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.

#311

Post by bcrosby95 » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:23 PM UTC

ixtli wrote: post #210

safety1st wrote: post #167

Earlier 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…

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.

This happened to me with kids. I've always been a lazy slob who plays video games in their spare time. By my late 30s I was starting to feel like a bag of garbage.

But when I had kids it forced me to move and do things. Now I feel better in my '40s than I did in my '30s.

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

#312

Post by diegoperini » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:23 PM UTC

This may sound entirely irrelevant but certain common diseases that usually show up around middle age cause brain fog, which we usually incorrectly diagnose as "aging". Diabetes is one such disease which highly decreases focus and energy on most people. Luckily, once managed, those effects mostly disappear.

In my case, it was allergies. I discovered that I had gluten allergy (mild) since birth that somehow stayed out of my radar for 28 years. Only after age 28, its side-effects became so apparent that I had to take action, only to find out that it was there all the time.

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

#313

Post by spacemadness » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:23 PM UTC

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…

Yes, let’s not spread around some idea that mental ability declines at 40. That’s just ridiculous and not backed by science. It sure is backed by ageism though.

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

#314

Post by jasfi » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:23 PM UTC

throwoutout wrote: post #300

[deleted]

Lots of good advice in this post. I have just one addition: get a mental math app. Practice each day, this seems to help for some reason, possibly because it relies on using your working memory.

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

#315

Post by rikelmens » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:24 PM UTC

first do these: zone 2 & 3 aerobic exercise, meditation than add these: lions mane, rosemary, common sage tea if adventurous these too: semax, pigs / lamb brains

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

#316

Post by fbnlsr » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:24 PM UTC

Could it be just fatigue? Do you sleep well?

My wife got diagnosed at 42 with sleep apnea, with no prevalent cause (she's not overweight, does not smoke, etc). Turns out it's just her brain that sends the wrong signals to her breathing when she sleeps. It was life changing. She always felt tired and felt like she could not do her job properly. She got a CPAP machine and now she's feeling better than ever.

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

#317

Post by AnEro » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:24 PM UTC

Why not go to a doctor/psych and start getting some blood work done to see if it's a brain fog, mental health or xyz thing? It sounds like you feel like you're loosing your working memory that you had previously, so why not see if good mental health, diet, exercise and professional insight might have. Worst case there you get healthier over all likely increased life expectancy but you're out some time/money

I don't know if this would help, but I'm in my later 20's. I didn't actually know how much my mental health played into how I performed, cause I felt fine. I went to a therapist it turns out I've been *redlining* anxiety most of my life I just got used to constantly operating at that level, and I was wondering why I wasn't getting the performance I thought I could give when doing fun non-stressful environments. It just snuck up and built up over years and that became a normal for me.

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

#318

Post by jwmoz » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:25 PM UTC

38. Sounds like normal dev work, nothing to worry about.

I had to pick up some work using something called OPA open policy agent, horrible. It took 3 senior devs on a call together something like 4 hours and we were all struggling to understand and debug this code. Horrible to work with and understand. It's taken me double the estimated time to work with it.

For your work I'd probably be looking at the requests and responses then trying to fill it all in from there.

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

#319

Post by actinium226 » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:25 PM UTC

HelloMcFly wrote: post #225

obituary_latte wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it though? I often find it's fun to find new and novel ways to create things that are both clear and efficient. Creative problem solving can be leveraged anytime.

I think the problem is you start saying "no" to more things (literally and metaphorically) before you've even worked the idea or given it a shot. This is purely supposition.

I like to think of creativity as out of the box thinking, and as we get older and more experienced, the box grows.

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

#320

Post by CodeWriter23 » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 4:27 PM UTC

mythhouse wrote: post #283

tablatom wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll second this. Based on my own experience (I'm 50) it's all about energy levels. When my energy is high, I can code like I did two decades ago. Probably better. I guess the difference is that in your twenties, energy is almost for free. As you get older, you've got to be smarter about it - all the usual things - diet, exercise, avoiding stress... Not that I'm good about those things - I do OK but not great. Someti…

I had unlimited energy till about 40 and then I hit some sort of cliff. This coincided with covid and being indoors using high velocity media like reddit/insta. I am not sure how much is age and how much is habits that caused this.

Easy enough to test, get off the high velocity media and do normal things like socialize / get out of the house (if you're aren't already) for 2-3 months and see if things change.