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

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

#371

Post by timeuser »

LastTrain wrote: post #37
jb1991 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, our standards improve as we age. I wrote a lot of high-energy seemingly clever code when I was younger, but it was nonsense and terrible to read. Now I would not allow myself such indulgence, and so I work differently, maybe at times more slowly, and it might seem this is due to less abilities, but actually it is due to wiser experience.

It turns out the same dynamic is at play with songwriting - your standards get higher, what seemed novel when you were 20 now seems boring. I’m sure it is the same across disciplines. The irony is, it kills creativity.

That definitely matches my experience. I spend so much more time re-writing existing songs than I did when I was younger. It used to be almost entirely creating new material and moving on to create more. I wonder how much is my standards have gone up or lack of novelty in general as opposed to how much I've become attached to some of what I've created and feel it is worth polishing. Some of both I think.

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

#373

Post by positivejam »

With the number of comments on this post, I doubt anyone will read this, much less the OP, but I feel compelled to say:

GO TO THE FUCKING DOCTOR!!!

If you're noticing something wrong or different with your body, go to the doctor to rule out something medical. Then continue your investigation. A doctor wouldn't try to diagnose you based on what you've written in your original post, so I wouldn't weight too heavily the opinions of a bunch of NON-DOCTORS with zero skin in the game.

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

#374

Post by jghn »

hagmonk wrote: post #275
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…

Sharing my own anecdata: my Oura ring shows that on days I drink, RHR is 10bpm higher and HRV about 15ms lower. Exercise has a huge impact on sleep quality too. My theory is that when you're young, your body has a much wider margin for error. A few drinks or sloppy exercise routines never seemed to impact my work. As I've aged, the margin has shrunk, and now there's a measurable effect that I can no longer ignore. Ag…

My having an Apple Watch opened my eyes on how much alcohol affects my sleep, and thus everything else. Even as little as a single drink can have a disruptive effect that night. A real bender might take a couple of days for the effects to completely wear off.

Last year for unrelated reasons I wound up not drinking at all for a few weeks. All of my heart & sleep metrics were improved by large amounts. When I zoom out for the full year view it's obvious immediately when that was in the aggregate data.

In terms of how this knowledge affects my behavior? I'll still tie one on at about the same frequency. But the casual "sure why not, I'll have a beer" is gone. Whenever I'm about to consume alcohol I think about if the amount of enjoyment I'll be receiving is worth the downside & act accordingly.

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

#375

Post by arcturus17 »

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.

My energy levels drop drastically when I'm doing too much "high velocity media" or bottomless wells, be it Reddit, regular news, tv shows, movies, games, etc.

I think it fries your dopamine and other neurological circuits. I don't know the science in depth but I have seen enough anecdotal evidence on myself and others to be persuaded that the relationship is huge.

Do a screen fast for a couple of weeks and check out what happens.

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

#376

Post by theFco »

spoonfeeder006 wrote: post #336
mensetmanusman wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe centuries from now we will be able to replace movement with a bunch of chemicals that confuse the muscles to think they moved, but movement actually causes a lot of hydraulic pumping effects throughout the lymphatic system that physically diffuses toxins into a waste stream. It’s probably not possible from a physics standpoint to replace motion induced pumping/diffusion with pure chemistry.

You don't necessarily want to mimick muscles moving, but rather the brain effects of said muscles moving Its possibly people may isolate the two effects separately

I suspect the brain alone cannot do it. At a some point the chemistry needs to happen, and it has to be in the right place (so the physics of moving liquids inside your body is also required).

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

#378

Post by Existenceblinks »

tablatom wrote: post #81
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…

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…

Energy yes, and focus. When an interest is lost, it's harder to focus. Like why the hell would I still have to write this algorithm, it would be exciting when I was younger, now it's meh lets find out if there's a lib for this. And then every piece of software is garbage through lens of experience .. why would I write software at all .. of course because I need a job and money. Now I may think I'm not sharp as my young self.

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

#380

Post by ljm »

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…

I have my problems with burnout and depression and this usually leads to phases where I am hyper productive and can effortlessly take on any challenge, and then the opposite phase where I feel completely incapable and end up overthinking everything.

Even without burnout, sometimes a problem doesn’t motivate you and therefore you don’t really feel like solving it when there are other things that seem more interesting or more practical.

Either case, once the down period starts it’s a good signal to take some time off and get your head out of it.

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