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Valium (diazepam) is a fast-acting, long-lasting benzodiazepine that is often prescribed to treat anxiety disorders. Depending on how it’s taken, you’ll typically feel its effects one minute to one hour after administration.

How long Valium stays in your system depends on a variety of factors, including the method of detection:

• Urine: Up to six weeks
• Blood: Up to 48 hours
• Saliva: Up to 10 days
• Hair: Up to 90 days

Jump to Key Takeaways

How Long Does Valium Stay in the Body?

Valium has a half-life of approximately 48 hours. The half-life of a drug is how long it takes for half of a dose to be eliminated from the body.

Valium levels typically peak in the bloodstream in about one to two hours. While the physiological effects may only last between four to six hours, the drug will be detectable in the body for much longer.

As the body processes Valium, it is broken down into other substances known as metabolites. In many cases, these metabolites are detectable in the body for much longer than the drug itself. The most common metabolites of Valium are nordiazepam, temazepam, and oxazepam.

The drug’s metabolites may also have much longer half-lives. Nordiazepam, for example, has a half-life of up to 100 hours. Valium also accumulates when people take multiple doses over a period of time, which can slightly prolong the total half-life of the substance.

Valium or metabolites associated with the medication can be detected in the body in different ways.

• Urine: Valium can be detected in urine for one to six weeks after being taken.
• Blood: Valium is detectable in blood for six to 48 hours. Due to the shorter detection window and the more invasive nature of blood tests, they tend to be used less frequently than other test methods. However, a blood test may be used in some forensic settings or to confirm an unexpected positive urine test result.
• Saliva: A saliva test can detect Valium for one to 10 days after it’s taken. Research suggests that saliva testing can be a viable alternative to urine testing for the detection of Valium and other benzodiazepines. Valium side effects can include dry mouth or hypersalivation, which can affect the ability to collect an adequate sample or may dilute the amount of detectable substance in the oral fluid.
• Hair: Like many other drugs, Valium can be detected with a hair follicle drug test for up to 90 days. The long detection window of this testing method means that it can be used to look for past drug use. If you have been prescribed Valium to treat anxiety or another condition, be sure to inform the testing lab, even if you are no longer taking your medication.

How Quickly Does Valium Start Working?

Valium works by facilitating the activity of the chemical GABA at various receptor sites in the brain. GABA reduces activity in different areas of the brain, including regions that help control emotion, thought, memory, and automatic functions such as breathing. By increasing the effects of this brain chemical, Valium helps reduce anxiety, relax muscles, and increase drowsiness.

Valium can be administered in three ways:

• Injection: When administered via injection, the effects take just one to five minutes to kick in.
• Mouth: People usually begin to feel the effects 15 to 60 minutes after ingestion when taken orally.
• Rectal gel: Rectal gel may be used for those who are experiencing seizures and begins working quickly after administration.

If you take Valium, it’s important to know how long the drug’s effects last to avoid the following associated risks.

• Having too much Valium in your body at one time can cause serious side effects. These include drowsiness, confusion, impaired movements and balance, shortness of breath, and potentially unresponsiveness.
• Valium can easily become habit-forming. After a period of time, you can develop a tolerance for the drug. As a result, you may have to take larger dosages. Notably, overuse of Valium can have some alarming consequences. Studies have found, for instance, that long-term use of Valium and similar drugs used to treat anxiety is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
• Valium can have serious or even life-threatening side effects if you take certain other medications before it’s totally cleared from your body. It’s especially dangerous to take sedatives, sleeping pills, or tranquilizers if you have Valium in your system. The same is true of drinking alcohol.

Factors That Affect Valium Clearance

There are many variables that affect how long Valium remains in the body. The rate at which medications and other substances break down depends on things like:

• Metabolism
• Age
• Weight
• Percentage of body fat
• Activity level
• Hydration

Some health conditions, including liver impairments, can play a role in the rate at which drugs are metabolized by the body.

Other factors that can affect how long Valium stays in the body involve the specific prescription. The larger the dose and the more frequently you take it, for example, the longer it will likely remain in your body.

How to Get Valium Out of Your System

While the effects of diazepam will begin to wear off after about six hours, it will take much longer for this long-acting benzodiazepine to fully clear your system. You may want to get Valium out of your system if you are experiencing unpleasant side effects or if your doctor is planning to switch you to another medication.

The first step to getting Valium out of your system is to stop taking the drug. However, you should never stop taking prescribed medication without talking to your doctor first. Your doctor may recommend gradually tapering your medication to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

If you start taking it again at the same dose, it can result in an accidental overdose. Discuss your options for safely stopping your medication, which may involve a gradual reduction in your dose in order to avoid withdrawal effects, a process known as tapering.

Once you have safely stopped taking Valium:

• Make sure that you stay well hydrated
• Eat a healthy diet
• Get regular physical exercise

Such habits may help to slightly increase how quickly your body metabolizes and excretes the drug and its metabolites.

How to Spot a Valium Overdose

Benzodiazepines such as Valium are usually considered safe when they are taken as prescribed. However, there are a number of factors that can increase the risk of overdose.

These include taking Valium in combination with other central nervous system depressants or alcohol, taking more than your prescribed dose, or taking the drug more frequently than prescribed. Being aware of the signs of a Valium overdose is important so that you or a loved one can get help as quickly as possible. Some signs of a potential Valium overdose include:

• Very deep sleep
• Blue lips
• Mental confusion
• Dizziness
• Lack of coordination
• Blurry vision
• Weakness
• Difficulty breathing
• Unresponsiveness

Getting Help If You’re Struggling With Valium Dependence

Valium carries a risk of dependence. If you suddenly stop using Valium, you may experience symptoms of benzodiazepine withdrawal, which can include:

• Anxiety
• Nausea
• Seizures
• Insomnia
• Tremors
• Mental changes, including confusion and even psychosis

With longer-acting drugs like Valium, withdrawal symptoms may not appear for a few days after your last dose.

If you believe that you might have a physical dependence or addiction to Valium, talk to your doctor. Your doctor can offer advice and assistance. In some cases, you might want to seek help from a medical detox center, since benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms can be severe. 

Treatment options for Valium use disorders may:

• Take place in inpatient or outpatient treatment centers
• Involve individual psychotherapy or support groups to aid in your long-term recovery
• Involve tapering your dosage to manage withdrawal symptoms
• Utilize psychotherapeutic approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and contingency management

Common Reasons People Take Valium

Since being approved by the FDA in 1963, Valium has been prescribed for a range of medical conditions, including:

• Anxiety
• Muscle spasms
• Seizure disorders
• Restless leg syndrome
• Insomnia
• Symptoms of alcohol withdrawal

Benzodiazepines such as Valium were originally developed to replace more dangerous and addictive barbiturates. However, these substances can still lead to physical dependence and addiction even when taken exactly as prescribed. Benzodiazepines like Valium are classified as Schedule IV controlled substances.

Valium can also have potentially dangerous interactions with other medications and substances, so knowing how long its effects last and how long it stays in your body can help minimize the risk of interaction side effects and accidental overdose.

Key Takeaways

• Valium can be detected in the body for two to 90 days, depending on the testing method.
• The medication usually begins working quickly, in as little as five minutes or up to 60 minutes after administration. Its effects usually peak within two hours and last four to six hours.
• Factors like metabolism, age, weight, and hydration level can influence how long the medication lasts and how long it can be detected in your body.

When we were first diagnosed with colon cancer—Sarah at 34 with Stage IV, and Brooks at 38 with Stage III—it felt like the floor dropped out from under us.

No one tells you how to process the shock, the fear, the disorientation after you hear the pivotal words “you’ve got cancer.” Even though both of us had been searching for answers to our symptoms: persistent blood in our stool and feelings of exhaustion, neither of us was really prepared for the final diagnosis.

We both spiraled in our own ways, and we both eventually found paths out.

This is what those spirals looked like—and how we moved through them.

Panic vs. Emotional Numbness

Here’s how we both remember the first days post-life-changing diagnosis:  

Sarah Berand: I was definitely panicking at first. I had so many questions. I wanted to know if I was going to have an ileostomy bag, which I did later get and have for five months. I wanted to know what the surgeries and chemo would be like, and how my body would react.

And in the beginning, I was a little ashamed just because it was colon cancer. I was a young woman at the time. And I thought, of all the cancers, really? Colon cancer? Ass cancer? I know that no cancer is good, but it just felt like a whole other unnecessary level.

Brooks Bell: I remember I barely cried. Not openly. The night after my diagnosis, I got up at 2 a.m. to walk my dog, and I let some tears silently fall. But it wasn’t a sobbing “release” kind of thing. And it was in secret in the middle of the night, so I think there was some shame involved. It was almost like I would not let myself feel, which is interesting, because I was feeling so much.

Dr. Fola May, a gastroenterologist, colon cancer researcher, and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, confirms that all of these reactions are perfectly normal. “No one can anticipate what it’s like to receive a life-changing diagnosis like cancer,” says May. “I have seen patients take in that reality in so many ways and in so many timeframes. It’s so critical for friends, loved ones, and co-workers to understand that it’s not always linear or what you expect.”

Diving In/Shutting It Out

We both coped with our stress differently. There’s no “right” way to do it, of course, and we each did what felt safest to us:

BB: I believe that “knowledge quells anxiety.” If you know what you’re dealing with, suddenly it doesn’t seem so scary. So pretty quickly, I dove into stats and medical studies, and it was massively important in managing my anxiety. It’s nerdy, but I find data so powerful. I need to demystify the topic, to know all my options, best-case and worst-case scenarios. That’s how I slay the dragon of fear. For me, being able to plan ahead is what helped me get out of the spiral. 

SB: And I didn’t go there at all. In the beginning, I made the mistake of Googling before it was clear that was not going to serve me. I really relied on my family, trusting them to help make decisions and tell me what I should be doing. We called my mom the “Googlemeister” because she would Google everything. But I told her: don’t tell me anything unless it’s good news, please!

“It is common and understandable to experience heightened anxiety after a cancer diagnosis, and these early days can feel disorienting,” says Justin Yopp, PhD, clinical psychologist and program director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Support Program. 

“When managing anxiety and uncertainty about the future, different coping strategies work for different people. In my experience, I see patients thrive when they adopt a realistically hopeful outlook based on discussions with their treatment team and realize that they have lived their whole lives without being able to predict the future, and they can do that now as well.”

Discovering New Wells of Strength

Once we had gotten past our initial reactions, we both found different sources of power that helped us get through our surgery and chemotherapy treatments.

SB: After I got through the first shock and denial, I found strength I didn’t know I had, and I started ‘fighting’ this disease. I knew I had to fight for my husband, Brian, and for my kids, so every time I felt like giving up, they gave me strength. I didn’t want them to go through this or see me going through this, and I wanted to come out on the other end stronger. I wanted to show them that you can do hard things with grace.

BB: I went into full ‘CEO mode’, which is where I was very much at home as I’d been running my own company for over a decade. I solve big problems all the time. I made a communications plan. I planned out my treatment schedule. And doing all that helped me feel more in control.

Turning Points

There are so many levels to processing a journey like ours, but we both remember moments that made us feel like everything was going to be ok.

BB: I remember my surgeon said something to me using the “cart before the horse” analogy. She told me my cart was about a mile in front of my horse, and I needed to let the horse catch up. She was telling me to take things a day at a time, that we can’t look so far into the future, that some things are unknowable, and this will have to unfold in its own time. So that helped my “I need all possible outcomes now” spiraling.

But also, one day while I was waiting on my oncologist, I asked the physician’s assistant something that I had been too afraid to ask the doctor: “Am I going to die of this?” And she said, “No. No, you’re not.” And I remember thinking: that was the only [answer] that mattered. The fact that she said “no” was all I needed to hear.

Sarah: It’s similar for me, only I was lying in bed, and I asked Brian the same question. I had been holding it in, thinking it, but I hadn’t spoken it: Am I gonna die? I think it was around 3 a.m. and I woke him up. I don’t even remember exactly what he said, but he was so confident, he told me we were gonna get through this, he made me feel so good. And I think at that moment I decided, yeah, we’re going to. I’m not gonna die! And I was so focused on beating it for my family, for him. Their happiness remained my priority.

Dr. May can attest to the power of keeping a positive outlook. “The will to survive is an aspect of the cancer treatment plan none of us doctors understand, but one that we all recognize,” says May. “Patients who are able to keep that positive light and believe that they can beat their diagnosis often do better.”

Stronger on the Other Side

We didn’t meet until we were both cancer-free. Sarah read Brooks’ cancer story on Today.com and reached out to her because it felt like both of us wanted to take our experiences and harness them to make something good.

And sure enough, in December of 2024, Worldclass* was born, our fashion brand that promotes awareness of how common colon cancer has become for people under 50—it kills more people than breast or prostate cancer each year—and how preventable it is with a colonoscopy.

Creating the brand and watching it grow has been an important step in both our journeys: We’re now spokeswomen for a medical procedure and a disease that no one really wants to talk about, but we know that talking about colon cancer—even the messy parts—has the potential to save lives.

*All of Worldclass’s net profits are donated to the Worldclass Foundation, which helps underinsured communities get the colonoscopy care they need to remove pre-cancerous polyps.

Chronic stress is long-lasting pressure or tension that can seriously impact your health if left untreated. It can stem from everyday family and work pressures or traumatic situations.

While we’re built to handle acute (aka short-lived) bursts of stress, long-term stress takes a more serious toll. When stress is constant or intense, the body does not get enough time to recover and activate the relaxation response. This keeps you in a constant state of physiological arousal, which can strain nearly every system in the body, either directly or indirectly.

Jump to Key Takeaways

What Chronic Stress Feels Like

Chronic stress affects both the mind and body. It produces physical and psychological symptoms that can affect a person’s ability to function normally in daily life.

These symptoms can vary in their severity from one person to the next. Some of the most common signs of chronic stress include:

• Aches and pains
• Decreased energy
• Difficulty sleeping
• Disorganized thinking
• Fatigue
• Feeling a loss of control
• Feelings of helplessness
• Frequent illnesses and infections
• Gastrointestinal complaints
• Headaches
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Nervousness and anxiety
• Trouble concentrating
• Upset stomach

What Causes It?

Sources of chronic stress can vary, but often fall into one of four different types:

• Emotional stress: difficult emotions such as anger, sadness, or frustration
• Environmental stress: where you live and work
• Relationship stress: how you relate to friends, family, co-workers, partners
• Work stress: challenges and pressures related to your job

In many instances, these types of stresses affect multiple domains in a person’s life. Work stress can create stress in your relationships. Relationship stress can make it more difficult to manage difficult emotions.

Real-Life Examples

This type of chronic stress response occurs all too frequently from our modern lifestyle. Everything from high-pressure jobs to loneliness to busy traffic can keep the body in a state of perceived threat and chronic stress.

Examples of situations that can create chronic stress include:

• Financial problems
• Chronic illness
• Housing insecurity
• Family conflicts
• Job insecurity
• Accidents, violence, and other traumas
• Major life transitions like having a child, moving, or getting divorced
• Poverty
• Lack of access to adequate healthcare

Your constant worry wears down your body, making you feel tired and anxious. You may be working harder than ever to make ends meet and make unhealthy choices about food and exercise, which can make you feel even worse. This can lead to a number of significant health concerns.

We can also have chronic stress related to work. Many jobs require a lot from us, and it can often feel like we never get a break or are always under pressure to perform.

Working overtime, constant travel, and high-pressure business relations can keep your body in a constant state of excitement, even when you get home to your family. This can also add to the wear and tear on your body, and continuous stress can contribute to serious health issues like heart disease.

How It Affects Your Health

Because chronic stress is so prolonged, it can have a detrimental impact on your health and well-being if left untreated. Some potential complications related to chronic stress include:

• Acne
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Eczema
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Hyperthyroidism
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Low sex drive
• Ulcers
• Weight changes

Estimates suggest that between 60—80% of primary care visits involve a stress-related component. That’s why it is so important to learn stress management techniques and make healthy lifestyle changes to safeguard yourself from the negative impact of chronic stress.

Finding ways to manage chronic stress is important for overall well-being. This may involve professional treatment, but self-help and relaxation strategies can also often be effective.

How to Reduce and Handle Chronic Stress

If severe chronic stress is causing significant distress or impairing your ability to function normally, professional treatment can help you develop new coping skills and find ways to lower your stress levels. Options include:

• Psychotherapy: Approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you identify negative thought patterns that contribute to chronic stress. Working with a therapist, you can then begin to change these thoughts to more realistic, helpful ones. You can also learn coping tools that will help you better manage your response to stress. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is another approach that can help people utilize mindfulness and meditation to cope with chronic stress.
• Medications: Your doctor may prescribe different medications to help you manage some of the symptoms of stress. If you are also experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression, your doctor may prescribe an antidepressant. Your doctor may also prescribe medications that can help you sleep or reduce stomach upset.

Benefits of Stress Management

Chronic stress can often be managed through self-help approaches. When you recognize chronic stress in your life, it is important to begin using stress management techniques as early as possible. This works for a few reasons.

• Provides quick stress relief: Fast-acting techniques can reverse the stress response so your body has a chance to recover and your mind can approach problems from a proactive stance rather than reacting from a stressed or even panicked perspective. When you’re making choices from a more relaxed and confident place, you tend to make choices that better serve your best interests and avoid creating more stress for yourself.
• Develops stress resilience: Longer-term healthy habits can build resilience. These habits give you a regular break from feelings of stress and allow you to use strategies that improve your ability to manage stress better. They can also save you from the more negative effects of chronic stress. Some of the most effective habits include exercise, meditation, and journaling, as they have been shown to promote resilience to stress.
• Seek social support: Having people in your life with whom you can share your worries and stresses can also help. Research has shown that social support plays an important role in buffering the negative effects of stress.
• Creates new coping skills: Changing how you respond to stress can also help. Taking steps to reduce the stressful situations you face (saying no more often, for example) and to change your perspective (reminding yourself of the resources you can use and the strength you possess) can both help. Approaching stress from a proactive stance can help reduce chronic stress.

If you have tried self-help strategies and feel you need more assistance, or if you feel these will not be enough to help, don’t hesitate to talk to your doctor about your concerns. Effective help is available.

Key Takeaways

• Signs you might be experiencing chronic stress include physical pains, frequent illness, muscle tension, irritability, anxiety, and trouble concentrating.
• Many factors can contribute to it, including work, financial worries, relationships, environmental factors, and emotional problems.
• Over time, it can lead to problems like depression, cardiovascular disease, weight changes, and high blood pressure.
• Therapy and medications can help you manage stress, but you can also make changes in your life to help lessen the impact of chronic stress. Stress management techniques (like deep breathing and meditation), good coping skills, and social support can also help.

A correlational study is a research design that examines the relationships between two or more variables. It is non-experimental, meaning the experimenter does not manipulate or control any variables.

The goal of correlational research is often to look for relationships, describe these relationships, and then make predictions. Such research can also often be a jumping-off point for future experimental research. 

Jump to Key Takeaways

Characteristics of Correlational Studies

Correlational studies are often used in psychology and other fields like medicine. Such studies are sometimes used as a preliminary way to gather information about a topic. The method is also helpful if researchers are unable to perform an experiment.

Researchers use correlations to see if a relationship between two or more variables exists, but the variables themselves are not under the control of the researchers.

While correlational research can demonstrate a relationship between variables, it cannot prove that changing one variable will change another. In other words, correlational studies cannot prove cause-and-effect relationships.

What Do Positive, Negative, and Zero Correlations Mean?

A correlation refers to a relationship between two variables. Correlations can be strong or weak and positive or negative. Sometimes, there is no correlation.

A correlation study can produce three possible outcomes: a positive correlation, a negative correlation, or no correlation. Researchers present the results using a numerical value called the correlation coefficient, a measure of the correlation strength. It can range from -1.00 (negative) to +1.00 (positive). A correlation coefficient of 0 indicates no correlation.

• Positive correlations: Both variables increase or decrease at the same time. A correlation coefficient close to +1.00 indicates a strong positive correlation.
• Negative correlations: As the amount of one variable increases, the other decreases (and vice versa). A correlation coefficient close to -1.00 indicates a strong negative correlation.
• No correlation: There is no relationship between the two variables. A correlation coefficient of 0 indicates no correlation.

The variables in a correlational study are what the researcher measures. Once measured, researchers can then use statistical analysis to determine the existence, strength, and direction of the relationship. However, while correlational studies can say that variable X and variable Y have a relationship, it does not mean that X causes Y.

How Psychologists Use Correlational Research

There are three types of correlational research: naturalistic observation, the survey method, and archival research. Each type has its own purpose, as well as its pros and cons.

Naturalistic Observation

The naturalistic observation method involves observing and recording variables of interest in a natural setting without interference or manipulation.

This method is well-suited to studies where researchers want to see how variables behave in their natural setting or state. Inspiration can then be drawn from the observations to inform future avenues of research.

In some cases, it might be the only method available to researchers; for example, if lab experimentation would be precluded by access, resources, or ethics. Naturalistic observation is preferable to not being able to conduct research at all, but the method can be costly and usually takes a lot of time.

However, this does not mean that researchers will get reliable data from watching the variables, or that the information they gather will be free from bias.

For example, study subjects might act differently if they know that they are being watched. The researchers might not be aware that the behavior that they are observing is not necessarily the subject’s natural state (i.e., how they would act if they did not know they were being watched).

Researchers also need to be aware of their biases, which can affect the observation and interpretation of a subject’s behavior.

Surveys

Surveys and questionnaires are some of the most common methods used for psychological research. The survey method involves having a random sample of participants complete a survey, test, or questionnaire related to the variables of interest. Random sampling is vital to the generalizability of a survey’s results.

If researchers need to gather a large amount of data in a short period of time, a survey is likely to be the fastest, easiest, and cheapest option.

It’s also a flexible method because it lets researchers create data-gathering tools that will help ensure they get the information they need (survey responses) from all the sources they want to use (a random sample of participants taking the survey).

Survey data might be cost-efficient and easy to obtain, but it has its downsides. For one, the data is not always reliable, particularly if the survey questions are poorly written or the overall design or delivery is weak. Specific faults, such as unrepresented or underrepresented samples, also affect the data.

For example, some people might struggle to understand the questions. A person might answer a particular way to try to please the researchers or to try to control how the researchers perceive them (such as trying to make themselves “look better”).

Sometimes, respondents might not even realize that their answers are incorrect or misleading because of mistaken memories.

Archival Research

Many areas of psychological research benefit from analyzing studies that were conducted long ago by other researchers, as well as reviewing historical records and case studies.

Using records, databases, and libraries that are publicly accessible or accessible through their institution can help researchers who might not have a lot of money to support their research efforts.

Another potential benefit is that these sources often provide an enormous amount of data that was collected over a very long period of time, which can give researchers a way to view trends, relationships, and outcomes related to their research.

While the inability to change variables can be a disadvantage of some methods, it can be a benefit of archival research. That said, using historical records or information that was collected a long time ago also presents challenges.

• Missing information: For one, important information might be missing or incomplete, and some aspects of older studies might not be useful to researchers in a modern context.
• Unreliable information: A primary issue with archival research is reliability. When reviewing old research, little information might be available about who conducted it, how the study was designed, who participated in it, and how data were collected and interpreted.
• Ethical problems: Researchers can also face ethical quandaries—for example, should modern researchers use data from studies that were conducted unethically or with questionable ethics?

How Correlational Studies Differ From Experiments

The difference between a correlational study and an experimental study involves the manipulation of variables.

If the study involves the systematic manipulation of a variable’s levels, it is an experimental study. If researchers are measuring what is already present without actually changing the variables, then it is a correlational study.

Correlation Doesn’t Equal Causation

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “correlation does not equal causation.” This means that while correlational research can suggest that there is a relationship between two variables, it cannot prove that one variable will change another.

For example, researchers might perform a correlational study that suggests a relationship between academic success and self-esteem. However, the study cannot show that academic success changes a person’s self-esteem.

To determine why the relationship exists, researchers would need to consider and experiment with other variables, such as the subject’s social relationships, cognitive abilities, personality, and socioeconomic status.

Key Takeaways

• Correlational studies in psychology describe relationships between variables, but cannot be used to establish that changes in one variable cause changes in another. 
• Correlational research can be conducted using naturalistic observation, surveys, or archival records.
• It’s important to remember that correlation does not equal causation. Correlational studies can tell you if there is a relationship between variables, but only experimental studies can indicate whether it is a causal relationship. 

For people with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), time perception is disrupted, resulting in a symptom known as time blindness. This is the inability to sense the passing of time, and it can make nearly every aspect of a person’s life more difficult. The important thing to understand is that it’s more like a sensory issue than an intentional disregard for time.

Jump to Key Takeaways

How Time Blindness Affects People With ADHD

People with ADHD consistently have challenges with:

• Perceiving time (estimating how much time has passed or how much time is left before an upcoming event)
• Time sequencing (correctly recounting the order in which events occurred)
• Time reproduction (repeating a task for the same amount of time that it occurred previously)

What It Means to Be “Time Blind”

The human body senses time similarly to light, sound, taste, and other elements of our environment. Based on a mix of internal and external cues, a typical human brain can map out a reasonably accurate sense of what time of day it is, how much time has passed, and how much time there is before any upcoming events.

While the process is not fully understood yet, the most widely accepted framework for time perception among researchers is the scalar expectancy theory (SET). SET describes time perception as a kind of internal clock where time is measured out in pulse rate.

The brain combines this pulse information with other sensory inputs like brightness levels and temperature changes in their environment to build an overall picture of where they are in time and how fast they’re moving through it.

How Time Blindness Shows Up

Time blindness occurs when the process is disrupted or defective, leading to problems that are often mislabeled as poor time management. This includes:

• Underestimating or overestimating how much time has passed, how long a task will take, or how much time is left before an anticipated event
• Chronically missing deadlines or arriving late, even for things you are excited about
• Difficulty making a realistic schedule or sticking to a schedule
• Constantly “losing track” of time
• Frequently feeling like time is “slipping away”

It can also show up in subtler problems like:

• Slow response or reaction times (like putting your hand up to catch a ball too late)
• Difficulty regulating the speed of movement (like trying to make yourself walk slower)
• Difficulty estimating how long ago an event happened, such as when answering seemingly simple questions like “when did you eat lunch?” or “when did you last go on vacation?”

It feels like being suspended in an eternal present. I’ll check the clock at 9:35, go back to reading my book for “a few minutes,” and after what honestly feels like a few minutes, I’ll look up again to see that the clock now says it’s 12:15. 

If I forget to set a timer, I’ll put a pot of water on to boil and leave the kitchen for “five minutes,” only to come back hours later to find an empty pot because all the water has evaporated.

Before treatment, I would make the most ridiculous to-do lists, assuming I could crank out upwards of 15,000 words worth of articles in a single day because I had no idea how long it actually took me to research, write, and edit an article. I’d agree to a deadline, only to utterly fail at planning the project in a way that allowed me to actually finish it by that deadline.

Why People With ADHD Lose Track of Time

• Hot cognition: This time blindness may be, in part, related to the fact that people with ADHD do better with hot cognition (emotionally charged tasks). One study that compared time perception on neutral and emotionally charged tasks found that people with ADHD consistently performed poorer on neutral time perception tasks than the control group, as was expected. On emotionally-charged tasks, however, participants with ADHD outperformed the control group.
• Disruptions caused by emotional stimuli: This also fits with the growing body of research on emotional asymmetry in non-ADHD populations, where strong emotional stimuli can distort their perception of time, possibly because changes in heart rate triggered by heightened emotions disrupt that “internal clock.” In other words, the intense emotions that can end up disrupting cognitive functions in a non-ADHD brain are exactly what a person with ADHD needs to get those same functions working effectively.
• Dopamine deficiencies: Research linking time blindness in ADHD to dopamine deficiencies further confirms the need for emotional stimulation to perceive time accurately. It has also been shown that prescription stimulants and monetary rewards (both of which increase dopamine levels) can improve time perception in participants with ADHD.
• Inability to interpret time signals: Time blindness in ADHD seems to be caused by the brain failing to unconsciously or passively interpret sensory input like pulse rate, light levels, and temperature changes as indicators of time passing and insufficient dopamine levels to trigger a conscious or intentional tracking of time.

Tips to Manage Time Better

I still struggle with time blindness. Medication is the closest I’ve gotten to feeling like I could actually sense time passing, but it’s still a tenuous grasp at best. For the most part, coping for me has meant developing a time management system that can account for time blindness. Here are some of the strategies I find most helpful.

Consciously Track Time

Whether you use time tracking apps or just a spreadsheet (like I do), start timing yourself for the tasks where you need an accurate perception of time. When I sit down at my desk to start an article, the first thing I do is log the time I started. I also note when I stop for breaks and when I finish the project.

After a while, this time log will be a helpful reference when planning out your schedule, giving you a much more accurate idea of how much time each task needs.

Give Yourself a Dopamine Hit (or Two)

Since time blindness may be linked to dopamine deficiencies, increasing dopamine levels can help compensate for that. Build a dopamine enhancing routine that includes some or all of the following things:

• Eat foods rich in vitamin B6. B6 deficiency is associated with dopamine deficiencies. Good sources of B6 include fish, chickpeas, bananas, oranges, and dark leafy greens.
• Drink coffee. Like prescription medications for ADHD, caffeine is a stimulant so it will have a similar (but milder) effect. Just keep your daily intake of caffeine at or below 400 milligrams (about four cups of coffee).
• Go out in the sunlight. Sunlight stimulates neurotransmitters that can trigger dopamine release.
• Exercise. Like sunlight, exercise also stimulates dopamine production. But don’t overdo it as overtraining can have the opposite effect.

Set Timers

For any activity where you risk getting lost in time, set a timer in advance that can pull you back and remind you to check the clock. For example, never leave the kitchen while cooking without first setting a timer to remind you to check on the food. Before you open up social media, set a timer to make sure you close the app within a reasonable time frame.

Decide how much time you can give to an activity, then set a timer for that much time so that you actually know when time is up.

Include Buffer Time in Your Schedule

Buffer time is extra time I don’t think I need (but actually do) because I’m terrible at judging how long a task will take. If I think it will take one hour to edit an article, I give myself two. If I think it will take 15 minutes to run to the post office, I give myself 30-45 minutes.

This helps prevent overloading your schedule for the day and gives you some wiggle room in case you get sidetracked at any point (which, let’s be honest, is going to happen).

Listen to Music

Listening to music has been shown to help most people focus. For people with ADHD, though, it has the added benefit of improving their ability to perceive time. Background music may provide an external cue for your brain to track time while you focus on another task. If it’s music you enjoy, it may also provide the emotional stimulation needed for your brain to kick its own time perception system into gear.

It could also just act as a stand-in for boring timers. Instead of setting a timer for one hour before you start a task, put on a playlist or album that lasts one hour. You can make a variety of playlists for different time intervals so that you have them on hand when needed.’

Key Takeaways

• Time blindness makes it more difficult for people with ADHD to perceive and manage their time. Because they don’t sense how much time has passed, they may miss deadlines, lose track of time, and struggle to set realistic schedules.
• People with ADHD have a harder time sensing time in emotionally neutral situations, while intense emotions tend to negatively affect the cognitive skills they need to accurately sense time. 
• ADHD may improve the ability to sense time, but management strategies like tracking time, boosting dopamine levels, setting timers, listening to music, and giving yourself plenty of time to accomplish tasks can help.

A Tibetan singing bowl vibrates and produces a rich, deep tone when played. Also known as singing bowls or Himalayan bowls, they are said to promote relaxation and offer powerful benefits and healing properties, including stress relief, better sleep, and pain relief.

Buddhist monks have long used Tibetan singing bowls in meditation practice. In addition, some wellness practitioners (including music, massage, and yoga therapists) use Tibetan singing bowls during treatment.

Jump to Key Takeaways

Benefits of Tibetan Singing Bowls

• Stress relief: Some research supports the use of Tibetan singing bowls to promote relaxation and reduce anxiety.
• Improving sleep: Singing bowl therapy has been linked to decreased anxiety and tension, so it may be helpful for improving sleep. Further research is needed to support this.
• Lowering blood pressure: A preliminary study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion in 2014 examined the benefits of starting a directed relaxation session with 12 minutes of singing bowl sounds. It found a greater reduction in systolic blood pressure and heart rate than silence before the session.
• Reducing depression: One study linked singing bowl therapy to improvements in mood and suggested that this approach may be a low-cost way to help reduce symptoms of depression.
• Stimulating the immune system: Some also claim that Tibetan singing bowls can stimulate the immune system and produce beneficial changes in brain waves.
• Pain relief: One older study of chronic spinal pain found that people treated with singing bowl therapy experienced significantly decreased pain intensity and stress. However, placebo treatment had the same effects, so the study’s authors concluded that the effectiveness of singing bowl therapy for pain relief could not be confirmed.
• Balancing and harmonizing the body: Many proponents claim that the vibrations of a singing bowl can produce beneficial changes in the body by “harmonizing” the cells and “balancing the body’s energy system.”
• Enhancing other healing practices: Some people use the bowls in combination with other healing practices, such as meditation and deep breathing.

How to Do It

During singing bowl treatment, you will lie on the floor while the bowls are placed in different configurations. For example, they might be placed around your body, on your body, or in various locations around the room.

Once positioned, the practitioner uses mallets to strike the bowls in a sequence to produce sounds and vibrations. In some cases, your practitioner may also include a guided meditation.

To use a bowl on your own:

• Practice making sounds: Firmly press the accompanying mallet in a circular motion against the bowl’s outside edge or rim. When you hear a bright, clear tone, you can slow down the motion. Use your full arm to make the motion, rather than just rotating your wrist.
• Explore alternate motions: You can also make the same circular motion against the outside belly of the bowl or gently strike the bowl before beginning the circular motion.
• Use with or without water: A singing bowl can be used with or without water. Water in the bowl can produce different resonant vibrations and sounds.
• Incorporate meditation: Singing bowls can be used for meditation in various ways. While meditating, you can gently tap on the sides of the bowl to produce gentle sounds and vibrations that you can focus on. You can also incorporate repetitive motion into your meditation by slowly rubbing the mallet around the inside of the bowl in a clockwise direction.
• Care for your bowl: Clean your singing bowl by wiping it down gently with a soft, slightly damp cloth. You can also use a non-acidic sanitizing cleanser to remove soiled spots. Avoid harsh cleansers and never put your bowl in the dishwasher.

How Do They Work?

A few different theories have been proposed to explain why Tibetan singing bowls might be beneficial. Such theories suggest that: 

The benefits of listening to the bowls may be related to the ancient practice of sound therapy. Often used by Indigenous cultures throughout the world, sound therapy involves pulsing sounds, clapping, drumming, and singing for ceremonial, spiritual, and health purposes.

For example, singing bowls are often used during sound baths, a meditative experience in which people meditate while listening to resonant sounds. Research has found that sound baths can have a variety of beneficial effects, including:

• Improving positive moods
• Reducing anxiety
• Decreasing pain

A 2020 review of the existing research concluded that there was not enough current evidence to recommend singing bowl therapies. However, the study’s authors noted that there was evidence indicating that this type of treatment had some positive effects that warrant further investigation.

What to Look for Before You Buy

If you are interested in trying Tibetan singing bowls, there are a number of places where you can find them. Some sources include:

• Online retailers
• Meditation centers
• Yoga studios
• Music shops
• Stores that specialize in new age products

Smaller to medium-sized bowls are often more appropriate for beginners. Larger singing bowls may be suited to more advanced users. There are a number of good-quality singing bowls available that are small enough to be comfortable for beginning users but still produce quality sounds.

Look for a high-quality bowl that is able to produce a variety of resonant tones. Some experts suggest purchasing a hand-hammered bowl as opposed to a machine-made one in order to obtain a more resonant tone.

When to Avoid

While using Tibetan singing bowls is generally regarded as safe, there is not a great deal of research on using them as a type of treatment. People who may want to avoid singing bowl therapy include those who:

• Are prone to headaches: Some people report experiencing headaches as a result of the noise and vibrations that the singing bowls produce. 
• Are pregnant: Because the effects on pregnancy are not known, you might want to avoid this type of therapy if you are currently pregnant.
• Have epilepsy: In some instances, noise and vibrations may trigger seizures.

Where Did Singing Bowls Come From?

There is debate about the exact origins of the Tibetan singing bowl, although there is some evidence that it may have originated in China around the 16th century BC. Traditional bowls were made of a variety of metals, including mercury, lead, silver, iron, gold, and copper. 

During the 1970s, people began importing the bowls to North America and Europe. They grew in popularity in the 1990s as a complementary and alternative treatment for a variety of ailments.

Key Takeaways

• Tibetan singing bowls are believed to promote relaxation, relieve stress, and produce other healing effects.
• Purported benefits include improving sleep, reducing depression, relieving pain, and increasing immunity. However, current evidence cannot substantiate these benefits. While there appear to be some positive effects, more research is needed to determine how and when singing bowls are best used.
• Tibetan singing bowls may have some benefits, but more research is needed to support their use as a treatment for stress, anxiety, and other concerns. Some research does indicate that these singing bowls can enhance meditation and deep breathing, which may help maximize the stress-relieving benefits of those practices.