ADHD and Boredom: Why Your Brain Craves Stimulation

Sunday, September 7, 2025.

People with ADHD are more prone to boredom because of attention and working memory challenges. Here’s what new research reveals—and what helps.

A new study in the Journal of Attention Disorders confirms what most people with ADHD could tell you without a research grant: boredom hits them harder and more often.

Young adults with ADHD traits scored nearly two standard deviations higher in boredom proneness than their peers (Orban, Blessing, Sandone, Conness, & Santer, 2024).

The underlying issue is executive function—the set of mental tools that help us pay attention, hold information in mind, and finish what we start.

When those systems misfire, even mildly dull tasks feel unbearable.

Boredom Isn’t Harmless

We tend to treat boredom as a minor nuisance, but the research paints a different picture.

Boredom doesn’t get the bad rap it truly deserves. Chronic boredom has been linked to depression, anxiety, self-harm, poor grades, and workplace accidents (Eastwood et al., 2012). For people with ADHD, who often describe boredom as a daily battle, it’s more than an irritation—it’s a chronic and enduring vulnerability.

In Orban’s study, college students with high ADHD traits not only reported greater boredom but also performed worse on attention and working memory tasks. The biggest challenges were:

• Sustained Attention: staying focused over time.

• Interference Control: resisting distractions.

• Complex Working Memory: juggling multiple pieces of information at once.

These weaknesses made boredom more likely. As Orban explained, it’s not simply that ADHD brains “don’t like boring tasks”—it’s that the very systems needed to tolerate them are fundamentally compromised.

The Other Side of Boredom

Not every researcher sees boredom as the villain.

Some studies suggest it can push people toward creativity and novelty-seeking (Bench & Lench, 2013). For someone with ADHD, that might look like hopping between projects, diving into a new interest, or hitting a rare groove of hyperfocus.

So boredom isn’t just destructive—it also might be a double-edged tool. The difference is whether you can channel it or whether it derails you.

What This Looks Like in Real Life

Imagine a motivated student in Organic Chemistry. They want to succeed, but attention slips, the lecture feels endless, and suddenly the class is written off as “boring.” For people with ADHD, this cycle isn’t occasional—it’s constant.

Practical fixes include:

• Breaking big tasks into smaller, shorter pieces. This is called chunking.

• Using meaningful rewards to keep momentum.

• Working in low-distraction spaces.

• Offloading memory demands with planners, timers, or apps.

None of these “cure” ADHD. But they can frustrate the boredom spiral and make it easier to interrupt.

Where the Research Wanders Next

The study had limits: a small sample, mostly female college students, and self-report measures.

But it’s an important step.

Orban’s team is already running follow-up projects, including deliberately inducing boredom to compare ADHD and non-ADHD responses, and tracking how boredom affects academic performance in students with formal diagnoses. Who knew boredom could be so fascinating.

The long-term aim is ultimately practical: if boredom in ADHD stems from attention and memory challenges, then we can develop interventions that can target those systems—reducing frustration and improving focus in school, work, and daily life for those struggling to manage their ADHD.

Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.

REFERENCES:

Bench, S. W., & Lench, H. C. (2013). On the function of boredom. Behavioral Sciences, 3(3), 459–472. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3030459

Eastwood, J. D., Frischen, A., Fenske, M. J., & Smilek, D. (2012). The unengaged mind: Defining boredom in terms of attention. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 482–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612456040

Malkovsky, E., Merrifield, C., Goldberg, Y., & Danckert, J. (2012). Exploring the relationship between boredom and sustained attention. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(4), 554–559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.018

Orban, S. A., Blessing, J. S., Sandone, M. K., Conness, B., & Santer, J. (2024). Why are individuals with ADHD more prone to boredom? Examining attention control and working memory as mediators. Journal of Attention Disorders. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547241238874