Did hyperactivity evolve as a survival aid for nomads? - New Scientist Story

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news6_head_dn14100

Impulsivity and a short attention span may be the bane of every parent with a hyperactive toddler, but those same traits seem to help Kenyan nomads keep weight on.

A gene mutation tied to attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is also associated with increased weight among a chronically undernourished group of nomads called the Ariaal. Notably, the mutation offers no such benefit to a cousin population that gave up the nomadic lifestyle in the 1960s.

The nomads' active and unpredictable life centred on herding might benefit from spontaneity, says Ben Campbell, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, US, who was involved in the new study.

"If you are a nomad then you ought to be little more impulsive than if you are settled," he says. "You should be a little quicker on the trigger."
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I was diagnosed with ADD when I was a kid. Wouldn't do my homework but got the highest test scores in school. They didn't know what to do with me. Then I graduated highschool and learned that grades don't mean shit!

Of course the Ritalin was a lot of fun to snort through highschool. That stuff is like coke but without the crazed immediate cravings.

I never thought I was "sick" from having trouble paying attention to shit I already knew. As an adult though the wife and I are going absolutely insane for having lived in the same place for three years. We both describe a year we spent travelling as the best year of both our lives. We're only happy when we're roaming!

because so many who came to this country did so exactly because of the effects of the gene on the person's disposition.

That's why ADHD is such an issue in this country.

Probably something like a few percentage points. People do tend to drag their families around with them.

It just occurred to me that as the nutritional value of our food decreased the number of ADD cases went up. Coincidence?

doesn't mean that ADD didn't exist. I remember one kid back in grade school (late '60's) that the rest of us wanted to tie to his chair. He was just constantly in motion. At the time he was just called hyperactive or antsy. Now he'd be ADD or ADHD.

But there were no real statistics compiled at that time, as there was no real diagnosis.

And the kid could have had some other issues going on as well.

ADD is attention deficit disorder... it's basically low activation so you need a lot of stimulation to hold your attention, and you tend to constantly seek stimulation of your brain any way you can get it.

ADHD is like a compulsion for the same. But there are a lot of things that can appear to be both, which is why it is truely grotesquely overdiagnosed and overmedicated.

The Ritalin was great and I would love to take it today, but I don't "need" it by any means and it does have side effects!

He had a bad diet. He was in my classes from kindergarten until middle school. His mom made his lunch but all he ever ate were the chips and desserts. My mom used to make my lunch and I would sell him my chips and dessert (mostly Twinkies and Hostess cupcakes). Sometimes we'd trade and I'd get his milk or sandwich (I was a chubby kid who loved food). His other favorite food was macaroni and cheese.

My husband was diagnosed with ADD several years ago. He's on some kind of salts (little blue pills) that help him focus. I used to tease him about his ability to play video games and chess for hours on end while he couldn't concentrate long enough to read a book. Then I realized that video games keep his attention because something is always going on and when he plays chess he's constantly thinking several moves ahead.

But, all this aside, the average American's diet is crap. The nutritional value has been lowered and one of the reasons that people are eating more is because they don't feel full even after consuming a lot of food. The reason is because the body's nutritional needs aren't being met. I know that my husband has had a lot fewer problems with his ADD when he eats better. His ADD has returned now that he's working outside of the house and eating more processed foods. I was packing his lunch for a while but his boss went through a period when he was taking everyone out to lunch. He asked me to stop making him lunch because it was starting to go to waste.

Anyway, these are connections that popped into my mind when I read the article you posted. Specifically the nomadic risk-taking behavior, my husband and his ADD. My husband is definitely nomadic and a risk taker. He took off several times as a teenager (he says he didn't "run away" as much as he just needed to see what he was missing). He hitchhiked from Kansas to California and back again several times as a teenager. He also played sports - football, basketball and baseball. His parents were constantly trying to funnel his energy into something positive. His first "real" job out of high school was traveling with a combine crew during wheat harvest. Then he went on to become a mail courier, a medical courier and several other jobs where he was constantly on the move.

And believe me, he's a risk taker. He's been a millionaire and he's been flat busted. Not to mention that he was a busy bee in his younger years. I'm his fourth wife but, according to him, I've been the only one that hasn't tried to reign him in. Then again, I grew up with a dad who is schizophrenic and I have a sister who is also schizophrenic. I'm used to unexpected behaviors and a lowered attention span.

Different life stories of course but same sort of pattern.

Can I ask what blue pills he's taking? I don't want to get back on synthetic coke again but wouldn't mind something to help me focus if it doesn't have a bunch of side effects. I'm writing a book, starting a business, renovating a house, working full time, working on pre-requisites for an MBA, DU-ing, and re-learning Hebrew :rofl:

I'm going to vegas in two weeks, and Paris and Israel this winter. I'd be out of town every weekend if I could.

I will finish all of these projects, and have made a lot of progress on some of them but it would be helpful if my focus while i'm working on them was better!

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And yes diet does completely make me lose focus. But I always thought it was because I'm slightly hypoglycemic and I forget to eat.

Now that could have come right from my husband's mouth. When he hasn't been eating well and he gets hungry he says he feels "shaky".

Oh lord. Some day you two will have to meet. He's writing a book, keeping up with his old IP practice, working full-time at an IP law firm (his new job), practicing his Tao (mediation, exercises, etc.) and lately he's been talking about taking some classes to refresh his technology skills (for his patent work/clients).

He just got back from a five day trip where he attended two of his daughters' graduation ceremonies, helped a friend move and met with seven clients and with several of his old chess students.

In his "spare time" he is studies/plays poker and chess. Currently he has two chess students but is thinking about adding a third. Oh yeah, he's making plans to take his kids to California (where they used to live) and is thinking about going back to Thailand to get recertified as a Taoist teacher/master.

He gets up everyday around 5 and takes our German Shepherd for a two mile walk and gets into the office before 8. I feel like such a slacker around him.

I think his pills are a generic Adderall (amphetamine salts). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamine He takes half a pill at a time. Usually one in the midmorning and another after lunch. So far, the pills don't appear to have any adverse effects for him. He's gets a lot done because he's able to focus on whatever he's doing at the moment. He's also a little obsessive-compulsive (his characterization) so he finishes whatever he starts.

I will have to look into the adderall. Amphetamines are pretty messy but so is getting side tracked all the time!

My wife always makes fun of me because i have unholy focus when it comes to anything that is rapid-fire, high information, high involvement like video games, but almost none for other activities like small talk.

I'm in sales and one of my greatest weaknesses is that I really have to struggle to find the patience to not complete people's sentences. When I know what someone is going to say it drives me crazy to sit there politely. It's a horrible personality trait of mine, but I didn't feel that crazy drive to GOGOGO on to the next thing when I was medicated.

I dunno, maybe I should go see someone and try it out again. I can certainly function like this - millions do - but it might be nice to be able to calm the hell down again without alcohol. Can't drink during the day after all!

Talk about unholy focus. And it made him jittery. Taking a half a pill at a time gives him focus without the jitters. It's weird too. He'll do the half pill thing for a while and he gets into a routine. After a couple of weeks he stops taking them and, because he's got a routine, he can go without the pills for up to a month. Then he goes back on them when he realizes he's falling out of his routine.

LOL. I have the same problem with some people. Usually the stupid ones. I just want them to spit out whatever they are going to say and move on. I know my "problem" is related to dealing with my dad. He'd have an episode and go off on some tangent and never get the point. I think all my patience was used up when I was a kid. Plus, I've been self-employed most of my life. So, when someone is dragging on and on, it was killing the time I could be using to get something done.

fwiw, one of the other things that used to help my hubby was pot. He'd smoke part of a joint, not enough to get stoned, but enough for him to calm down and get focused. His dad was a recovered alcoholic and about twenty years ago my husband realized he was developing a drinking problem of his own. Since he's not a good drinker, he would use pot. Now that we've moved across country and 1) we don't know anyone to get pot from and 2) he's got a "real" job outside the house in downtown DC and he can't go outside and smoke a joint without getting busted, he's using the pills.

I think a lot of people with genuine ADD are just people who can be classified as high activation seekers. Your brain literally NEEDS excitement for you to feel normal and to have neurological balance. This tendency is of course reinforced like any good addiction.

Here's a good plain english article about it -

http://psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=20001101-000035&page=1

And I think that this is what another poster was likley referring to concerning Thom Hartman.

It has, as with all psychology findings, been placed in a theoretical evolutionary context. But the study above in the OP is the first to find a genetic component specifically for ADHD.

It made me shaky.
I was diagnosed with ADD..I honestly think it was a self-inflicted thing. I didn't see any sense in taking boring classes.
Honestly, to this point in my life, I've not been sorry to have not learned certain things, but that may change..LOL.

Ritalin and other stimulants fill the hole in one of the Dopamine cascades in your brain. If you have ADD anyways. If you don't it throws you out of balance... or if you take too much (which I loved to do). But even on too much it never made me shaky. Just really really focused like a laser beam man! I literally couldn't get bored, period.

Read down thread about high activation seekers.

degree or worse

Is nomadism a common trait among Aspies? Or is it just his thing?

Thom Hartman wrote a book on this years ago.

Or did he write it with his ass?

For every 100 crackpot theories out there one of them turns out to be true. Trouble is you have no way of knowing until you do the science :P

If you did, you wouldnt be asking this question.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/

I have all sorts of theories that are based on other science, and occassionaly turn out to be supported by actual science, but that doesn't make my theories "science" or fact :P

Which is about when the bulk of people ceased being nomadic hunter-gatherers and turned to food production.

While I think genetics plays a role I think those extreme highs and lows and hyperactivity caused by (poor) diet and our instant gratification culture has something to do with it too. Some may be more susceptible to ADHD from genetics.

Also, IQ has no correlation with ADHD. Smart people have ADHD and dumb people have ADHD.


You don't really see ADHD in tribal areas or in non western cultures.

This might shed more light..

http://www.encognitive.com/adhd/nutritional-causes-of-add-adhd-2008-jan-31.html