Edge Foundation Blog

As the days grow shorter, it’s easy for all of us to get less active.  If you think about it, how much more time do you spend on-line or watching TV during the winter, when in the summer you would be out riding your bike or at the beach.

For people ADHD, keeping active year-round isn’t just a good idea, it’s key in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression and is also known to help with symptoms of ADHD.  It’s no surprise that Michael Phelps is able to manage his ADHD without medication – the man’s life is built around exercise. 

Studies reveal exercise treats ADHD 

There are multiple studies that show exercise is critical to brain functioning:

Spark:  The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey – was published earlier this year is filled with case studies which demonstrate the connection between exercise and brain functioning including ADHD.  (Click the link above to purchase the book and support the Edge Foundation.)

Inactive Teens More at Risk for Behavioral Problems,  Health Day, October 14, 2008.  A recent study of teenagers in Finland revealed that inactive boys and girls were more likely to have attention problems than their active peers.  It asserts that exercise is a highly effective method in easing depression and anxiety and urges teens to build regular exercise as a lifelong health habit. 

ADHD Coaching Keeps Your Exercise Program on Track 

It’s hard to start and exercise program, and even more difficult to make it a long-term habit.  ADHD coaching can help you stay on track with your exercise goals.  Checking in with someone about your weekly exercise goals, can be a way to set goals you can keep over time, stay on track and problem solve when you aren’t able to meet your goals. 

The Edge Foundation offers coaches who are specifically trained and experience in working with high school and college students.  Sign up and get your EDGE today! 

And while your at it, consider exercising outdoors.  This week another study shows that a walk in the park is also highly beneficial to improving attention in children with ADHD.

Now it’s your turn, what do you do to keep on track with your exercise goals?  Leave a comment and share your success or struggles with other Edge readers.

A new study released by Massachusettes General Hospital shows that girls taking stimulants to treat their ADHD are signficantly less at risk to start smoking, drinking alcohol or using drugs than girls with ADHD who don’t.

This study is one more in a series that show ADHD stimulants are not only effective at treating the symptoms of ADHD, but they have powerful, positive health benefits.

For more read: http://budurl.com/gcfq (Reuters) or http://budurl.com/xt45 (US News and World Report)

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and by the Lilly Foundation.  When you see a drug company listed as a funder of a study like this are you skeptical that it’s totally true?  We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.   Please leave a comment!

Foundation Established by Flexcar Founder to Provide Professional Coaches to Students with ADD/ADHD

SEATTLE, October 1, 2008 – As school starts each fall, many parents and teachers prepare once again for the academic, social and personal challenges that nearly ten percent of all young people face due to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Approximately one-half of those students are left undiagnosed despite the familiar symptoms: lack of focus, easily distracted, carelessness, forgetfulness, disorganization, impulsive and hyperactive behavior that bothers others in the classroom and at home.

Too often the result is low self-esteem, anxiety or depression that may end in higher than average dropout rates, substance abuse, risk taking, and even criminal behavior.

Neil Peterson, founder of Flexcar, the award-winning car-sharing company, and the former CEO of public transportation agencies in Seattle, Oakland, and Los Angeles, knows the challenges of ADHD all too well. “When my two children were diagnosed in their mid teens with ADHD,” Peterson explains, “I asked the doctor what caused it. He said it was hereditary. That was like a punch to the gut. Suddenly the challenges I had faced throughout my life, and those that were affecting my kids, made sense.”

One of Peterson’s strategies for coping with ADHD over the years has been to work with personal coaches. A common tactic in the corporate world, coaches trained to work with ADHD helped Peterson and his son and daughter stay focused, reflect on successes and failures, and set and monitor progress toward achieving academic, personal and professional goals. “Personal coaching, when delivered correctly by a professional trained in ADHD, takes into account the entire individual and helps him or her develop fully with an increased sense of purpose, happiness, and self-esteem,” says Peterson.

After selling Flexcar, Peterson established the Edge Foundation to ensure that ADHD coaching is available to all students regardless of financial means by providing scholarship grants and loans for those in need. In addition, the Foundation aims to be a central source of information on ADHD for parents, young people, schools and coaches as well as policymakers.

Peterson’s new book, Embracing the Edge: Stories of Tenacity and Personal Power, is making its debut at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association convention on September 15 in Portland. A collection of personal inspirational stories, the memoir recounts how Peterson overcame his own physical and learning disabilities to become a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive and public servant. Included is the heart-stopping story about the five-person hiking party, led by Peterson, that survived being swept away by a rogue wave and trapped for many hours in a cave in June 2007 on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The story describes the ordeal with his two children, a nephew and a friend of fending off hypothermia and panic as they struggled to stay calm and focused while searching for an escape route.

One of the most highly visible examples of personal coaching is eight-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Michael Phelps. “To those with ADHD,” Peterson states, “Michael Phelps’s phenomenal accomplishment at the Summer Olympics is a beacon of pride and hope. His fierce determination and single-minded focus shows what great coaching and family support can do.”

According to Peterson, the bottom line is clear, “students with ADHD need help and schools and colleges need help keeping these students from dropping out. Coaching is not the only intervention for ADHD. It requires a comprehensive effort on many fronts. But personal coaching contributes directly not only to improved academic performance but also to enhanced social functioning and increased self-esteem. That’s what I hope to accomplish with the Edge Foundation.”

All profits from the sale of Embracing the Edge will go toward carrying out the vision of The Edge Foundation. For more information, visit www.edgefoundation.org.

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Contact: Neil Peterson, 206.910.7515, npeterson @ edgefoundation.org

Flexcar Founder Tells Personal Stories about Succeeding Despite Learning Disabilities

SEATTLE, October 1, 2008 — Self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” Neil Peterson founded five companies during his 40-plus year career, most notably Flexcar, the award-winning car-sharing company that recently merged with Zipcar. Peterson’s resume is an impressive list of C-suite positions in both the public and private sectors that also includes heading public transportation agencies in Seattle, Oakland and Los Angeles. Numerous awards, including Time magazine’s “100 Newsmakers of Tomorrow” in Seattle, attest to his success. But over the years, Peterson says, “no one suspected I suffered from Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder until my two children were diagnosed with ADD and ADHD in their mid teens. It was then that I learned of my own affliction when our doctor explained that ADHD, a complex mental health disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, is hereditary.”

Embracing the Edge: Stories of Tenacity and Personal Power, Peterson’s newly published collection of personal inspirational stories, recounts how he overcame physical and learning disabilities, as well as life’s normal disappointments, to become a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive and public servant.

Included in this memoir is Peterson’s heart-stopping story about the five-person hiking party he led that survived being swept away by a rogue wave and trapped for many hours in a cave in June 2007 on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The story describes the ordeal with his two children, a nephew and a friend of fending off hypothermia and panic as they struggled to stay calm and focused while searching for an escape route.

In 2006, Peterson decided to do something to help the millions of students struggling with ADHD. Having seen the benefits of personal coaching in his own life and those of his children as an effective intervention strategy and an important part of a multi-prong ADHD treatment approach, Peterson founded the Edge Foundation, an organization committed to providing professional coaches for students with ADHD to help them realize their potential and their passion, and to become tomorrow’s leaders and innovators.

All profits from the sale of Embracing the Edge will go toward carrying out the vision of The Edge Foundation.

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Contact: Neil Peterson, 206.910.7515, npeterson @ edgefoundation.org