51–60 of 155 posts
Just wait until you have kids. Your mental capacity will nosedive and you have no time to worry about it. Just hope that no one notices!
I am in my mid 40's and recently really noticed this. It felt like some of the teeth in the gears of my mind were worn down and things were slipping. After complaining about it to some peers I was informed this could be due to low testosterone so I went and had that tested. Apparently my testosterone level was that of a 70 year old man so I started testosterone replacement therapy. I can say that it is a complete gam…
Thanks for posting this - I'm having this problem, but I've put it down to having small children, the chronic lack of sleep and the rarely having more than 1 hour time in a week where it's quiet and I can focus. That combined with being totally out of shape (covid + terrible two's).
Evidence of testosterone supplementation improving cognitive performance is weak despite many studies.
Evidence of sleep associated with cognitive performance is extensive and well documented.
The (not that helpful in the moment) good news is that kids get older and will eventually sleep more and more independently.
It isn't a covid "brain fog;" I got it too recently for that.
I think I got a lot out of working in the office. I don't have many friends, so I got a lot of my social interactions there. I'm single, so I didn't fall back to the married couple thing, and I'm old enough that I didn't want to spend the pandemic with my parents, and I'm not close enough with them for that, anyway. I suspect it's loneliness and depression, but I'm not sure what to do about it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you measure testosterone? You make it sound like you just step on a testosterone scale each morning and take note of the value. If that’s the case, I need to get me one.
You can get home kits. You just give them a couple drops of blood and send it back.
https://www.everlywell.com/products/testosterone-test/
(No affiliation, not an affiliate link)
However, I began to exercise more, and get good sleep, and also worked on problems that were more interesting to me, and I found that not only did my problem solving ability not decline when compared to my younger self, it was actually better since I could bring years of knowledge and experience to bear on the problems.
Sometimes, there is a lot of fatalism about growing older, however, if you can take of your body, you can find you are often better than you were at a younger age.
It feels that over the past year i lost my edge. I am overwhelmed and tired.
- Adderall: task execution increased, but general success did not
- Caffeine: same as above
- Spend more time with all friends, weighted higher for closest: Positive pleasant experience. Work performance did not improve
- Better Sleep Timing: Mood improved, but general success did not
- Sleep Tracking: Watch revealed low pulse ox. Sleep Apnea tracking device did not. However, deviated septum and enlarged turbinates. Intervention (anti-allergy meds period of use not over and surgery I did not follow up on)/
- Exercising regularly: Got addicted to this (1x Barry's a day for 60 days, my weight lifting numbers at end - I already knew how - 375 lb DL, 275 lb back squat, 225 lb front squat, 175 lb bench [lame], 135 lb C&J, 105 lb snatch). Work outcome dropped - I'd rather hit the next PR than submit a PR, if you will
- Diet modification: Attempted zero-sugar, attempted high-greens+high-meat, attempted ice-cream-only (no significant change except lost weight), attempted take-out-only (gained time, but wasted the gained time)
- Switched job: Quitting had the best outcome on mental health. Performance did not spike at new job.
- Switched out of remote to in-office: Massive improvement in mental health and performance.
I can't guess at what your experience is, but this is a summary of my raw experience. For background info, I am in my 30s, live in San Francisco, and I am fortunate to have lots of friends across backgrounds and genders to whom I am as important as they are to me - this part was important since it provided a base level of self-esteem through their support. Completely normative otherwise.
I know a day (or few) after use of marijuana, when I speak, I'll have to pause for a bit to remember a word I had intended to say. I suspect this can affect problem solving skills too, but so far none of my coding seems to have been affected. Weed seems to me an acceptable trade-off (enjoyment / temporary mental degradation).
if so: therapy, meditation/mindfulness, exercise, and talking to a doctor about medication