Spicy Focus: ADHD Timer

Spicy Focus - Science-Based Timer for ADHD Brains

Every feature in Spicy Focus is grounded in peer-reviewed ADHD neuroscience. Not productivity advice repackaged with a "for ADHD" label — actual research.
Here's what's inside and why.

FREE FEATURES

Smart Duration Recommendations ("Focus Calibration")
ADHD brains literally cannot predict their own focus capacity — that's time blindness (Barkley, 2015). And choosing from 7 duration options triggers
decision paralysis (Baumeister's decision fatigue research). Spicy Focus learns from your history — energy levels, completion rates, time of day, activity
labels — and auto-selects the duration you're most likely to complete. It nudges you up when you're on a streak (adaptive difficulty from game design) and
pulls back when you're struggling. You can always override it. But you'll rarely need to.

"Just 5 Minutes" Micro-Commitment
ADHD brains need 2-3x more dopamine stimulation to initiate tasks (Volkow et al., NIDA PET imaging study). The 5-minute rule is the #1
clinician-recommended technique for overcoming initiation paralysis. Commit to 5 minutes. When it's up, you choose: extend or stop. Research shows 80%+
continue past the initial commitment.

Session Intentions
Vague goals are executive dysfunction's worst enemy. Research on implementation intentions (Gollwitzer, 1999) shows that specifying exactly what you'll do
— "I will write the intro paragraph" — dramatically increases follow-through. Set one concrete task before each session. Check it off when you're done.

Hyperfocus Nudge
68% of adults with ADHD report frequent hyperfocus episodes (Ashinoff & Abu-Akel, 2021). The optional Focus Nudge gently reminds you to stretch, drink
water, or rest your eyes without interrupting your flow.

Ambient Soundscapes
A 2024 meta-analysis found that ambient noise has a statistically significant benefit for ADHD focus (effect size g=0.249, p=0.0001) — but a negative
effect on neurotypical brains. The benefit is ADHD-specific (Soderlund, Sikstrom & Smart, 2007).

Also free: countdown timer, stopwatch mode, energy tracking, session history, and dark mode.

SPICY FOCUS PRO - $4.99 (with 7-day free trial)

Unlock the full toolkit:
- Insights dashboard with focus trends, heatmaps, and energy correlation charts
- Focus streaks with Grace Days — your streak won't break if you miss a day, because shame-based systems backfire for ADHD brains (backed by RSD research)
- Daily goals with flexible tracking
- Pomodoro mode with customizable intervals
- XP and leveling system for long-term motivation
- Premium soundscapes
- Personal records and streak calendar

Every feature cites its research in the in-app Science section. 366 million adults worldwide have ADHD. This app was built for you.