Are you overweight? Are you taking any medication? Both of these can affect your cognition.
Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
201–210 of 534 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#202I 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…
big +1 to all this. Also if OP had COVID, check for long COVID symptoms of other kinds, incl cognitive issues with non-programming tasks.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#20347 years old here, programming daily. I think what we have to deal with is not just cognitive decline, but more importantly cognitive overload. People in their 40s usually juggle lots of responsibilities, especially if they have a family. At this age you normally also have earned some money, and if you start buying things like a summer house or an apartment for renting out, those things come with maintenance tasks. T…
> I can follow the entire path of a call and keep it all on screen.
This seems like a particularly helpful suggestion, both for the original context of the question, but also something I'm likely to use myself. Thanks.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
Those life responsibilities are not mandatory unavoidable things. They're choices. Such as: owning property, owning car(s), having children, getting married, getting a mortgage, etc. You can chose to not do any of those things and basically live like you're 20 when you're 80 (in terms of responsibilities).
As someone who has done all the things you listed, my experience is that the grass is always greener on the other side.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#205I am 50, (been programming since I was 12) and I know the feeling, I used to get like a brain fog but have found some solutions that helped me to get rid of that feeling most days. What worked for me:
D-Vitamin supplements, ZMA (Zinc, Magnesium), Enough sleep, No coffeein after 3-4, lifting weights and endurance training (crossfit), eat whole food which you prepare yourself with focus on proteins and fats from animals.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#206When you wake up in the morning do you feel rested? Or are you still tired? Others have already mentioned this but I think it's important to reiterate sleep quality. I learned I was not getting enough oxygen at night due to congestion when I went to the doctor for problems with tiredness and brain fog. Taking nasacort each night before bed completely changed my life.
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Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#207I 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?
Without responsibilities your life has no stakes, and no rewards.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personal anecdote: I'm around the same age as OP and until recently also felt like my thinking was slowing down over the years. I went for many years without an exercise habit. About 5 months ago I started lifting weights. The transformation has defied all my expectations and the biggest unexpected benefit is that my mind has become sharper, faster and more focused. I essentially feel like I've reversed a decade's wo…
I’ve had a very successful similar experience with regard to excercise.
Hmm. Do you think we will ever get a pill to replace exercise?
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#209Sounds 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…
This is good advice. Just a few days ago I randomly stumbled upon a youtube video where someone was using — blast from the past, here — a hunk of green bar line printer paper as a big scratch pad to write on. It made me wonder how I ever got out of that habit. That stuff, when it was ubiquitous, was the best scratch paper ever, and I used to do it all the time when I was young and, one would think, at my cognitive pe…
I would want one of these Etch'n'Sketch but with a pen and some higher resolution. The variant where you pull a lever to reset it.
Whiteboard markers are too wide and I am left handed so I erase as a write.
And using paper makes it feel like I am wasting paper.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
#210I 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…
Personal anecdote: I'm around the same age as OP and until recently also felt like my thinking was slowing down over the years. I went for many years without an exercise habit. About 5 months ago I started lifting weights. The transformation has defied all my expectations and the biggest unexpected benefit is that my mind has become sharper, faster and more focused. I essentially feel like I've reversed a decade's wo…
My girlfriend got sick and now I have a part time caring responsibility that’s mostly about doing chores and errands. I’m in better physical shape now and oddly feel more capable at my engineering job.