# Numo Reduces ADHD Symptoms in Adults: What a 3-Month Clinical Study Found

> A 3-month study of 53 adults found significant reductions in ADHD inattention and hyperactivity after regular Numo use. Here is what the research actually shows — and what it doesn't.

- URL: https://numo.ai/journal/numo-adhd-clinical-study-results
- Language: en
- Published: 2026-05-14T10:38:00.000Z
- Author: Julia Ovcharenko
- Reading time: 7 min
- Tags: ADHD research, Numo study, ADHD app effectiveness, ADHD symptom reduction, clinical evidence

Most ADHD apps stop working in week six. Not because they break, but because you stop opening them. The app that was supposed to fix your week quietly becomes another tab you do not click.
Numo lives or dies on the same question every other ADHD app does: does it survive the novelty, and if it does, is it actually doing something measurable?
In 2024, a psychologist named Olha Orel ran a ninety-day study on exactly that question. Fifty-three adults with ADHD used Numo almost every day. By the end, their ADHD symptoms had moved from clinically elevated to typical on a standardized scale. The effect size was the kind clinicians call “large.” The full study, conducted at [Neuroflex in Kyiv, Ukraine](https://neuroflex.com.ua), is published with DOI [10.26387/bpa.2024.00015](https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.2024.00015).
That is the result. The rest of this article is the asterisks.

## How the Study Was Designed

Eighty-seven adults aged 25–45 took part. All had a prior clinical ADHD diagnosis. None had used Numo before. Participants with addiction, psychosis, schizophrenia, or those currently undergoing pharmacological or psychotherapy treatment for ADHD were excluded, to isolate Numo’s effect as cleanly as possible (Orel, 2024).
ADHD symptoms were measured at the start and end of the 90 days using the [Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS)](https://storefront.mhs.com/collections/caars-2), a widely validated clinical instrument that produces T-scores across inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, total ADHD symptoms, and an overall ADHD Index. T-scores above 65 indicate clinically elevated symptoms; scores closer to 50 reflect the typical adult population. Two additional questions measured daily productivity and ADHD-related struggle.
At the end of the study, participants were grouped by how they had actually used Numo, not by random assignment. Fifty-three fell into the high-intensity group (used Numo nearly every day, completing 3+ tasks per session). Ten fell into the low-intensity group (skipped over 30 days, completed fewer than one task per session). The remaining participants did not show a consistent usage pattern and were excluded from analysis. Pre- and post-scores were compared within each group using paired samples t-tests.
Participants received a gift certificate from Numo at the end of the 90 days, intended as motivation to maintain engagement throughout the study. The original paper discloses this (Orel, 2024). A financial incentive affects how to read the engagement numbers, so it belongs in the open.

## What “High-Intensity Use” Actually Means

The improvements below were observed in participants who used Numo nearly every day for three months, completing at least three tasks per session. That is not a light commitment. For many ADHD adults, near-daily app engagement for three months is the exact behavior they came to the app to develop in the first place.
The low-intensity group, who used Numo sporadically and with minimal task completion, showed some improvement on CAARS scores (hyperactivity, total ADHD, and ADHD Index reached statistical significance). Their self-reported quality of life did not improve. One measure, perceived struggle with ADHD symptoms, actually worsened slightly. The researchers attributed this to possible frustration with inconsistent engagement (Orel, 2024).
The study’s conclusion is direct: continuous engagement is necessary for results. This is consistent with the broader principle that sustained, intense interventions are what drive neuroplastic change (Orel, 2024, citing Kazdin, 2017).
The result, put plainly: Numo produced clinically meaningful improvement in adults who used it almost every day for 90 days. Pull the daily-use part out and the effect drops with it.

## What the Results Showed for Consistent Users

For the 53 adults in the high-intensity group, every measure the study tracked moved in the right direction, and every change was statistically significant (Orel, 2024).
Inattentive symptoms fell from a mean T-score of 71.5 to 66.5. Hyperactive/impulsive symptoms fell from 77.6 to 67.5. The combined ADHD Symptoms Total moved from 78.2 to 59.5, out of the clinically elevated range and into the typical-population range. The ADHD Index, the overall severity composite, fell from 70.4 to 67.7.
Effect sizes were not marginal. In clinical research, a Cohen’s D of 0.8 or higher is conventionally classified as a *large* effect. The high-intensity group produced D values of −0.91 (inattention), −0.85 (hyperactivity/impulsivity), −1.0 (total ADHD), and −1.4 (ADHD Index). All p-values were under .001, meaning the probability that these results arose by chance was less than 0.1%.

## The Shift in Daily Productivity

Beyond the clinical symptom measures, the study tracked a simpler question: how productive did participants actually feel?
Before using Numo, 5% of the high-intensity group reported feeling not at all productive, 69% felt just a little productive, and 26% felt pretty much productive. Nobody rated themselves very much productive.
After three months, the distribution had shifted. Just 2.6% reported not at all productive. The “just a little” group fell from 69% to 38.5%. Meanwhile 51.3% now rated themselves pretty much productive, roughly double the baseline. Another 7.7% reached very much productive for the first time (Orel, 2024).
The second self-report measure (“I struggle with my ADHD symptoms”) also improved significantly for this group (t=−3.15, p<.003, Cohen’s D=−0.45). The effect was smaller than the symptom reductions, which the researchers expected: participants did not stop having ADHD. They reported less day-to-day burden from it.

## What This Study Cannot Tell You

What this study cannot tell you matters as much as what it can.
It was a quasi-experiment, not a randomized controlled trial. Participants were grouped after the fact based on how they actually used the app, not randomly assigned in advance. There was no control group of ADHD adults who did not use any app. Without that comparison, the study cannot fully isolate Numo as the sole driver of symptom change. Time, life circumstances, regression to the mean, and placebo response all sit in the same window.
The low-intensity group was small (n=10), which limits what can be concluded about occasional users. The study did not compare Numo against other ADHD apps, against CBT alone, or against medication. Participants received a Numo gift certificate at the end of the study, disclosed in the paper. A financial incentive affects how to read engagement numbers.
The researchers themselves call for future work with larger, randomized samples and comparison conditions (Orel, 2024). Numo agrees. This is one piece of evidence. Meaningful, not final.

## Frequently Asked Questions

#### How was the Numo study conducted?

The study enrolled 87 adults aged 25–45, all with prior ADHD diagnoses, none of whom had used Numo before. Over 90 days, ADHD symptoms were measured using the CAARS (a validated clinical rating scale) before and after app use. Participants were grouped by actual usage intensity, and pre- and post-scores were compared within each group using paired samples t-tests (Orel, 2024).

#### What results did the study find for regular Numo users?

Adults in the high-intensity group (daily use, at least three tasks per session) showed statistically significant reductions across every CAARS measure. Total ADHD symptoms fell from a T-score of 78.2 to 59.5, crossing from clinically elevated into the typical-population range. Effect sizes ranged from −0.85 to −1.4 on Cohen’s D, which is large by clinical convention. All p-values were under .001 (Orel, 2024).

#### Does Numo work if you only use it occasionally?

The study suggests limited benefit from occasional use. The low-intensity group (skipping over 30 days of 90, fewer than one task per session) showed some improvement on CAARS scores, but their quality-of-life ratings did not improve, and perceived struggle with ADHD symptoms slightly worsened, possibly reflecting frustration with inconsistent engagement. The clear pattern: consistent daily use is where meaningful change appeared (Orel, 2024).

#### Is the Numo study peer-reviewed?

The study was published with a DOI ([10.26387/bpa.2024.00015](https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.2024.00015)) by Olha Orel, a psychologist at the Neuroflex Center in Kyiv, Ukraine. The journal is not PubMed-indexed, which is the highest bar for peer-reviewed clinical research. We treat the study as published evidence with a transparent methodology and acknowledged limitations, not as definitive proof. Replication in larger, randomized studies is needed and welcomed.

#### What Numo features did participants use in the study?

Participants used Numo’s daily planner with calendar integration, task division (breaking large tasks into smaller parts to reduce procrastination), a thought-testing technique based on CBT principles, the white-noise tool, and group goal-sharing for peer accountability. These same features are available in the Numo app today (Orel, 2024).

What this study describes is a single 90-day quasi-experiment with 53 consistent users. It is not proof that Numo cures ADHD. No app does. It is evidence that adults who used Numo nearly every day over three months saw ADHD symptoms drop by a large amount on a validated clinical scale, and felt more productive day to day alongside.
The original paper is at [DOI 10.26387/bpa.2024.00015](https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.2024.00015). The features that mattered most in the study (task division, thought testing, daily planning, group goals) are in Numo today.