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Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

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51–60 of 62 posts

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#51
post #3

1) How much are you sleeping each night and what is your environment when sleeping? Do you wear a sleeping mask or play rain noises? Do you go to sleep at a consistent time each night? Do you use your bed for things other than sleep/sex? 2) If you record audio of yourself sleeping, do you snore loudly or stop breathing for periods of time followed by sudden snorting or rasping? 3) Do you have low Thyroid Stimulating…

What is #4 a symptom of?

Leukemia

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#52
post #47
post #3

1) How much are you sleeping each night and what is your environment when sleeping? Do you wear a sleeping mask or play rain noises? Do you go to sleep at a consistent time each night? Do you use your bed for things other than sleep/sex? 2) If you record audio of yourself sleeping, do you snore loudly or stop breathing for periods of time followed by sudden snorting or rasping? 3) Do you have low Thyroid Stimulating…

What are these symptoms an indication of?

1 reads like general guidance for dealing with insomnia. If you only, for instance, sleep and have sex in your bed, then when you go to bed it'll tend to put your mind into those states. If you also read and do mentally stimulating things, then it'll be harder to relax the mind for sleep.

2 is sleep apnea.

3 is hypothyroidism (a common enough condition with symptoms of lethargy, apathy, depression among others).

4 I don't know.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#53
Walking one hour a day is very good at restarting the body functions and having a routine can help immensely for work. So barring any underlying disease, I would start today from scratch and deliver a doable indie project in a week, without resorting to the internet for help. Rinse and repeat with a couple of longer projects in order to become 100% active again in a couple of months. Good luck and no sh*t!

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#54

When you wake up, do you sense you've had vivid dreams? Or do you just have a blank mind and headache? Do your teeth bite together normally? Can you breathe clearly through both sides of your nose throughout the night?

Just curious, what is it to do with breathing clearly through both sides of the nose throughout the night?

See @arrrvalue's comment above.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#55

Medication may ultimately be the answer for you (I know you said you can't go there right now). For me personally, getting the correct medication was literally life changing. That being said, I'd suggest being really, really specific in what you want to accomplish. Forget all the grand plans, just nail down one very small thing you want to get done and post it here (gives accountability) Also post the very first thin…

> Get into a loop of tiny improvements.

Yeah. And also you should also evaluate the progress so that you can do it even faster and more accurate next time. That's how you stand out from your competitors.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#57

1) Make a plan, any plan. A bad plan is worth more than no plan. So do it. 2) Go to sleep and wake-up at the same time everyday. 3) Get out of the house 4) Spend a few buxs to take a community college class. This will force you to take action and get a kickstart. 5) Get professional help.

++ Make a plan. I write todos on a legal pad of the next n things I need to code. I use pencil and I gloriously cross them out using a red pencil when complete. It's a gamification strategy that keeps me engaged in my work.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#58
post #55

Medication may ultimately be the answer for you (I know you said you can't go there right now). For me personally, getting the correct medication was literally life changing. That being said, I'd suggest being really, really specific in what you want to accomplish. Forget all the grand plans, just nail down one very small thing you want to get done and post it here (gives accountability) Also post the very first thin…

> Get into a loop of tiny improvements. Yeah. And also you should also evaluate the progress so that you can do it even faster and more accurate next time. That's how you stand out from your competitors.

I think the point of the advice was not higher performance, but to get out of the destructive non-functional loop.

If anything, I think concentrating on performance and competition can make it worse.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?

#60

My first guess is inflammation of the microglia. Try a combination of galantamine and ibudilast twice daily, and avoid all gluten. If the brain fog doesn't lift, my diagnosis was wrong and you are no worse for it. If my diagnosis was right, it should make a very marked and phenomenologically obvious subjective difference.

Before seeking these prescriptions, please be evaluated by a sleep lab (diagnostic overnight polysomnogram) to rule out obstructive sleep apnea.
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