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Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#111

Post by iamcurious »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #98
tylerneylon wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have lots of help. I write during work hours (so kids are at school). At work I delegate as much as possible to a team of great people; hiring a good team has been critical. I sometimes hire a sitter to support some exercise time, and other times I bring my kids with me to a running track. I hire housecleaners to clean regularly to help me keep my home nice and organized. I don't currently have a personal assistant…

Reading your comments, I think you have super human level of energy. Not to take anything away from your experience, but that isn't much help to the OP who is likely much lower energy. I observe the same in myself. Each year that I age up, the gap in energy between myself and peers grows larger. They keep getting fatter, slower, lazier, less innovative/intelligent. Me: Yes, a bit, but far slower than others around me…

>Ask yourself: How does Elon Musk work 80/90/100 hours per week in his early 50s

My guess is that he is exaggerating, he has a track record of doing that. Or that what he means by "work" is actually way more layback than what a cashier at costso means by "work".

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#112

Post by fnordpiglet »

mattkrause wrote: post #104
fnordpiglet wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not my point. It’s not patentable so it’s not commercially viable to go through the clinical trials process for something that’s basically free to produce. There is plenty of peer reviewed research, but not all doctors are aware of all research and testosterone replacement is widely marketed with very lucrative contracts to urologists. Feel free to read the research yourself https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?t…

That's not entirely true. The FDA has a "new clinical investigation" program that is supposed to reward people running clinical trials. If you collect data showing efficacy of a new use of a previously-approved drug, you can "earn" the exclusive right to market it for that condition. Of course, someone has to actually do it...and the numbers don't always pan out.

I think a part of this is also the FDA has been really reluctant to touch testosterone producing substances - there was a company trying to get approval for a patented isomer of clomiphene and they took it through phase 3 and the fda indicated they wouldn’t approve it because they viewed the primary benefit of not being castrating as not compelling enough for a new treatment for low T. Their reasoning to my memory was mostly elderly men suffer from low T and they wanted to discourage what they viewed as a growing trend of lifestyle testosterone treatment. As a clomid user I bought the companies stock and followed it closely through the process and was terribly discouraged about the FDAs processes as a result (and my wallet too!). I’ve been trying to dig that stuff up but it appears the company died as a result and googles not finding the FDA communications. This was like almost 10 years ago.

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#113

Post by jeanvaljean2463 »

sleepdreamy wrote: post #18
jeanvaljean2463 wrote: post #13

In my own experience there was a precipitous decline in my job performance related critical thinking around 32-34 ( I'm 36 now ) that I chalk up to a variety of factors: - Stress - Family obligations - Not enjoying the work I do anymore - Solving the same problems over and over because I can't fix the org that produces them. - Solving the above problems in a new technology. - Crappy co-workers that I don't want to in…

Too late for what? The fact you own land should be cherished in itself. A lot of people suffer or go through life with much less than you probably have now. You worked hard, don't diminish your accomplishments.

Too late to "make it" via SV/tech world.. I definitely am incredibly fortunate and much more grateful about what I do have as I have gotten older. It's one of the reasons that I don't give so much to my job anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#114

Post by fnordpiglet »

vsareto wrote: post #110
fnordpiglet wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should investigate clomiphene citrate instead of testosterone directly. Clomid mutes the brains response to estrogen, the final feedback product of the testosterone cycle. This causes the body to produce more testosterone in the testes rather than front loading the cycle. The primary impact is your testes continue to function, while testosterone over time will chemically castrate you. This has been in use for 60…

>The primary impact is your testes continue to function, while testosterone over time will chemically castrate you. Anastrozole or HCG (I forget which) should have prevented that

My understanding is anastrozole works in a similar way to clomiphene, but has heart and bone concerns.

HCG is an injectable. Others may think differently but I’d rather take a once a day tablet than introduce an injectable to my life.

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#115

Post by MrUssek »

This post feels identical to one that I had been considering writing for a while now.

I'm nearly 28, and the past ~4 months have felt like I have been suffering from acute brain fog. And not even regarding challenging topics; most of the decline feels concentrated in parsing relatively simple logical statements and arguments. I used to be able to do this without any difficulty, and now, suddenly, it feels like it requires conscious effort. I too feel like I used to be decent at math and computer science. It's gotten so bad that I'm wondering if this is an actual medical condition (perhaps there is lead in my water? perhaps I have long COVID?).

As far as testing intellect (2), apparently it's not so far out of the ordinary to request a clinical psychologist to administer an IQ test. Additionally it's easy to get tests from Mensa or other organizations. I've been considering doing this for a while myself, but have delayed due to anxiety over the result. IQ tests are evaluated against individuals of the same age, so it won't tell you how you compare against people of other ages (including your younger self), but you can probably compare against earlier aptitude tests you have taken to see if there is a decline. I get the whole IQ discussion gets toxic really fast, so I'll just say I'm not endorsing any of the rhetoric or ideas that co-occur when people start talking about it.

For (3) I think the research on this is rather grim. I don't have time to come up with a good survey, but I'm sure the "rationalists" among us will happily chime in. I think the consensus is that it is possible to increase abilities in a narrow domain and only for a short amount of time.

I have to admit that this has been a very hard thing to come to terms with. I've already felt my work performance suffer, and I'm not sure if there is anything I can do about it. I've been exercising regularly for years now, and recently got my sleep habits in check, but to no avail.

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#116

Post by hydrok9 »

sAbakumoff wrote: post #103
PheonixPharts wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly I'm implying drinking alcohol and smoking weed . That said, I do think there is much work to be done in the cannabis cocktail area. Flavor wise there is a lot of unexplored possibility, the major challenge in this space is ensuring dosage is correct since the effects of each substance are felt on such different time lines. You don't want to start feeling a bit too drunk and realize that the weed hasn't even h…

>> Clearly I'm implying drinking alcohol and smoking weed. all right, it seems though that your writing abilities were compromised by consuming alcohol and drugs. take care!

All he did was miss a comma (an optional one, no less!). You must be a high ranking member of the Grammar Police! Or maybe the Benevolent Pedant's Association?

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#117

Post by dominotw »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #91
dominotw wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can say that it is a complete game changer! Could this be a placebo effect. I have low testosterone too. I've been doing "natural" ways by changing diet, cardio/weights, sleeping in a lot, trying to have sex regularly. But my numbers just don't seem to budge. I think my only options now are TRT or just accept and make peace with it. If I do TRT, my impression is that you have stay on it for life. I am not sure i…

I 100% feel you as the fear of having to do it forever was a big hold up for me as well. The reality is you can stop whenever you want you will just go back to having less energy etc. Having done it I can see myself doing it until my late 50's at which point I should have the majority of my adventuring done as well as be out of the workforce so I will probably not be too concerned about lack of energy.

>The reality is you can stop whenever you want you will just go back to having less energy etc.

I am not sure if you go back to your previous baseline. I know athletes who do this have forever left with way lower testosterone than their previous baseline.

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#118

Post by sleepdreamy »

jeanvaljean2463 wrote: post #113
sleepdreamy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too late for what? The fact you own land should be cherished in itself. A lot of people suffer or go through life with much less than you probably have now. You worked hard, don't diminish your accomplishments.

Too late to "make it" via SV/tech world.. I definitely am incredibly fortunate and much more grateful about what I do have as I have gotten older. It's one of the reasons that I don't give so much to my job anymore.

'Make it' is subjective though. I work in IT, own a modest home and I would say I've made it although many commenters on this forum would say I am broke by their standards. Everything is relative - I hope you are able to find joy, peace and rest in your well-deserved accomplishments

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#119

Post by meowfly »

MrUssek wrote: post #115

This post feels identical to one that I had been considering writing for a while now. I'm nearly 28, and the past ~4 months have felt like I have been suffering from acute brain fog. And not even regarding challenging topics; most of the decline feels concentrated in parsing relatively simple logical statements and arguments. I used to be able to do this without any difficulty, and now, suddenly, it feels like it req…

I suspect there is something going on with the number of people I see describe brain fog symptoms. If you look at google trends there was a marked increase in 2020 (probably covid related?).

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=b...

Re: Ask HN: Have you experienced decline in problem-solving skills? How to improve?

#120

Post by ironlake »

p0nce wrote: post #20

> 3. Has anybody found ways to improve their problem-solving skills? Or critical thinking? For me nothing ever beats running and the associated runners's high. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4915811/ Probably you could analyze how so-called β-hydroxybutyrate is synthesized and eat precusors too before going.

I never get a high from running or any other kind of exercise.
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