I heard that if your mind wanders while studying, and you keep wanting to do different things, you have ADD.
If I have this problem, will taking pills make me a superior student?
I think too many people are diagnosed with too many things these days. Certainly many people have legitimate disorders and I'm in no way making fun of them or of having problems. But I think everyone gets distracted - the TV's on, you're thinking about weekend plans, the material you're reading is just plain boring - everyone gets that and I DON'T think that's necessarily a sign of a disorder. More like a sign of normality.
I agree (and have ADD running through the family, so I KNOW what that is about).
We are just too happy to pop a pill for anything nowadays (those silly commercials are obviously having an impact - but I blame US the consumers, not to pharmaceuticals!).
It is possible to apply principles of discipline to the mind as well as the body. We can just exercise pulling our thoughts back to the matter at hand. Like any exercise, it takes a little time and practice, but if merely discipline is the problem (which I think it often is), it will work in short order.
Everyone's mind wanders at various times throughout the day. So unless you are really into popping pills and living with whatever impact they may have, why not try a little mental exercising. If you are really distracted, go do something else for a while, then come back to your studies.
(Sorry if I'm sounding a little harsh. At the moment, they are talking about putting my 16 year old niece on medication for "anxiety" and it's driving me nuts. They have tried ANYTHING else - no relaxation techniques, no stress management, nothing - just pop a pill.)
Good luck with your studies! (Of course you didn't mention whether it was boring stuff. It's always hard to concentrate on that! :-) )
No you do not have ADD if you mind simply wanders while doing something. With ADD if you get distracted by absolutely anything (and yes almost anything distracts an ADD person)and you were reading a page or working on a math problem when you go back to what you were reading or working on you have absolutely no clue where you were or it was you were doing and quite literally have to start from the beginning again. ADD people often have poor small motor skills too making things like writing very difficult. All of this is very frustrating to an ADD person as they have restart things so often that it takes them forever to finish anything making them easily frustrated besides.
I noticed when I cut out the high amounts of carbohydrates and sugars, not all..but the high amount stuff, with little or no nutrition, I was more clear headed, also, my hormones had something to do with this too. I don't know if you are in this catagory or not. Also, when my son was young, they were saying he was ADD, well I didn't like what the meds did for him at all, so when summer came around I started him on B complex vit. 3 times a day with some food, and cut back on non-nutritous sugars, like sodas. What a difference
!!!! Like night and day! His concentration level went way up. I could tell if he hadn't had his B-vit. Just thought I'd share this info. Diana
Concentration 
