Infection inflicts a persistent decrease in IQ: study with 180,000 participants • Hacker News Board

Re: Infection inflicts a persistent decrease in IQ: study with 180,000 participants

#61

Post by codexjourneys » Mon, May 25, 2015, 10:45 PM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #5

farresito wrote: post #3

This sort of news really scare me. Your brain defines who you are and what capabilities you have, and damaging it can completely change you. The brain is very responsible for a big part of your success and losing it can have a big impact in your life.

Cognitive decline happens whether you like it or not, I'm afraid to say. I've hit my early 30s and I've started noticing that I'm far more prone to inappropriately replaced words, can't memorise long strings of digits as well as I used to be able to, and so-forth.

I've noticed a decline in memorization capability in my 30s too, and it sometimes takes a little while to remember small details like what I just ate. It's offset by an increase in my ability to make connections between different topics and ideas.

On balance, I'd choose the connection-making brain over the raw-power brain.

Re: Infection inflicts a persistent decrease in IQ: study with 180,000 participants

#62

Post by madaxe_again » Mon, May 25, 2015, 11:08 PM UTC

Udo wrote: post #26

madaxe_again wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cognitive decline happens whether you like it or not, I'm afraid to say. I've hit my early 30s and I've started noticing that I'm far more prone to inappropriately replaced words, can't memorise long strings of digits as well as I used to be able to, and so-forth.

That's way too early in life for signs of cognitive decline. Are you challenging yourself enough? Do you get adequate and deep rest? Are you preoccupied or depressed? Are you keeping yourself healthy? I know, these are personal (and maybe somewhat condescending-sounding) questions - but they're just examples for things that can impact your mental performance. Generally, the body's ability to take punishment starts to…

Oh, my overall cognition is fine, as far as I can internally assess, and no, I get nowhere near as much sleep as I should, which probably accounts for more than I grant. As to challenge - plenty of it.

It's really rather more associative fuckups, as someone else in the thread describes - even if I have the right word in my head, my hands may type something utterly different, which usually starts with the same letter and relates to what I was after, but differs.

As to memorisation - I'm talking having gone from being able to indefinitely retain 20+ digit strings on first sight to maybe half that, and often finding I've switched a digit.

As you say, sleep is probably a major component in this, and I can't recall sleeping more than a few consecutive hours in years - usually manage six hours of restless sleep before throwing the towel in and getting back to doing whatever it was I was doing when I nodded off. Can't bear to spend time just lying there. There's too much to do.

Re: Infection inflicts a persistent decrease in IQ: study with 180,000 participants

#63

Post by madaxe_again » Mon, May 25, 2015, 11:15 PM UTC

Elrac wrote: post #38

jacquesm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've hit my early 30s and I've started noticing that I'm far more prone to inappropriately replaced words, Is this an example of that? Did you mean 'placed' or do I mis-understand you?

Not the guy you're asking, but I recently said "portico" when I meant to say "patio." I mixed up the two words because they both start with a P and have something to do with architecture. I think this is the kind of thing he meant by "replacement," and it's been happening to me (55) more frequently in recent years.

Yup, precisely this. I'm inclined to think it may be more sleep deprivation driven than anything else, as I find myself doing it intermittently - and the odd thing is I'll proof what I've written thrice and I'll still mis-read incorrect words as what I had intended rather than what I wrote.

Definitely didn't do this in the past, I find it disquieting, but it's hardly insurmountable!

Re: Infection inflicts a persistent decrease in IQ: study with 180,000 participants

#64

Post by leeleelee » Tue, May 26, 2015, 5:12 AM UTC

pdabbadabba wrote: post #58

leeleelee wrote: post #56

This is a premature conclusion. There was no measurement of IQ before and after infection, so no such conclusion can be made. There could be other, unknown, factors that happen to affect BOTH: a person's IQ and their likelihood to be infected, along with severity of infection. For example some genetic, environmental, or other variable that affects your IQ as well as infection-resistance. It very well might be true, t…

The title of the article is, in fact "The Association between Infections and General Cognitive Ability in Young Men - A Nationwide Study." And as others have pointed out elsewhere, the authors controlled for some (though not every) conceivable common causes of infection and reduced IQ. Though, as a criticism of the author of the blog post , I would agree with your comment.

Ah, you are correct. I missed that.