Interested in finding/making an app for tracking time spent on pre-defined tasks. The goal being to help those with ADHD. But does something exist already?

Hi Dan, I have ADHD and got a garmin watch yesterday. I personally would love an ADHD type app(s) thats halfway between a menstrual tracker and a medicine log. Like when I kept all other factors in my life constant (diet /exercise /sleep routine) I realised that my hormone cycle actually had a much bigger effect on my ADHD than I realised. Like I can double dose on my meds and I still drop the ball if its the wrong time of the month. But looking at the actual hormones and effects and interactions is a non-linear tangle of way too many variables.

Part of the reason I got the watch is hopes that the temperature sensor would better predict period start day so that I could take the 2 days before off. I digress - sorry. There are hundreds of time management apps and tools and strategies (like todoist or GTD or ...) and this is a rabbit hole where adding another tool would maybe get lost in the flood. I have a nice app on my phone that grows a tree as long as I don't touch it - game-ifying productivity seems to be the most useful way to improve ADHD at work.

But having a widget where I can log custom symptoms in real time as I notice them
1) cognitive symptoms (brainfog heavy today. Can't hold a train of thought. snow on the channel. Feel like I'm moving through custard mentally. headache) {SCT and general cognition}

2) executive function symptoms [I'm feeling impulsive and just yolo'd on Amazon. I'm struggling to control anger outbursts. I'm struggling to initiate a behavior or get started on a task. Extreme urge to actively procrastinate. Obsessive mania about a shiny new thing, restlessness and impatience (like struggle to sit and listen and calmly wait my turn), promiscuity or reckless driving] {ADHD executive function impairments}

3) anxiety /depression symptoms [feeling overwhelmed, Wall of awful (anxious reluctance that needs to be overcome before I can start my task, very sad mood, irrational reluctance or fear of doing something] {SCT and co-morbidities}

4) general productivity. [I got through my whole list or didn't get to a single thing on it. I had a lot of internal distractions. I had a lot of external distractions. I managed to work for a good long stretch (or a few good sprints). I just couldn't figure stuff out. I didn't feel like planning. I took a chill day]

And then if I can also, in the same or a separate widget, log what medication I've just taken. Like it doesn't have to pull from a database or anything. I just want to say that I took half a tablet of this anxiety thing at 3pm and a double dose of the long acting stuff early this morning and then a bit later in the morning. And maybe a half tablet of the short acting stuff at 2 or 3 points in the afternoon. And a beer at supper to just take the edge off the day. oh and I remembered to take my group or cluster of (vitamins, blood pressure stuff, contraceptive pill, whatever) at 9am this morning. This looks like one heck of a hypothetical day! But like I'm trying to figure out if I take a quarter dose of an anti-depressant for the four days before my period and maybe microdose on some anxiety tablets in this part of the follicular or luteal phase could be a god recipe for me. It sound like an extreme approach but most ADHD take a combination of things to help them cope. Multiple meds, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis etc.

I personally like the Dr Russell Barkly approach where ADHD is split into an executive function disorder and another disorder called SCT (sluggish cognitive tempo - what a name lols) instead of primarily hyperactive or inattentive types. So I have combined type ADHD which means I have issues with executive functions and the SCT thing (more brain fog and anxiety etc). Exercise, diet, hormones, and meds affect these two separate things differently and it's pretty hard to tease apart what's causing what. Like sleeping too little might worsen exec functions but these are pretty hard wired into your brain. The SCT brainfog-anxiety part however is more affected by other stuff (and especially hormones) and can be managed to a degree with diet and exercise and whatever. 

Like the scientific literature isn't there yet. Like dopamine is maybe affected by estrogen but it depends on the level of some other stuff and maybe they all work on a different system in the brain. it's a mess. But if I can log stuff for a year or two I will see a pattern emerge where I can tell that around ovulation I should maybe take these pills for a few days to manage my procrastination. Or that I must disable my credit card if I have a sleep score below whatever.

I just need an easy/ flexible/ customizable way to collect this data. And I think other people might as well. ADHD and SCT each affect about 5% of the population and about 50% of people with one also have the other. So that's like 8% of the population (and presuming half so 4% of total pop are women) that are trying to untangle a random bunch of symptoms that appear unrelated and vague that they're managing (or not managing) differently every day and they're doing this with memory or an excel sheet that is too much effort to fill in. That's just not a good way to collect and interpret data and garmins are all about tracking oodles of your own personal data and finding useful insights.

ADHD is one of the most debilitating disorders - affected folks have a lifespan that's like 10 years shorter (which is actually a horrifying statistic). But there isn't a way for the average person to track how debilitating the disorder is being. Once again - go check out Dr Barkley on this. But most of the risk factors that shorten this lifespan are things that can be managed. Understanding how you're actually being affected and what is causing it and what you can do about it would be very empowering.