Codename: Juggernaut
Tap here to jump down to the TL;DR
It's been an intense Friday and you've been looking forward to resting all day —no, all week. The evening has been blocked off on your calendar since Tuesday. Cozied up in your favorite pjs after a hot shower, you've set yourself up for success —even managing to plop onto the couch without sloshing anything out of your glass!
The soft glow of the tv soon melds with the warm lamplight as you start up that movie you've been looking forward to watching. You catch yourself sighing deeply as you settle in, so ready to relax. You've had a super productive week, but it came at a cost, and you've been feeling stretched pretty thin these last couple of days. The title shot sets the perfect mood and you think to yourself: This is gonna be awesome...
But your mind hasn't stopped wandering and you're flicking through an endless carousel of questions, batting them away like a flock of mosquitoes.
Did I reply to that text?
What's next week's weather going to be like?
Who is this actor? I know I've seen him before...
Ugh, this song has been stuck in my head for days!
Suddenly you're scrolling. What began as a "quick search" to figure out where you've seen the actor has cascaded into multiple app-checks, a little shopping thanks to a promo email, and a few text messages to tell your friends that shop is having a sale... Wait, how did you even get to social media from there? Oh yeah, it's the only way you communicate with that one friend.
Annoyed with yourself for falling into a classic trap, you dismiss all notifications and close your open apps in one fell swoop. Then you put your phone on airplane mode and toss it to the other side of the couch.
Turning back to the TV, you realize you've completely lost the plot of the film.
This isn't relaxing at all —and you're frustrated with simply wearing the shape of relaxation, waiting for the movie to end so you can just go to bed. Where you'll probably stare at the ceiling or scroll on your phone until you can't keep your eyes open any longer.
Why does this keep happening?
Maybe you've been here before: You finally carved out time to read that book you've been excited about, but three pages in, you realize you've been unconsciously tapping your foot while mentally reorganizing your weekend plans.
Or you're in an important meeting, genuinely trying to pay attention, but you keep having brilliant —but completely off-topic— ideas that feel urgent enough to interrupt with.
For those of us with hyperactive brains, sitting still and focusing is more than difficult —it can feel physically uncomfortable, like trying to sleep with a full bladder. The irony is that the very movement and mental activity others perceive as distraction might actually be what our brains need to focus at all.
Let me introduce a member of The League most of us know well —even if we don't realize it: Juggernaut.
Juggernaut is a larger-than-life force: a being of pure, uncontainable kinetic energy. He sees stillness as a hurdle to be smashed through, and quiet focus as a challenge to his energy. Juggernaut thrives in perpetual motion so —once he gets going— he's nearly impossible to stop.
The ultimate goal of Juggernaut is to keep you in perpetual, inescapable, motion. You might be surprised to learn that his attacks aren't only targeted toward the literal physical motion that most people have come to associate with ADHD. He also plays very well with many internally-focused League Members like The Gatekeeper (Task Paralysis), Major Minor (Decision Fatigue), The Time Thief (Time Blindness), The Vortex (Disorganization), and especially The Firefly (Impulsivity).
So while you might immediately have known he's the reason for your fidgeting, your enjoyment of physical exercise, or the driving force behind your late-night cleaning sessions —it's possible you haven't realized that he might also be why you can't get to sleep, watch a movie in one sitting, stop biting your nails, or keep yourself from interrupting conversations with seemingly unrelated thoughts.
Official Title: Hyperactivity & Restlessness
Juggernaut's official file name is Hyperactivity & Restlessness. But hyperactivity doesn't always look like the stereotypical child "bouncing off the walls." As we age, hyperactivity symptoms often become internalized, transforming external fidgeting into inner restlessness and an inability to relax.
Clinical questionnaires often ask if you feel "driven by a motor," but that motor doesn't always power your legs —sometimes it's powering your thoughts, your conversations, or that persistent need to be doing something, anything, other than sitting still.
I didn't know it at the time, but internal hyperactivity was the catalyst that finally got me to seek diagnosis. In the form of an Instagram reel depicting a woman sitting on her sofa, titled "ADHD Simulator."
When I turned the sound on, my stomach dropped. Several layers of audio played simultaneously, wondering aloud, telling a story, listing tasks, humming softly, yelling at herself to get up and do something... And I thought the question all late-diagnosees are destined wonder:
Wait, not everyone is like this?
That moment of recognition is familiar to so many of us, especially women and late-diagnosed adults —whose hyperactivity never looked like the textbook version. Adult hyperactivity often appears as extreme restlessness rather than obvious physical movement, making it easy to over look or misinterpret as anxiety, personality quirks, or even moral failings.
This fidgeting, mental restlessness, and need for constant stimulation are not character flaws. They're neurological patterns that serve a regulatory function. They're signs that your brain is trying to optimize its environment. Juggernaut isn't trying to sabotage you; he's helping the only way he knows how.
The challenge here is in learning to work with your hyperactivity instead of continuing the exhausting battle against it. Once you understand Juggernaut's motivations, you can shift your strategies to focus on redirecting that powerful kinetic energy toward the goals that matter to you.
Another important thing to note about Juggernaut is that he rarely works alone. The tendency to have difficulty stopping behaviors once started means he often tags-in other League members like The Gatekeeper (Task Paralysis), for when sitting still becomes a prerequisite for productivity, The Time Thief (Time Blindness) for when hyperfocus kicks in, or his favorite, The Firefly (Impulsivity) when the energy needs an outlet.
Like a few other members of The League of Executive Dysfunctions, Juggernaut and The Firefly understand that motivation, consistency, and follow-through can be tough for you —and they try to use their powers for good. So their hearts are in the right place but, unfortunately, they tend to get carried away pretty easily.
The Firefly tries to keep you interested by making uncanny connections between ideas that excite and inspire you, spurring you into action before anything can stop you; and Juggernaut is the engine, churning out unstoppable energy at impossible speeds.
Understanding these connections helps explain why traditional focus-related advice often falls so flat for hyperactive brains. We're seldom dealing with a single symptom, but rather managing a complex, interconnected system that requires nuanced and creative solutions.
Modus Operandi (M.O.): Primary Attacks
Perpetual Motion
His signature move. Juggernaut keeps your body in constant, often unconscious motion. This is more than the obvious leg bouncing, toe tapping, or pen clicking we think of as "the classics" (but those count, too!) —it's also the lip chewing, hair twirling, skin picking, nail biting, and teeth grinding that happen without you even realizing it. These Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) serve a neurological regulatory function, helping your brain manage stimulation levels.
Adult "fidgeting" often goes stealth: humming under your breath, rocking slightly while standing, chewing gum obsessively, or that thing where you realize you've been unconsciously tapping your fingers to an internal rhythm for the past ten minutes. Your body is constantly seeking the movement it needs to help your brain focus, even when sitting still is supposed to be the goal.
The Symphony of Tabs
Ever feel like you have 47 browser tabs open and they're all playing different audio at maximum volume, plus a jukebox somewhere playing the same 20 seconds of a song you know but have no idea when you last heard it? Juggernaut floods your mental space with multiple streams of consciousness running simultaneously. Making it nearly impossible to focus on just one thing at a time.
You might be writing an email while mentally planning dinner, reviewing tomorrow's schedule, listening to your current favorite lo-fi track (or pretending you're in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants), and having an imaginary argument with someone from three years ago. All. At. Once.
This internal hyperactivity is why single-tasking can feel physically uncomfortable, and why "boring" tasks can become torturous.
The Monologue Express
When your brain is moving at light speed, conversations become a special kind of challenge. Juggernaut turns you into a runaway train of words: speaking too quickly, jumping between topics mid-sentence, finishing other people's thoughts aloud, and interrupting not out of rudeness, but because the thoughts feel so urgent they might explode if you don't share them immediately. (Or worse, they might disappear before you have a chance!)
You might catch yourself mid-stream-of-consciousness, describing how you got from discussing weekend plans to explaining the entire plot of that documentary you watched last month. The connections make perfect sense to you, but everyone else is three topics behind.
Dopamine Dynamite
Juggernaut craves high-octane experiences to feed your dopamine-starved brain. This manifests as sensation-seeking behaviors: gravitating toward spicy food, loud music, extreme sports, or high-stakes situations that provide the neurochemical hit your brain desperately needs.
But it's not always so dramatic: sometimes it's the compulsive task-switching when things get boring, the urge to add "just one more thing" to an already packed schedule, or finding yourself reorganizing your entire closet at 11 PM because folding one shirt somehow triggered a cleaning frenzy.
The Restless Wriggler
Even when you're exhausted, even when you desperately want to sleep, Juggernaut keeps the engine running. Your body might be in bed, but your mind is still racing through tomorrow's to-do list, replaying conversations, or spinning elaborate scenarios. Your legs feel restless under the covers, you can't find a comfortable position, and sleep becomes an elusive goal rather than a natural transition.
This is why you might find yourself scrolling on your phone at 2 AM, because lying still with racing thoughts is impossible.
Why It Matters
Something I wish I had understood years ago is that, when Juggernaut's energy has nowhere healthy to go, it doesn't just disappear. That restless, seeking energy will find an outlet and, unfortunately, it doesn't always choose safe ones.
The research on this is both eye-opening and validating for those of us who've lived it.
Studies estimate that 21% of people with substance use disorders also have ADHD, and the connection often begins with seeking relief from the relentless noise and exhaustion of untreated hyperactivity. We might reach for substances or coping mechanisms that quiet the internal barrage, and that sense of relief can —understandably— be habit forming.
These heartbreaking connections make sense when you understand how Juggernaut operates. If your brain craves stimulation or is overwhelmingly busy and nothing feels quite right, it's easy to turn to substances, disordered eating, or other risky behavior as ways to either amp up, or numb away that internal chaos.
Studies show that individuals with ADHD are 4 times more likely to develop a binge eating disorder than the rest of the population. When Juggernaut teams up with The Firefly (Impulsivity), that restless energy can manifest as compulsive eating behaviors, followed by the guilt and shame that fuel more disordered patterns.
For the late-diagnosed and women especially, uncontrolled hyperactivity is often mistaken for anxiety (among other things) by both patients and healthcare providers. When this internal restlessness is misunderstood or dismissed, it can lead to actual anxiety disorders that feed into and compound the effects of our ADHD symptoms.
Even Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) that we often shrug off, like nail biting, hair pulling, and skin picking can become serious self-harm behaviors without another outlet for this excessive energy. What begins as your nervous system innocently trying to regulate itself can spiral into a source of shame, injury, and social isolation.
My intention here isn't to scare you, one of the main upsides of hyperactivity's prevalence in the ADHD population is that it's among the most well-studied. So there are plenty of evidence-backed strategies we can learn and employ to channel that powerful force in healthy and satisfying ways. Knowing both your weaknesses and your enemies is one of the greatest strengths you can develop as a neurodivergent person.
Armor Up: Wards and Counterspells
Wards
Practice these protective measures to keep Juggernaut in his place.
Strategic Movement
Work with your body instead of against it. Recent research confirms that movement actually improves focus for ADHD brains, so give Juggernaut constructive outlets. Standing desks with balance boards, under-desk ellipticals, walking meetings, or scheduled "movement breaks" every 30 minutes. Or, if you work from home, try instituting a mid-day dance break!
Even small changes help: swap your desk chair for an exercise ball during deep work sessions, pace while on phone calls, knit or practice drawing during meetings and lectures, or do jumping jacks between tasks. Be sure to listen to your body: you're not trying to exhaust yourself, you're experimenting to give your nervous system the sensory input it craves so it can settle into focus.
(This very article has seen me cross-legged on a meditation cushion, walking on a desk-treadmill, and bouncing on a balance board.)
Fidget Friends
Embrace fidgeting! Stimming serves an important regulatory function, so instead of trying to eliminate it, focus on optimizing it. Stock up on discrete, adult-friendly options: Stimagz are my personal favorites, but there are plenty of options like the Ono roller, worry stones, stress balls, chewing gum, and even plain paper clips to chain or bend.
For professional settings try rings you can spin, textured pens, or apps that provide satisfying visual stimulation during video calls. The key is to have options available that you'll actually use, so you're not defaulting to potentially harmful BFRBs.
Get Your Daily Dose
Nourish your body and brain! Protein is crucial if you take stimulant medications, and stable blood sugar helps regulate energy levels. When Juggernaut is on a roll your brain is burning through glucose faster than usual. Keep healthy snacks you'll actually eat nearby and, if nutrition is a struggle for you, remember that something is better than nothing.
Develop an Early Warning System
Use The Anthropologist to track your internal energy levels throughout the day for a few days. Notice the difference between "good energy" that fuels productivity and "chaotic energy" that makes you feel scattered —along with anything that helps you get back into balance. Learning to recognize when Juggernaut's power is building gives you that chance to redirect it before it becomes overwhelming.
Keeping notes about these patterns can help you create little rituals to satiate Juggernaut at the right times. What time of day does restlessness peak? What triggers the Symphony of Tabs? Developing this self-awareness can become your most powerful protective tool.
The Tetris Effect
Introduced in our deep dive on The Fog, this ward works beautifully to burn off excess mental energy from Juggernaut when you don't have the option to get up and do something physical.
Having a go-to game, puzzle, or repetitive activity that requires just enough mental engagement can help regulate your stimulation levels without feeding into overwhelm. Think Tetris, simple matching games, sudoku, mahjong, and other similar games. Activities that give your brain something to chew on without demanding creative energy.
Counterspells
When Juggernaut has broken through your protective Wards, try these counterspells to help you regain control in the moment.
The Pressure Valve
When Juggernaut has been building steam all day, you need a safe way to release that kinetic energy before it explodes. This counterspell is about quick, intense bursts of movement: two minutes of dancing to your favorite high-energy song, a set of jumping jacks, pushups, or a brisk walk around the block.
The key to this is intensity over duration. You want to give your nervous system a controlled way to discharge that pent-up energy so it can reset to a more manageable level.
The Mind Sweep
Combat the Symphony of Tabs by getting all those swirling thoughts out of your head and onto paper (or a voice memo). Set a timer for 3 to 5 minutes and brain dump everything that's competing for your attention: random thoughts, to-do items, worries, ideas, that song lyric that won't leave you alone.
Don't worry about organizing this information just yet, the important thing is clearing your mental RAM so you can focus on what actually needs your attention right now. Your inner Anthropologist might be fascinated by the patterns you notice in your mind sweeps over time.
The Sensory Switch
Introduced way back with The Gatekeeper, this counterspell works by giving Juggernaut a different kind of stimulation to focus on. For hyperactivity, this might mean:
For overwhelming energy: Noise-canceling headphones, dim lighting, weighted blankets, or slow, deep breathing exercises to calm your nervous system.
For relentless boredom: Peppermint oil, textured objects, upbeat music, or changing your physical environment to add novelty and stimulation.
The Oracles
When you're paralyzed by too many mental processes running at once, The Oracles can cut through the chaos by making decisions for you.
Can't choose which of the seventeen things bouncing around your brain to tackle? Let The Coin decide. Feeling scattered between multiple projects? Roll The Dice to pick your focus for the next hour.
Remember: Juggernaut doesn't mean to make things difficult. He's just really, really enthusiastic about helping you engage with the world. The best way to deal with his presence is to channel that incredible energy into activities that serve you. Work with your hyperactive brain, not against it, and you might be surprised what you can accomplish.
✂️ TL;DR
Meet Juggernaut, the personification of Hyperactivity & Restlessness. He’s the unstoppable internal engine that creates a constant need for motion, attacking with physical "Perpetual Motion" (fidgeting, BFRBs) and internal chaos like "The Symphony of Tabs" (racing thoughts).
Why It Matters: When Juggernaut's energy has no healthy outlet, it can lead to serious issues like substance use, disordered eating, and self-harming BFRBs. It is also frequently misdiagnosed as anxiety, especially in women and the late-diagnosed.
The Wards (Prevention): You don't win by suppressing Juggernaut; you win by channeling his energy. Use proactive Wards like Strategic Movement (building exercise into your day) and Fidget Friends (optimizing stimming) to give his powerful energy a healthy job to do.
The Counterspells (In the Moment): When you're already feeling overwhelmed, the goal is to redirect his power. Use Counterspells like The Pressure Valve (a quick, intense burst of exercise) to safely release pent-up energy, or a Mind Sweep (a rapid brain dump) to quiet the mental noise.