“When you have a brain that is easily distracted by competing inputs, it’s hard for a task that is both boring and often non-urgent to get prioritized, whereas urgent tasks have a way of breaking through other distractions, essentially ‘insisting’ that they get done,” said therapist Rachael Bloom, who practices in Los Angeles.
She pointed to research that suggests individuals with ADHD have fewer beta brainwaves.
“These are the type of brain waves that keep us mentally alert and focused,” Bloom said. “Stress — being in crisis or even being under a deadline — can produce extra beta waves, which might actually help ‘turn on’ focus in individuals with ADHD.”
In addition to the executive function aspect, laundry also involves short-term memory, which can be another challenging area for people with ADHD.
“That’s why many people really struggle with remembering to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, which then adds to the misery of having to start all over in order to avoid the awful mildew smell that hits us when we finally remember to get to the washing machine,” said Michigan-based psychotherapist and ADHD coach Terry Matlen.
Matlen emphasized that the seemingly endless nature of laundry adds to the challenge.
“As hard as it is to do, we know that it’s going to start all over the following day,” she said. “The mounds of clean and dirty laundry replicate themselves every few days or so.”
Another issue, which Rice touches on in his video, is that many people with ADHD tend to experience “time blindness.”
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