Ask HN: How do you deal with brain fog? Does coding give you brain fog?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18960945

by quotz • 8 years ago

10 21 8 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

If I spend more than an hour deeply focusing on something I get massive brain fog. Its very debilitating and its preventing me from doing any important studies/work.

Have you had something like this?

taylodl3• 8 years ago

What do you mean by brain fog? What symptoms are you experiencing?

quotz9• 8 years ago

"It’s a type of cognitive dysfunction involving:

- memory problems - lack of mental clarity - poor concentration - inability to focus

Some people also describe it as mental fatigue. Depending on the severity of brain fog, it can interfere with work or school. But it doesn't have to be a permanent fixture in your life"

taylodl3• 8 years ago

How long does the fog take to clear? Is it possible to do higher cognitive work until the fog sets in and then do more menial work until the fog clears? What kind of cycle time would that be?

AnimalMuppet3• 8 years ago

Go look out the window for 15 minutes. It can literally be the most productive thing you can do right then.

quotz9• 8 years ago

exercise helps, meditation too, but its just a short term solution. It always comes back

AnimalMuppet3• 8 years ago

Sure. But if you get another hour out of it, then go look out the window for 15 minutes again.

You may have an extreme case, but very few of us can beat our brains against something for eight hours straight every day.

franky47• 8 years ago

I usually get it when things start to go out of hands (unexpected errors or input, distractions from many external factors etc).

Things that help in my case include: deep breath (mini-meditation), going out for a walk , playing an instrument (not actively practicing, but rather laying my hands on the piano keys and let the subconscious take the wheel).

Things that definitely do not help: eating (in these moments I have zero self control and would pick unhealthy food which would make things worse) and attention-seeking distractions (social network feeds, mindlessly scrolling infinite lists of questionable content).

takeshi_w• 8 years ago

I'd suggest trying hunger over a weekend. But please be careful with it.

I've tried it several times and want to do it more. I fasted for 2 days max. It is like hangover upside down. You feel terrible for 2 days. But once you start eating again, you feel like a newborn.

Google on Evernote Ex-CEO Phil Libin's experience. Again, please be careful. Read on the process of quitting hunger first.

Be healthy!

malux85• 8 years ago

It might be your breathing. Stand up, breathe deep and get a bit of oxygenated blood flowing to your brain. Go up and down a few flights of stairs if you can.

I find if I focus for an hour or so my breathing gets shallow and it was pushing my blood pressure up, and giving me brain fog. A quick bit if exercise (chores work for me because I work from home) fixes it up

dreix• 7 years ago

Funny that you're asking on HN of all places. My wife has it after she had a stroke a few years back. The neurologist doesn't know what she's talking about. For her exercising helps and is the only cure. During the summer some time ont the trampoline will do too but that's basically exercise when done right. So she spends time at the gym like five days a week. It's time consuming and extremely annoying to her but it works. Skipping the gym is a waste of time for her because then she can't get things done. I'm glad you asked. Apparently 'brain fog' is a common term.

quotz9• 7 years ago

I hope shes well! Exercise helps me too, quite a lot in fact. Most knowledgeable doctors know about brain fog. My neuro didnt know anything about it. Has she tested for anything that turned out peculiar?

Ask HN: How do you deal with brain fog? Does coding give you brain fog?

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