Research

What we build on, and what we don't claim

BALAY is a daily companion for adults with ADHD on iPhone and Android, and this is the published work behind how the app behaves.

BALAY is a wellness app, not a medical device. It doesn't diagnose, treat, or measure ADHD, and nothing in it should be read as clinical advice.

What we do is read the published work on how adults actually have good days, and build the findings into how the app behaves. Below is what that means in practice.

Each finding below links to its source. Last reviewed 2 October 2026.

What the research says

Small, steady progress matters more than big pushes

Research shows that making small, steady progress on what matters is one of the biggest drivers of motivation and engagement.¹

So the daily score counts small wins, banks them, and never takes them away.

Feedback that rewards can backfire

Research shows that supportive, informational feedback strengthens motivation, while feedback that feels like a contingent reward can undermine it.²

So BALAY tells you what happened rather than handing out points for good behaviour.

ADHD days swing more

Research suggests adults with ADHD experience bigger day-to-day swings in focus and emotion, so we score your day against your own pattern rather than a population average.³

So the score learns your baselines over the first few weeks, then measures against those.

Fit beats force

Research suggests people with ADHD do their best work when the task fits their current energy, and pay a bigger cost when it doesn't.⁴

So matching your energy is the biggest single lift in the score, in whichever direction that points.

Kindness works better than shortfall

Research suggests self-compassion is linked to better wellbeing for adults with ADHD, so your day is framed kindly and never as a shortfall.⁵

So a partial day reads as wins banked rather than a target missed, and there's no streak to break.

Movement helps today

Research shows a single bout of movement can give a same-day lift to focus and self-control.⁶

So movement counts towards your day, and we don't promise you anything about tomorrow.

Regular sleep beats long sleep

Research shows sleep regularity, meaning consistent sleep and wake times, predicts health outcomes even better than how long you sleep.⁷

So BALAY surfaces your sleep pattern as context and never sets you an hours target.

Sources

Amabile and Kramer (2011). The power of small wins. Harvard Business Review, 89(5), 70–80. hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins
Deci, Koestner and Ryan (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627
Skirrow and others (2014). Everyday emotional experience of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: evidence for reactive and endogenous emotional lability. Psychological Medicine, 44(16), 3571–3583. doi.org/10.1017/S0033291714001032
Metin and others (2012). A meta-analytic study of event rate effects on Go/No-Go performance in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 72(12), 990–996. doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.08.023
Beaton, Sirois and Milne (2022). The role of self-compassion in the mental health of adults with ADHD. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 78(12), 2497–2512. doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23354
Chang and others (2025). Effects of acute exercise on cognitive function: A meta-review of 30 systematic reviews with meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 151(2), 240–259. doi.org/10.1037/bul0000460
Windred and others (2024). Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration: A prospective cohort study. Sleep, 47(1), zsad253. doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsad253

What BALAY doesn't claim

BALAY doesn't diagnose ADHD, or anything else.
It makes no claim to treat, cure, or reduce ADHD or its symptoms.
The daily score is a wellness signal rather than a measurement of any condition.
Sumi is an AI companion, not a clinician, and none of this is therapy.
If something you're dealing with needs professional help, please speak to your GP or specialist.

Wellness insight, not medical advice. Check with a professional for anything health-related.