ADHD Dosha Quiz

Maybe you are already interested in Ayurveda. Perhaps you’ve taken an online dosha quiz and have a sense of your doshas or Ayurvedic body type. You may know whether you have more vata, pitta or kapha, which most dosha quizzes are designed to help you understand.

In case you don’t know about Ayurveda, it’s the sister science to Yoga. Yoga is used to calm the mind and connect you to your true Self. Ayurveda is a guide to caring for your body - diet, lifestyle and herbs. They both share a spiritual path and moral compass. Together, they are a complete system of medicine and a guide to healthy living.

The doshas are the mind-body types. Vata dosha is about air, space and all movement in the body. Pitta dosha is about fire and water and governs transformation and all chemical reactions. Kapha dosha is about water and earth and is the body's structural integrity. This is a grossly abbreviated explanation, but it will give you a tiny bit of context for this vata dosha quiz.

This quiz is different, though. It’s not about your doshic type; it’s a deep dive into the physical constitution, psychology, characteristics and imbalances of vata dosha, and specifically, how many high vata traits you have. The more vata you have, the more likely you are to have traits of ADHD.

These days, most people have high vata. It is hard not to in today’s culture because so much of our fast-paced and crazy way of life is vata aggravating. So many ‘normal’ contemporary habits aggravate vata. Since vata dosha is responsible for ADHD, it’s not surprising that we are seeing a rise in both vata and ADHD in recent years.

So, with that very rudimentary introduction and explanation, let’s move on to the quiz. If you find yourself with a high score, that means you have both high vata and many ADHD traits. You should subscribe to my Substacks as I publish them and buy my book when it comes out next year!

Change

You are constantly seeking shiny new things and fresh rabbit holes.
You thrive on change.
You get bored quickly by things, people, partners, jobs, and hobbies.
You change big things like other people change their clothes.

Time Management
You resist routines and schedules.
You have time issues like time blindness and time-bending.
You rush and hurry.
You never have enough time and cram too many things into your life.
You are constantly multitasking and busy.
You struggle with attention to detail, meaning you forget or miss essential pieces of information.
You leave many things unfinished, including projects and sentences.
You talk fast and go off on tangents. Or you stay quiet to avoid being too much.
You are late for or miss appointments.
You find it hard to slow down and do ‘nothing’ or just do one thing at a time.
Whatever you are doing, you think you should be doing something else. You are not in the present moment.
You are often late or miss deadlines. Or you are chronically early to avoid being late.

Worry, Stress and Anxiety
You worry about so many things.
You can take anything to extremes.
You have many fears and anxieties.
You feel ungrounded and scattered.
You feel ungrounded and disconnected.
You have a poor memory for certain things.
You worry about making bad decisions and avoid choosing anything.
You have a history of making impulsive decisions.
You have lots of negative self-talk.
You suffer from overwhelm.
You take unwise risks.
Your breathing is shallow, increasing anxiety.
Emotions in General
You run from your feelings.
You zone out and daydream.
You have a history of trauma.
You have a history of dissociation.
You feel emotions in a heightened way, and you can overreact to them.
You see moderation and routine as dirty words.
You keep busy to avoid your feelings.
You feel scattered, distracted and out-of-balance.
You often feel misunderstood.
You feel baffled by people’s reactions to you. You don’t intend to upset people, but somehow, it’s a pattern.
You find yourself feeling irritable for no reason.
You experience loneliness, depression, and insecurity and are easily threatened.
You have extreme anxiety about criticism, abandonment, rejection or failure.

Addictions
You use work, alcohol, relationships, caffeine, drugs, sex, food, shopping, exercise, Netflix, electronics, socializing or other things to avoid your thoughts or feelings.

Organization
You struggle with keeping things tidy.
You feel disorganized.
You don’t pay attention to detail, or you hyper-fixate.
You lose things.
You are constantly making new organizational systems but not sticking to them.

Digestion, Eating and Drinking
Your digestion is problematic and changeable. You may have constipation, diarrhea or anything in between. You may have gas, bloating, or indigestion. No two days are the same.
You crave dry, light food.
You eat raw food frequently.
You eat cold food.
You drink soda or fizzy drinks.
You forget to hydrate or drink a lot of caffeine.
You eat mindlessly or on the run.
Your eating habits are erratic. You may under or overeat or forget to eat.
You have hunger issues- excessive, erratic or absent.
You have a history of eating problems of one kind or another.
You have problems with the absorption of nutrients.
You have sugar addictions.
You have an astringent taste in the mouth.

Nervous System
Your nervous system feels shot. You jump easily when someone scares you.
You get triggered by places with lots of stimulation, like shopping malls, loud rooms, busy crowds or lots of talking.
You have panic attacks.
You spend way too much time in front of a computer or other electronic screens.
You have brain fog and holes in your memory.
You get agitated and irritated by little things.
You have lots of sensitivities.
You suffer from misophonia or extreme sensitivity to patterned based sounds such as eating.
You have obsessive and/or compulsive tendencies.
You have dizziness, fainting, vertigo, confusion from fear, anxiety, worry or nervousness.
You have low blood pressure.
You have restlessness, especially hands and feet and feel fidgety
You have neuralgia or fleeting nerve pains.
You have neuropathy.

Sleep
Your sleep is disturbed.
You may wake with anxiety, especially between 2 and 4 am.
You may have nightmares or night terrors.
You could be a sleepwalker or sleeptalker.
You resort to substances to try and get some sleep.
Your sleep pattern is erratic.
You have electronic devices playing while you sleep.

General symptoms of the body and mind
You have an energy slump in the late afternoon.
You have general dryness of skin, eyes, hair or constipation.
You suffer from tinnitus, noises in your ears or hearing loss.
You’ve recently had a baby or have never been well since having a baby.
You do a lot of air travel.
You have experienced illness or accidents that have affected your head, nervous system, sense organs or mental state.
You have issues with speech, throat or upper respiratory tract.
You have circulation issues.
You have sexual struggles of one kind or another.
You have lost your libido or it is excessively high.
Your periods have stopped, are erratic or very painful. They are scanty.
You have sore and cracking joints.
You experience piercing pain, mobile pain, numbness
You feel cold, especially your hands and feet and on the ‘inside.’
You have reached menopause years or beyond.
You have intrusive and disturbing thoughts.
You have dark discolourations, maybe under the eyes
You have PMS
You have acne around your chin or jaw.

Your Score

This is not an exhaustive list, nor will anyone have every symptom. Not all of the signs and symptoms are indicative of ADHD, but all are signs of high vata. There is no meaning to your score other than raising your awareness of how vata is showing up for you. Some symptoms might be very intense; others might be mild and occasional. It’s just an opportunity to see how vata is blowing through your life. Once you’ve done an inventory, the next step is to calm it down.

Stay tuned for more information about how to do or feel free to reach out and book a consultation.