Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What lifestyle choices have led to improved cognitive function/memory?

news.ycombinator.com

101–106 of 106 posts

Re: Ask HN: What lifestyle choices have led to improved cognitive function/memory?

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a difference between ”exercise” and ”power lifting”. Cardio is definitely good for you, even though it releases the same peptides. In cardio you progress by going longer. Lifting is a different beast. In it you progress by increasing weights, because increasing reps does not gain muscle as fast. Each trip to the gym causes muscle damage, which also releases opioids, and it is completely possible to become de…

Good, get addicted to things you can do to your body that are good for you.

Does that include, in increasing sense of doublethink:

1) using illegal drugs to treat debilitating illness, such as autoimmune disease?

2) using nootropic drugs to increase cognitive performance?

3) using illegal drugs to increase general physical and cognitive performance?

4) parking in a handicap spot to shop quicker and with less stress?

5) speeding on the highway when you know it’s gonna be okay and it’ll cut down an hour of your daily commute that you’d rather spend with your family?

6) smuggling conflict diamonds and stolen gold bars in your rectum to get away from the rat race once and for all?

Re: Ask HN: What lifestyle choices have led to improved cognitive function/memory?

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you fund your lifestyle, if you don't mind me asking?

I had savings from my vested RSUs which I received working for a rising company. Then I turned into an angel investor and made some good money which should last me for a while. I still can't retire but I will deal with it a bit later. To retire I would need 39_600_000 dollars.

To retire you need 39 million dollars? I've determined that I need about 1.5 million. We must live under very different circumstances.

Re: Ask HN: What lifestyle choices have led to improved cognitive function/memory?

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had savings from my vested RSUs which I received working for a rising company. Then I turned into an angel investor and made some good money which should last me for a while. I still can't retire but I will deal with it a bit later. To retire I would need 39_600_000 dollars.

To retire you need 39 million dollars? I've determined that I need about 1.5 million. We must live under very different circumstances.

My calculation is 100_000 per month * 12 * 33 (3% safe withdrawal). What's yours?

Re: Ask HN: What lifestyle choices have led to improved cognitive function/memory?

#104
post #71
post #13

For me: diet (vitamins, algae oil, a little creatine), sleep (tracked), exercise (HIIT), reading (non-fiction - help build your vocab/mental maps), dual-n-back. There are other tricks that I have heard of like the 'memory palace' [1], or mindfulness meditation, but those I don't think really worked for me personally, YMMV. Have always been interested in nootropics, but I'm a dot the i's cross the t's kind of person,…

Too late to edit, so I'll add a reply: if you really feel like something in your brain is holding you back, you might want to do some tests with a specialist. I know people of all ages who have done this and benefited from the insights. GL.

A cognitive performance specialist? I’m genuinely interested in the sort of doctor one would see for insights into improving performance.

Re: Ask HN: What lifestyle choices have led to improved cognitive function/memory?

#105

Even if you close your eyes, you would still know where your monitors are, where your keyboard is, where your laptop is, and so on. You would know where your bed was. Where the table where you eat sat and the number of chairs around it. If you want to have a better memory, put things into the part of you that handles remembering where objects are in the spaces you occupy. To do that you need to be able to encode info…

To give a bit more contrast - a lot of the other methods people are sharing will definitely help your memory. Getting enough sleep is important. So is eating well. Yet if your goal is to improve your memory to an extreme - like lets say, fully memorizing every word in a large book or being able to recite a number to ten thousand places or being able to be repeat back card for card fifty two cards in a row - what you need isn't just to be rested and healthy. You need actual technique. The comparison I would use is sports. Yes - if you want to be good at sports, you should be in peak shape. However, being in peak shape is only a part of the solution. You also need the proper technique.
Post reply on HN