Dip Pattern
Whether your drained phases are getting harder or lighter over time.
What is Dip Pattern?
Dip Pattern tracks the severity of your low phases over time, on both energy and mood. It compares your recent drained phases to your historical ones and tells you whether your dips are getting deeper, shallower, or heavier.
Sometimes the dip itself looks the same on energy, but mood has been dropping further during it. Dip Pattern surfaces that as a separate state, because it changes what you should do about it.
Why it matters
Not all drained phases are equal. Sometimes you hit a low that's just a mild slowdown. Other times it feels like a total shutdown. The difference often comes down to what happened in the charged phase before it.
When dips are deepening, it usually means your charged phases have been running longer or harder than your system can sustain. When dips are getting shallower, your pacing is improving. You're learning to ease up before the resource pool is completely empty.
And sometimes the energy reading is stable, but the emotional weight of the dip has been heavier. Mood and energy share self-regulation resources in ADHD [1], so a mood-led decline is its own kind of signal, often pointing to something draining your emotional reserves even when your physical energy holds steady.
How it works
Dip Pattern compares the average energy during your recent drained phases to your historical average. If recent dips are hitting lower energy levels, the signal reads "Deeper." If they're milder, it reads "Shallower."
When mood data is available, it also checks whether mood is dropping further during dips or holding steady. There are three deepening states:
- Deeper (energy): energy is hitting lower than usual
- Deeper (energy and mood): both are dropping together. Recovery typically needs more care
- Heavier (mood only): energy is stable, but mood has been dropping further during dips
Reading your results
| Value | What it means |
|---|---|
| Deeper | Your drained phases are hitting harder on energy. The next recovery may take more |
| Heavier | Energy is steady, but mood has been dropping further during dips |
| Shallower | Your drained phases are getting lighter. Your pacing is working |
| Stable | Dip severity is consistent. No change in either direction |
What you can do
- When deeper (energy only): Your system is telling you the charged phases before these dips went a bit too long. Shorter pushes and fuller rest windows both help soften future dips.
- When deeper (energy and mood): When mood drops alongside energy, give yourself extra room to recover. Fewer commitments, more rest, and less pressure on yourself. Your system draws from the same pool for both energy and mood [1].
- When heavier (mood only): Something is weighing on the emotional side even when your physical energy holds. Worth checking what's been different lately: sleep, social load, big tasks, hormonal cycles, season changes. Protecting low-stim time and reducing demands during dips tends to soften the next one.
- When shallower: This is real progress. Whatever you're doing is working. Your dips are getting less severe, which usually means your pacing has improved.
Sources
- Barkley, R.A. (1997). "Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD." Psychological Bulletin. PubMed 9000892
- Beheshti, A., et al. (2020). "Emotion dysregulation in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis." BMC Psychiatry. PubMed 32164655