Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder. • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#141

Post by surume » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 2:57 PM UTC

I hear you, and I've definitely felt it myself, although not sure I'd jump straight to cognitive decline. Sounds more like a bad case of brain fog, which is a known thing.

Maybe there were stresses on your body that youth simply helped you handle better until now.

A few quick questions: do you exercise regularly, and specifically, do you go jogging or running? That usually helps a lot.

For me, it was more a case of high blood sugars and poor diet. My head cleared up a lot once I fixed those.

Here's an old favorite of mine: https://youtu.be/7H7id3to1cg

Other tips: intermittent fasting, get rid of dairy / other allergens.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#142

Post by markbnj » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

Programming requires deep thought and concentration. Are you sure the issue isn't simple distraction? I'm 62 and I feel like the major thing that has changed in 35 years for me is the crazy amount of unrelated things (youtube, HN, phone notifications, you name it) constantly competing for my attention. When I was in my 20's I would literally sit in near-silence working for 10-12 hours at a time. Nothing would interrupt or distract me. Of course the Internet has also tremendously empowered engineers by putting a wealth of information at our fingertips, so it's a prototypical dual-edged bladed weapon.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#143

Post by javier2 » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

twowatches wrote: post #135

It's social media that has turned our brains into mincemeat. I can't concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes anymore. I'm definitely worse at coding than I was 10 years ago.

Yeah, I am actually feeling this a little bit. Five years ago I could still focus properly. It is already way harder I find. Though another part is that I am way more aware of things I do not know, so I get caught in decision paralysis because of things I do know will break, and because of things I did not know of.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#144

Post by twoquestions » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

gritcrit wrote: post #105

I don't know much about your physical state. So, let me just put out some generic advice. 1. Enough quality sleep. 2. Exercises that involves your legs. Somehow leg muscles help the heart to pump the blood back up, keep enough pressure and circulation in your brain. I'm 35 and I've already experienced the benefit of those 2 and the negative impact of lack of those 2. Maybe you could be just rusty about that kind of c…

Was going to post this. I become a foggy-headed moron when I don't do these things, and I'm plenty sharp when I do.

My area is blessed with parks and cool places to go for a walk, I hope you and OP have something similar.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#145

Post by smnscu » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

Only writing this because I didn't find anyone else referencing it, but I'd also check for some sort of a deficiency. It turns out that I was severely vitamin D deficient, as soon as I started taking it daily all my long-term health problems (including mental fog and memory issues) pretty much disappeared.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#146

Post by flippinburgers » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

I would take a moment to consider what kind of "progress" the other developers are actually having. Deep layers in api calls indicate to me that the original author was either 1. too "clever" or 2. not good at their job. The number of programmers who do way, way too much vastly outnumber the number of programmers who get the job done correctly and succinctly in my experience.

Give yourself some breathing room and try to move the code towards something simpler. Find some business logic level mental hooks upon which you can take bites out of the existing implementation.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#147

Post by cap_hindsight » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

As we age our bodies change.

Try working for 3 weeks without alcohol or coffee intake and see if that makes a difference. Then slowly reapply.

Its not that the older engine is broken but it does require different maintenance.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#148

Post by miqueturner » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

I see several people have mentioned "see a doctor", but I will repeat it. This past year I was diagnosed with a B-12 vitamin deficiency. Now, a year later, my job is much easier than it was then.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#149

Post by SnaggyJoker » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #134

jb1991 wrote: post #17

I don't know you personally but I doubt cognitive decline has anything to do with this. As we age, we usually end up with more and more life responsibilities, beyond just the work we are doing. All of that is input to the brain and requires energy in response. The brain is not infinite. I often feel as you do, but then I have periods where I am as light and agile in my productivity as 20 years ago, maybe even more so…

> As we age, we usually end up with more and more life responsibilities As somebody who far away from 40, how is one supposed to "look forward" to getting older given this likelihood?

Pretty sure nobody looks forward to getting older except for the young.

People plan towards retirement which is usually just looking forwards to not having to work anymore.

People look forward to having children and grand children.

I don't know anyone who looks forward to getting older except for the young.

Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.

#150

Post by bqmjjx0kac » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

dkarl wrote: post #93

cr3ative wrote: post #8

Sounds like you've identified your problem with the task - you can't hold the entire state of the problem in your head all at once, but maybe you would have been able to in the past. This seems like something you can overcome. Have you tried writing these function calls out as a flow on a piece of paper, or in a flow chart, document, something like that? A reference which you draw to be able to tell where you are the…

Charles Simonyi said: "It’s probably just that aging changes your mode of thinking. Right now, I have to really concentrate and I might even get a headache just trying to imagine something clearly and distinctly with twenty or thirty components. When I was young, I could imagine a castle with twenty rooms with each room having ten different objects in it. I would have no problem. I can’t do that anymore. Now I think…

Thanks in part to ADHD, I'm sure, I have severe tunnel vision while reading and writing code. I need to constantly diagram, take notes, and walk through call stacks (and re-walk) just to maintain my mental model.

I am insanely jealous of people who can keep everything in their head. Maybe there's a silver lining in that my methods are more resistant to brain-busting situations, depression, cognitive decline, etc., but I'm not sure that I'm convinced.