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Nootropics

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Re: Nootropics

#281

Post by Raphmedia »

mettamage wrote: post #94
HalfwayToDice wrote: post #74

The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. It takes effort! Preparing for bed early and disciplining yourself to put the light out is not easy. Not nearly as easy as popping a pill. But it's so much more effective than any drug listed here. And for a safe and provable quick cognitive boost, take some caffeine, preferable green tea with theanine.

It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep. Sleep tips that help me: 1. meditation: still experimenting with body-scan vs. breath meditation, they both help but have different effects…

> magnesium

Yes! Magnesium changed my life!

I was certain that I was living with a hard depression... until I read somewhere that lactose intolerance can lead to magnesium deficiency.

I started taking Magnesium and felt the effect immediately. All of my body is physically relaxed. I struggled with muscle cramps and spasms, they are gone thanks to increasing my magnesium intake.

The body truly is a machine... !

Re: Nootropics

#282

Post by saiya-jin »

orangecat wrote: post #255
hasbroslasher wrote: post #123

So you're telling me you alter your biochemistry to become more productive without a care for how it affects your overall (mostly mental) health? Hell, I started smoking cigarettes at 16, which I rank near the top of my worst decisions ever, despite the fact that it helped me hack my brain chemistry as I powered through numerous difficult math and CS classes with top scores. As a result, I spent years thrashing, kick…

To me, the entire idea of performance-enhancing chemicals is the essence of Moloch Moloch specifically refers to zero-sum games. Intelligence enhancement is not that; if everyone in the world gained 10 IQ points we would almost certainly be far better off. To what ends? Curing cancer and Alzheimer's, getting self-driving cars on the road by 2025 instead of 2030, colonizing Mars, figuring out how to fix our diets with…

you need only a bit of willpower to fix your own diet, nothing more. many people are unwilling to get into any form of unpleasant state (ie abstaining from sweet stuff, workouts etc), they are 'too soft' and avoid hardships. that's all.

and none of what you mentioned could be magically achieved by one person popping a pill to gain some short term effect, and probably lose something in longer run. feel free to experiment on yourself, just please don't force anyhow this pitiful activity on others.

Re: Nootropics

#283

Post by VLM »

arca_vorago wrote: post #274
HalfwayToDice wrote: post #74

The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. It takes effort! Preparing for bed early and disciplining yourself to put the light out is not easy. Not nearly as easy as popping a pill. But it's so much more effective than any drug listed here. And for a safe and provable quick cognitive boost, take some caffeine, preferable green tea with theanine.

This is one of the side effects of ptsd that can make a big difference, since sleep really is so important. Mine is more of a hypervigilance (I can almost be asleep and then hear a sound and all senses are in overdrive, so usually I just get up and patrol the perimeter of the house and check locks/doors/camera systems), but many of my buddies drank themselves to sleep every night. Most of them have switched to MJ and…

White noise? I find I fall asleep faster due to air conditioner and forced air furnace and occasional rain storms.

When I was a kid I could just barely hear my parents decompressing by watching Barney Miller and All in the Family (yes I am older) and that helped me sleep.

Re: Nootropics

#284

Post by arca_vorago »

VLM wrote: post #283
arca_vorago wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the side effects of ptsd that can make a big difference, since sleep really is so important. Mine is more of a hypervigilance (I can almost be asleep and then hear a sound and all senses are in overdrive, so usually I just get up and patrol the perimeter of the house and check locks/doors/camera systems), but many of my buddies drank themselves to sleep every night. Most of them have switched to MJ and…

White noise? I find I fall asleep faster due to air conditioner and forced air furnace and occasional rain storms. When I was a kid I could just barely hear my parents decompressing by watching Barney Miller and All in the Family (yes I am older) and that helped me sleep.

I find that white noise helps as long as I'm not in hyper-vigilance mode, because if I am, the white noise is something thats keeping me from hearing an enemy, which drives me insane (like when someone is snoring too loud, or the AC is squeaky )... so it works great lots of the time. (Classical music, newagey music, movie soundtracks, ancient music (greek/roman) and thunderstorms and a little bit of delta wave stuff are my go-tos.)

Re: Nootropics

#285

Post by balfirevic »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #223
rsync wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep." I did not respond to your sibling comment who speaks of anxiety. It sounds like a real pathology and something I have no business general…

> and also a 1.5 to 2 hour intense weightlifting workout (primarily focused on your thighs/legs[1][2], since they are the biggest muscles. being nitpicky here but we shouldn't be promoting "time in the gym" as a measurement of a workout's success. frankly, if you're doing an "intense" workout for "2 hours" something's wrong.

"Intense" here means lifting weights close to the maximum you can lift for certain number of repetitions. This kind of workout can easily take 1.5 to 2 hours, and IMHO qualifies as intense.

Re: Nootropics

#286

Post by rubber_duck »

A shame no info on testosterone - that's the one I'm most interested in both from physical and psychological perspective, I know a few people who used it but they are in physical/service jobs, I wonder how it would affect programming productivity.

Any throwaways here willing to share their experiences ?

Re: Nootropics

#287

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

mettamage wrote: post #94
HalfwayToDice wrote: post #74

The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. It takes effort! Preparing for bed early and disciplining yourself to put the light out is not easy. Not nearly as easy as popping a pill. But it's so much more effective than any drug listed here. And for a safe and provable quick cognitive boost, take some caffeine, preferable green tea with theanine.

It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep. Sleep tips that help me: 1. meditation: still experimenting with body-scan vs. breath meditation, they both help but have different effects…

Keeping a daily journal isn't for everyone - although I do recommend it - but I have found that by recording my day's thoughts it gets them out of my head, and by writing down my next day's planned tasks ahead of time, I am more likely to get a good nights sleep, wake up at the right time, and get to work on those tasks.

Re: Nootropics

#288

Post by zeppelin101 »

jules wrote: post #184
mettamage wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep. Sleep tips that help me: 1. meditation: still experimenting with body-scan vs. breath meditation, they both help but have different effects…

The trick to sleeping is simple: make sure you are mentally and physically tired, and switch off your computer and dim the lights one hour before you want to sleep.

That's one of the hardest possible things for us techies.

Re: Nootropics

#289

Post by aninhumer »

forloop wrote: post #277
aninhumer wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The above is a direct quote from OP. Where's the metaphor? You're grossly mistaken! I interpret that as I would my example "the best defence is a good offence". It's an out-of-category example given for rhetorical effect. Perhaps I'm mistaken and that's not what OP meant, but I don't see why you're so certain about it. >Can sleep gives one supranormal cognition? Yes if you define "normal" as not getting enough sleep…

You're intellectually dishonest. It doesn't matter how many times I destroy your points you'll slime back with highly improbable interpretations of statements.

I don't think this interpretation is improbable, otherwise I wouldn't be suggesting it.

And my points have not changed, all I've done is clarify them.

Re: Nootropics

#290

Post by zeppelin101 »

fmueller wrote: post #197
mettamage wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep. Sleep tips that help me: 1. meditation: still experimenting with body-scan vs. breath meditation, they both help but have different effects…

I wasn't able to sleep in the past. Now I can because of two simple tricks (may not work for everyone): 1) I lie on the side and cover both ears, one with the cushion and one with the blanket. 2) I imagine a story I made up once and go trough it in my mind. It's always the same story, only a little different each time. Then I fall asleep.

Both of these sound very effective. May I also recommend using earplugs? There are many varieties available and they're inexpensive. I used to do the covering ears thing but it's not super comfortable.
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