Ask HN: How can I get over my lethargy, lack of focus, and other problems?
Again, it's not that I'm not interested in it. Most of the time, I just have this insurmountable mental block. I don't know if it's depression, or what, but it's not merely a lack of energy. Many days I can barely even read; my brain just won't process the words on the page, or on the screen. The occasional, completely random good days I have are marked not only by energy, but mental clarity. Most of the time there's like an ugly fog hanging over my head. When that fog isn't there I'm a twenty-five year old version of that curious eight year old hacker, but when it's there I just stare at the wall.
I've tried all kinds of things, except professional help, which I can't really do right now because of reasons: vitamins, caffeine, no caffeine, exercise, meditation, not eating carbs, getting more sunlight. None of it works. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction?
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[ 17.9 ms ] story [ 620 ms ] threadIt sounds like you have a proactive attitude about solving your problem and you've reached the limit of self care or amateur care. I really encourage you to see a professional.
2) If you record audio of yourself sleeping, do you snore loudly or stop breathing for periods of time followed by sudden snorting or rasping?
3) Do you have low Thyroid Stimulating Hormone levels?
4) Do you have recurrent nosebleeds or red spots on your skin?
2 is sleep apnea.
3 is hypothyroidism (a common enough condition with symptoms of lethargy, apathy, depression among others).
4 I don't know.
I am just assuming but perhaps you didn't try some of these long enough? I have read somewhere that it takes at least six months before benefits of meditation are appear. Probably same thing with exercise or vitamins too.
I had run into focus issues too, went to doctor and described it just like how you are describing. He told me to take vitamin D. And then recommended to take ADHD test & lift heavy (to increase testosterone as I was on low end). Only thing, I really did semi-consistently is taking Vitamin D almost daily. I do seem to have better focus now, but still it could be improved a lot.
2) Go to sleep and wake-up at the same time everyday.
3) Get out of the house
4) Spend a few buxs to take a community college class. This will force you to take action and get a kickstart.
5) Get professional help.
For the energy part, a lot of comes from personal determination. For me I'd say programming always feels a bit tedious and boring coming back after a proper vacation =). What helps is of course gym and socializing about coding the right amount. It comes easier after you've established a routine and have a distinct goal to work on. But yeah doing it all by yourself might be too much, for me it was at least (and still at times is). Not knowing what to do was the hard part, after getting to know the basics you kinda free yourself to do whatever you want after which it's all about determination to do it.
And if it's depression well that's a different matter entirely. I hope not, it's a shitty place to be in. If you can get a free assessment at psychologist that would probably be a good idea. In that case getting around other people might be the thing. Exercise also is very important. Also only studying CS might not be then the best thing to do, a creative hobby might serve as a better outlet and help you get energized with the coding.
Can I ask what you're about to build? I can help you get started if it's something webby like eg. React/Nodejs. You should setup yourself a taskboard like Trello and start making tasks that are not too overwhelming and have them in for example sections like: User stories (abstract goals for what you are about to build: 'As a user I want to be able to log in' etc), Backlog (tasks, such as 'Create a React component for rendering log in form' or 'Study React course x'), Bugs, Done but untested, Tested, Merged and deployed. That should get you started for professionalish style of development.
Do something else that excites you.
If nothing excites you, go for a long drive somewhere to an interesting place, don't even plan it too much, just go somewhere new.
Also, read up on sick building syndrome, regional air quality issues, etc.
But first you need to pinpoint a cause. You can't just randomly try health tricks and hope they will work. If you don't know why you are lethargic and lack focus, you can't fix it by randomly throwing darts at the health dartboard with your eyes closed, so to speak.
There is a lot more to it than that, but it is a place to start, which is all I am really hoping to give this person. I have spent a lot of time resolving my own health issues, and it started with finally getting the right diagnosis. Then I spent a lot of time on alternative med lists and pursuing a diet and lifestyle approach and blah blah blah. I could say tons more on this topic, but I tend to treat lightly, in part because that often gets ugly reactions. I actually know a lot about this space, but it is not a space that is easy to discuss on HN and it is a space rife with pitfalls. I pursued carefully researched options, but there are genuinely a lot of nightmarish stories about people who were desperate and did things like fly to third world countries to get stem cell treatments or whatever and ended up seriously screwed over by it. So it's a hard thing to talk about at all. It is very hard to put out solid information on this type approach and doing so risks getting one lumped in with charlatans and the like.
Do your teeth bite together normally? Can you breathe clearly through both sides of your nose throughout the night?
Worth evaluating.
If paired with some other symptoms like bone pain, insomnia &c, I'd recommend trying out living on no wheat, lactose &c. for some days and note if the mental fog goes away. If it does => doctor. If it doesn't => doctor anyway, since it seems you do have some allergy related condition.
This is anecdote, not data. Your mileage may vary...
What vitamins have you tried, at what dosages?
Does caffeine have any effect on you whatsoever?
If you drink a cup of tea right before bed, do you lose a night of sleep?
What habitual pattern did you maintain with 'exercise' and 'meditation' and for how long?
How soon during the day do you know it'll be an energy or a foggy day?
Can you read fiction on the foggy days? Non-fiction? Arxiv papers?
Do you consume added sugar in your everyday diet? Artificial sweeteners? "0g sugar, 20g fruit juice sugars" sweeteners (I'm looking at you, Whole Foods)?
Do you drink sweetened soda – sugar, fructose, glucose, fruit juice, all artificial sweeteners, cactus juice, what the fuck ever is new this year? (If so, stop. Quit smoking cigarettes, stop drinking diluted sweetener, and get some exercise, or else you'll die of problems worse than feeling foggy!)
Do you snooze your alarm?
Have you researched the ebb and flow of cortisol throughout the day, beginning at wakeup?
What happens if you drink a half cup of 100% fruit juice (NOT orange, pineapple, or papaya!) the instant your eyes open?
How does a steak breakfast make you feel for the rest of the day? Or a steak dinner, the next morning?
Do you eat one large meal, two small meals, and some snacks each day? Do you eat around the same time every day? Do you eat every day at all?
Do you suffer weird problems that could be loosely classified as 'inflamed' or similar? Allergies, recurring ear-nose-threat issues, joint or muscle issues, etc.
EDIT: Also, each question might be coincidentally 'yes' or 'no' and not meaningful. Consider them 'avenues of investigations', not 'the answer to life, the universe, and everything'. But if eating a steak breakfast makes you happy every day, it's critical to know how to soften cheap steak with salt and time, because you'll be eating a lot steak until you figure out what the actual deal is :)
1. Set a goal or two for your week on Monday. 2. Then each morning over coffee each day, list out a few tasks (max of six, but even two or three is ok) that help you progress towards those weekly goals. 3. Do them one at a time, in order of priority. (If you still feel you can't take these on, break them down into smaller tasks if you can)
This isn't obvious because the rigor of fixed sleep/wake times is harsh on modern souls. You have to go lay in the bed in the dark and quiet at the same time (or sunset +/- fixed interval) each night, with your phone screen down, DND'd, and charging. If you like to read at night, you may be able to prepend bed with reading as long as you always begin at the same time, and in the same place, and especially with the same lighting.
This stuff isn't guaranteed to work without more investigation along cortisol and circadian lines, but it appears to work by default for something like 50-80% of humanity, so you might be one of the lucky ones.
That being said, I'd suggest being really, really specific in what you want to accomplish. Forget all the grand plans, just nail down one very small thing you want to get done and post it here (gives accountability) Also post the very first thing you need to do to get started on that thing. It may be something as simple as "open up my IDE on my laptop and create class Foo"
Get into a loop of tiny improvements. Make each loop only take a few seconds. If you are making a web page, get the simplest possible page up and running and then add just one more tiny thing to it and refresh the page. If it's something you can't see, create the simplest possible unit test and then code against that.
When you have so much stuff you want to accomplish, it feels overwhelming and distracting. Boil it down to one thing, anything, and start there. The same approach works for all kinds of stuff by the way - writing a novel? Just open your saved draft and add a single sentence. Exercising? Do nothing but put your running shoes on and step outside, even if you come back in right away. Trying to mentally plan the entire thing in advance is exhausting so don't do it, only do the simplest thing that you can possibly do to start - usually it's enough to do one more extremely simple thing, and another, but don't get ahead of yourself - you don't need to worry about any of that stuff right now, only the very first step.
Yeah. And also you should also evaluate the progress so that you can do it even faster and more accurate next time. That's how you stand out from your competitors.
If anything, I think concentrating on performance and competition can make it worse.
Also, seek out a mentor, coach, or someone to be accountable to. This will help keep you on track.
If the short term things don't work, I agree with other people's suggestion about journaling. Taking stock of your daily condition might provide clues, and at least gives you the feeling of doing something to take control.
The solutions you're talking about are good ones, but have you stuck with all of those? Sometimes these things take weeks or months to really kick in and help mood. Even most medications take a while. Give yourself some patience. And stick with the exercise, good diet, and routines - they certainly aren't hurting you!
Also you probably know this but coffee and alcohol don't hydrate very well. I used to think I was getting plenty of water, but as it was mostly coffee and the occasional after work beer, I wasn't really.
You didn't mention a job; do you have one? Or any other kind of structure to your day? I'm a fairly introverted person who likes to think himself above extrisnic rewards, but my life (both during, and outside of work) was never so focused and purpose-driven than when I had a job (news reporting) that imposed daily, hard deadlines. Moving to jobs where deadlines were measured in weeks or months had a somewhat detrimental effect on my ability to focus.
Often, it's more complicated than we think. Probably a combination. And it's very hard to define the problem by yourself. The mind is not very reliable and like to play dirty tricks on us.
By talking enough about it, and receiving expert feedback, you somehow learn more about yourself. You're able to see the problems more clearly.
One thing which is impossible is to have a 25-year old version of a 8-year old hacker. A 8-year old has infinite time and no worries. At 25 conscious or unconscious worries about where your life is going may be holding you back. Integrating hacking into a realistic life plan that can fulfill your other needs might help free up your mind.