so good: What could I do with my project today that would actually give me a good feeling of completion by the evening?
Break tactics: Regular breaks structure your day and sharpen your focus on what's important. Use your breaks for exercise, if possible. Concentration is proven to be easier after exercise.
Urgent tasks first (not exciting ones): What's urgent, what can wait? A clear list sorted by urgency helps you structure your day efficiently. Feel free to use colors, icons, or anything that stands out from the boring screen or white paper. People with ADHD are often very visual , and "markers" focus our willpower.
Break projects down: Break down large challenges into smaller steps without hesitation. Break them down as much as it still makes sense. This makes progress visible and scheduling more realistic. Achieving something every day? That's the kind of horizon that feels satisfying with ADHD.
Addendum: You read the article to the end even though you are "neurotypical," meaning you don't have ADHD. Congratulations. But something is really bothering you. Because you are also familiar with the altered perception of time . The day with your friend was so short, the three hours spent working on the Excel spreadsheet felt so long. Yes, of course. Now imagine a slider from 1 to 5 as far as this effect is concerned. For you, it might be set to 1 or 2. With ADHD , it's almost constantly at 4 or 5. Just like with inattention or impulsivity, it's not that "normal people" wouldn't be familiar with THAT . It's about how strong the effect is—and how severely it can therefore affect our lives.
💡 Helpful products:
- Visual timer with concrete time display for learning units