25 ms·

Yes, my greatest lament about life is that “brain juice” appears to be a limited resource

by jkhdigital 6y ago

barkingcat 6y ago
maybe replenish "brain juice" by drinking it from another brain?
- thih9 6y ago
  If you're into that kind of metaphors, you may like the game 'Carrion'; warning, lots of pixel blood. It launched not long ago and does a great job in creating an 80s horror atmosphere. At the same time it's a relatively easy metroidvania platformer, so I find it a genuinely good activity to recover "brain juice" after coding.
  - pm90 6y ago
    Thank you for recommending this. I just bought the game and I’m most certainly going to be spending a few weekends on this : )
hutzlibu 6y ago
But I believe, there are different types of "brain juice". I run out of the one required for nasty bug finding, very soon, but when that one is gone (and after a short break to clear the mind) I can go on creating new code/architecture for hours.
- jkhdigital 6y ago
  I didn’t really see these nuances until I was diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed stimulant medication. It basically gives me a large tank of “rainbow juice” that works for any task and lasts 4-6 hours. Going back to the parent comment, one remarkable effect of this is that I rarely desire to play video games like I used to. It seemed like I always had enough juice for video games but rarely for other life obligations, but with the rainbow juice I am just as motivated to do all that other stuff as I am to play video games.
  - felbane 6y ago
    I see comments like this and seriously start to wonder if I'm an almost 40 year old man with undiagnosed ADHD. If only my insurance covered mental health...
    - nouveaux 6y ago
      There are online tests you can take. If you score high enough, its worth the few hundred dollars to get an official diagnoses. This is coming from someone who was diagnosed ADHD as an adult.
    - boringg 6y ago
      I feel the same way!
  - Aaronstotle 6y ago
    Seeing this comment makes me think that I should consider talking to a doctor about ADHD. I can't even focus on playing a video game for more than 30 minutes most of the time.
  - hutzlibu 6y ago
    I would not feel comfortable needing a drug to be productive. I do struggle a lot at times with focus, but I rather try to balance it with good and healthy livestyle. Lots of sleep. Exercise, meditation .. But I have a toddler boy, who can mess with sleep and rhythm a lot, so having the possibility of a "rainbow juice" is definitely tempting. Have you noticed bad side effects? Do you allways take ritalin(?) for work? Or just on special occacions?
    - jjj1232 6y ago
      I’m probably on a very similar drug to OP. I take it monday-friday. Common side effects of ADHD drugs are loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and increased heart rate. It basically puts you into fight or flight mode for 6 hours a day. More blood to your brain + muscles, less to everything else (digestion, immune system for example). One weird thing about it is the first few times you take it you’ll get a feeling of euphoria, like you’re on cocaine. This is _not_ the way the drug is supposed to feel, it goes away if you stick with the same dose for a while. Some people keep going up because they think the euphoria is part of it, and that’s really dangerous. It really does work incredibly well for me. Especially for programming, where you’re most productive when you’re not pulled out of a flow state. I went from a B average to straight A’s when I started taking it in college. It made it so easy to oranize my schedule, I just worked/studied from 8-6 every day. No late nights, no procrastination. Personally, I have no feeling of withdrawal when I go off of it for weeks at a time. Though I have developed a bit of a psychological dependency around work, where I kind of tell myself I won’t work well without it, which becomes self-fulfilling. It’s not all good, not all bad. Hopefully this helps!
dentemple 6y ago
Sometimes referred to as Spoon Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory
joquarky 6y ago
We've been calling it mana among my group.
- dwighttk 6y ago
  What is it?
  - kortex 6y ago
    I'd tell you all about it, but I'm currently all out of it ;) Look into Ego Depletion. There's academic disagreement over just how "consumable" willpower is. My assessment of SOTA is: - ego/willpower is finite/depletable - Most people have more or less the same amount of it as the average. People with "more willpower" typically are more efficient with it - non-neurotypicals and those that "don't fit in society" (ADHD, ASD, bipolar, trans, nonbinary, anxiety, OCD) often spend much willpower on "passing" - it's linked to everything from blood sugar levels, insulin levels, brain blood flow, dopamine levels, D1/D2 activation ratios, and probably gut microbiome
DC-3 6y ago
It helps to balance out the stress on different faculties. If you write code for 14 hours a day you're gonna burnout but if you balance a variety of activities it is possible to be very productive while not feeling exhausted.
CyberDildonics 6y ago
Emotional, mental and physical energy are all limited resources.

Yes, my greatest lament about life is that “brain juice” appears to be a limited resource

barkingcat 6y ago

maybe replenish "brain juice" by drinking it from another brain?

thih9 6y ago
If you're into that kind of metaphors, you may like the game 'Carrion'; warning, lots of pixel blood. It launched not long ago and does a great job in creating an 80s horror atmosphere. At the same time it's a relatively easy metroidvania platformer, so I find it a genuinely good activity to recover "brain juice" after coding.
- pm90 6y ago
  Thank you for recommending this. I just bought the game and I’m most certainly going to be spending a few weekends on this : )

hutzlibu 6y ago

But I believe, there are different types of "brain juice". I run out of the one required for nasty bug finding, very soon, but when that one is gone (and after a short break to clear the mind) I can go on creating new code/architecture for hours.

jkhdigital 6y ago
I didn’t really see these nuances until I was diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed stimulant medication. It basically gives me a large tank of “rainbow juice” that works for any task and lasts 4-6 hours. Going back to the parent comment, one remarkable effect of this is that I rarely desire to play video games like I used to. It seemed like I always had enough juice for video games but rarely for other life obligations, but with the rainbow juice I am just as motivated to do all that other stuff as I am to play video games.
- felbane 6y ago
  I see comments like this and seriously start to wonder if I'm an almost 40 year old man with undiagnosed ADHD. If only my insurance covered mental health...
  - nouveaux 6y ago
    There are online tests you can take. If you score high enough, its worth the few hundred dollars to get an official diagnoses. This is coming from someone who was diagnosed ADHD as an adult.
  - boringg 6y ago
    I feel the same way!
- Aaronstotle 6y ago
  Seeing this comment makes me think that I should consider talking to a doctor about ADHD. I can't even focus on playing a video game for more than 30 minutes most of the time.
- hutzlibu 6y ago
  I would not feel comfortable needing a drug to be productive. I do struggle a lot at times with focus, but I rather try to balance it with good and healthy livestyle. Lots of sleep. Exercise, meditation .. But I have a toddler boy, who can mess with sleep and rhythm a lot, so having the possibility of a "rainbow juice" is definitely tempting. Have you noticed bad side effects? Do you allways take ritalin(?) for work? Or just on special occacions?
  - jjj1232 6y ago
    I’m probably on a very similar drug to OP. I take it monday-friday. Common side effects of ADHD drugs are loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and increased heart rate. It basically puts you into fight or flight mode for 6 hours a day. More blood to your brain + muscles, less to everything else (digestion, immune system for example). One weird thing about it is the first few times you take it you’ll get a feeling of euphoria, like you’re on cocaine. This is _not_ the way the drug is supposed to feel, it goes away if you stick with the same dose for a while. Some people keep going up because they think the euphoria is part of it, and that’s really dangerous. It really does work incredibly well for me. Especially for programming, where you’re most productive when you’re not pulled out of a flow state. I went from a B average to straight A’s when I started taking it in college. It made it so easy to oranize my schedule, I just worked/studied from 8-6 every day. No late nights, no procrastination. Personally, I have no feeling of withdrawal when I go off of it for weeks at a time. Though I have developed a bit of a psychological dependency around work, where I kind of tell myself I won’t work well without it, which becomes self-fulfilling. It’s not all good, not all bad. Hopefully this helps!

dentemple 6y ago

Sometimes referred to as Spoon Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory

joquarky 6y ago

We've been calling it mana among my group.

dwighttk 6y ago
What is it?
- kortex 6y ago
  I'd tell you all about it, but I'm currently all out of it ;) Look into Ego Depletion. There's academic disagreement over just how "consumable" willpower is. My assessment of SOTA is: - ego/willpower is finite/depletable - Most people have more or less the same amount of it as the average. People with "more willpower" typically are more efficient with it - non-neurotypicals and those that "don't fit in society" (ADHD, ASD, bipolar, trans, nonbinary, anxiety, OCD) often spend much willpower on "passing" - it's linked to everything from blood sugar levels, insulin levels, brain blood flow, dopamine levels, D1/D2 activation ratios, and probably gut microbiome

DC-3 6y ago

It helps to balance out the stress on different faculties. If you write code for 14 hours a day you're gonna burnout but if you balance a variety of activities it is possible to be very productive while not feeling exhausted.

CyberDildonics 6y ago

Emotional, mental and physical energy are all limited resources.