A working desk with notebook and a Svaroma aromatherapy inhaler - a founder's focus ritual

I Have ADHD. Here's What Actually Helps Me Focus.

There's a specific kind of irony in building a focus product when your own ability to focus is genuinely unreliable.

I have ADHD - inattentive type, diagnosed late (as is typical, especially in India where the awareness and diagnostic infrastructure is still catching up). I'm not sharing this for sympathy, or to position myself as someone who's overcome something. I'm sharing it because it's relevant context for the product I'm building, and because there's a version of this conversation I think is worth having more openly.

Adult ADHD in India is more common than most people realise. A 2024 systematic review published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology found that prevalence among Indian adults ranges from 5.48% to 25.7% depending on the setting and population studied, and the vast majority of those cases go undiagnosed. The inattentive subtype, which I have, is the most common. It's also the easiest to miss, because it doesn't look like the hyperactive-child stereotype. It looks like someone who's smart but inconsistent. Someone who can hyperfocus on genuinely interesting things for hours and struggle to spend ten minutes on something tedious.

What ADHD attention actually feels like (from the inside)

The popular framing of ADHD as "you just can't pay attention" gets it backwards. The issue isn't a deficit of attention. It's a deficit of regulated attention.

On a given day, I can focus intensely on things that engage my interest. The difficulty is that I can't reliably choose to focus on something that doesn't already have my attention -- and the world, unfortunately, is full of things that require sustained attention to things that aren't inherently interesting.

The other piece that doesn't get talked about enough is the sensory component. A 2025 meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that individuals with ADHD experience significantly higher sensory sensitivity, sensory avoidance, and sensory seeking compared to controls. The ADHD brain, it turns out, is often both more sensitive to sensory input and more in need of it.

This is the piece that made me think scent was worth taking seriously.

Why scent works as a focus anchor (for an ADHD brain specifically)

The olfactory system's direct pathway to the limbic system means scent reaches the brain's emotional and memory centres faster than any other sensory input. For a brain that's constantly scanning for stimulation, a strong botanical scent does something specific: it provides a reliable, immediate sensory anchor that can interrupt the noise.

But beyond the acute effect, there's the conditioning mechanism. If a particular scent is used consistently before or during focused work, it begins to function as a cue -- a conditioned trigger that tells the nervous system "this is the mode we're entering." For ADHD specifically, these environmental cues matter a lot. The ADHD brain struggles to generate the internal signal that it's time to focus; external cues can partially compensate.

Research from Northumbria University found that cognitive task performance was significantly associated with absorbed levels of 1,8-cineole from rosemary aroma. The mechanism involved direct absorption across the nasal mucosa and blood-brain barrier, with effects on acetylcholinesterase inhibition.

I want to be clear: aromatherapy is not medication. It is not a treatment for ADHD, and I'm not suggesting it is. What it is, is one tool in a larger toolkit.

What actually helps me (honestly, not the curated version)

The things that consistently work:

  1. Single-tasking with hard constraints. I cannot work on one thing if another thing is visible. The tab closed, the phone in a different room, the only document open being the one I need. This isn't willpower - it's design.
  2. Body doubling. Working alongside someone else, even on completely different tasks, helps. This is a well-documented ADHD phenomenon - the presence of another person regulates the focus system in a way that being alone doesn't. Remote body doubling (a video call where both people are just working quietly) works too.
  3. A physical transition cue before deep work. The most consistent one, for me, is a breath with svā dhyana before I open the document I need to work on. Not because it's magic. Because the act of doing it, consistently, tells my brain something is about to be required of it.
  4. Time-bounded commitments rather than open-ended ones. "I'll work on this for 25 minutes" is more tractable than "I'll work on this until I'm done."

The things that don't work as reliably as advertised:

Motivation. People often suggest that if you care enough about something you'll find a way to focus on it. This is partially true for ADHD and largely irrelevant for the parts of work that aren't intrinsically interesting.

Trying harder. Rest and a walk almost always outperform pushing through.

On building a focus product with an ADHD brain

There's something both useful and difficult about building svāroma as someone with ADHD. The useful part: I know intimately what doesn't work, what friction looks like, and what a two-minute solution actually means when you're mid-scatter.

What I've found is that the same principles that help me focus are the ones embedded in the product - short, sensory, ritual-anchored. Not a practice that requires 30 minutes of setup. A breath, taken intentionally. That's the entire ask.

Svā dhyana, our focus inhaler with cedarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, lavender, and cypress, is the one I reach for before deep work. It won't replace the structural changes that actually help with ADHD. But as a sensory cue for the mode shift, it's the most consistent tool I've found.*

FAQ

Is aromatherapy useful for ADHD?

Aromatherapy is not a treatment for ADHD, and should not replace medical care, therapy, or prescribed medication for those who need it. As a sensory tool -- specifically as an environmental cue and focus anchor -- some people with ADHD find scent useful for creating a ritual around the transition into focused work.

Should I get assessed for ADHD if I relate to this?

If the experience described here resonates and is causing real difficulty in your daily life, yes - speaking with a psychiatrist or psychologist who specialises in ADHD is worth doing. Adult ADHD in India is underdiagnosed, and a diagnosis opens access to the support and strategies that make a real difference.

Does ADHD affect focus differently from regular distraction?

Yes. Neurotypical distraction tends to be environmental - remove the distraction, regain focus. ADHD-related inattention is more internal - the regulation system that normally prioritises sustained attention doesn't work reliably.

What are the most evidence-based non-medication approaches for adult ADHD?

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) adapted for ADHD, exercise, structured routines with external accountability, and environmental design all have solid research support. Always discuss treatment options with a qualified clinician.

Is late ADHD diagnosis common in India?

Yes. Research shows adult ADHD in India ranges from 5% to 25% prevalence depending on the population, with the vast majority undiagnosed. Late diagnosis - particularly of inattentive ADHD and ADHD in women - is common because the presentation doesn't match the hyperactive stereotype.

 

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