20 ms·

Ask HN: At 45, I can't seem to read as well anymore

85 points by meifun 4y ago

Howdy HN Friends, I've gone back to school into a medical degree. However, I am realizing that I have trouble reading well. I used to not have trouble with any topic, but now I have to re-read text several times, I have to take a ton of notes (40+ pages per chapter), I am skipping lines and transposing characters. I went to a specialist for academic learning and they did a battery of tests and told me my reading level is very low and were surprised I am even in a medical program. I went to a development/behavioral ophthalmologist and they prescribed new lenses and cognitive eye therapy. The lenses seem to help but the eye therapy isn't. I am at risk of needing to withdrawal. Perhaps pausing this education is the best thing while I get this under control, but I don't see a path to start on. Any advice? Edit: I have talked with my advisor and instructors and they don't have advice except to seek more help, ask even more questions. Edit 2: Taking no meds for the last 9 months, never had Covid, my PCP referred me to the development/behavioral ophthalmologist. Edit 3: no alcohol, no drugs, no ADHD medications.

odysseus 4y ago
One thing you might try is reading aloud. Ref: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200917-the-surprising-power-of-reading-aloud https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200917-the-surprising-p... I find this really helps me both focus and retain what I'm reading, even though it takes a bit longer. It also helps tremendously when reading ancient texts, the Bible, etc.
Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
What about setting a very large font and read on the phone? This way there is at most 1 line at a time
dv_dt 4y ago
Do you read for fun? I had declined in the amount I read purely for pleasure over the years, and recently re-upped my time spent in it, and subjectively I think it improved my reading in general. There are some studies that seem to support that: https://neurosciencenews.com/reading-aging-memory-22011/ https://neurosciencenews.com/reading-aging-memory-22011/ On a more active path, you might also consider consulting a neurologist and describe to them your the differences between past and current reading performance as well as observations of the problems you're having now.
stuff4ben 4y ago
I've noticed my reading ability has been impaired as I've gotten older, but I think it's just a concentration thing. Have you thought about ADHD drugs?
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I was on ADHD medications for 2 years and stopped this past July. I felt like the medications kept me withdrawn and my spouse said I wasn't the same person. Also, they didn't seem to help even on a large dose of Vyvanse.
  - mthoms 4y ago
    If you have ADHD isn’t that the answer to the question you’re asking? When I don’t take my meds I can’t retain or focus on anything. I realize that doesn’t solve your problem if the meds give you undesirable side effects. As an aside, one thing I have noticed is that focusing on print vs screen is way easier for me.
oa335 4y ago
Consult a neurologist, specifically.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I am on a 9 month waiting list and that was the shortest wait list for top drs in my state.
  - projectazorian 4y ago
    I don't think you need a top tier doctor to do a basic exam and order a scan. You can always go that route if something abnormal shows up, the waiting time will likely be a lot shorter in that case.
tw600040 4y ago
I don't have much to add on the reading issue, but huge respect for "I've gone back to school into a medical degree." at 45
- meifun 4y ago
  Oldest person in my group. Coincidentally, they call me "boomer" and have adopted me as group "mom".
  - sam1r 4y ago
    That’s actually really funny. Good luck with figuring this out!
  - duderific 4y ago
    Ha, you are gen-x or millennial if anything!
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    They call me boomer, I call them whippersnappers.
labrador 4y ago
I'm older than you and also have trouble reading but I figured out the problem. I've spent so many years skimming articles on the web that I'm having a hard time breaking the habit. I'm reading "Spare" today by Prince Harry and it's a struggle, but I'm managing to slow down and comprehend each sentence and each word if necessary before moving on. I'm doing this because I want to start reading books again in my retirement. You case sounds different though, like it might be something organic. Are you taking a medication that makes you less sharp? Bipolar meds certainly do that. Do you have headaches that might indicate some problem? Have you had Covid so maybe have brain fog from long Covid? Are you depressed and anxious? Do you drink a lot? Etc... Good luck figuring it out.
- sfpotter 4y ago
  Agree with this. Seems like there could be many confounding factors in this case. Others: How much do you sleep? How active are you? What is your diet like?
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    Taking no meds for the last 9 months, never had Covid, my PCP referred me to the development/behavioral ophthalmologist. updated the main post as well to reflect this..
    - Freak_NL 4y ago
      But do you have a reading habit? That is, outside of reading the non-fiction texts you now need, do you read fiction for leisure?
      - jason_slack 4y ago
        Yes, I read a lot for enjoyment. This has also gone down hill.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  This x1,000. The only time I'm able to effortlessly get in a lot of long-form reading done is if I go on vacation somewhere with no goddamn Internet at all. It's wonderful. I swear, if a genie gave me three wishes, concern about being able to properly craft the wish would be the only thing that'd keep me from burning one of them to permanently eliminate the Internet. [EDIT] That is, in addition to weakening my reading ability through use of it, the presence of the Internet is so damn distracting that it's hard to read more than a few pages at a time. Consider how, say, pop-culture trivia questions used to come and go from one's mind with hardly any conscious notice taken—no relevant book on hand, no friend or family member present who might know, well, even calling someone's too much effort for something so unimportant, and off goes that idle thought, probably never to come up again—now, though, those sorts of questions reach one's conscious mind all the time, and they itch until you take the 5-second break to answer them; repeat for everything else, like how's so-and-so doing, wonder if anyone's posted anything interesting, et c.
zxexz 4y ago
I would definitely seek medical advice. Start with your PCP. They’ll be able to refer you to a relevant physician, maybe a neurologist or psychiatrist. Anecdotal, but your experience sounds similar to a friend of mine who’s dyslexic + ADHD. AFAIK that would have have shown earlier but I’m not a doctor! On another note, have you tried any text to speech software? I used to do that in school when my eyes were tired or I just felt like listening.
gnicholas 4y ago
For line skipping and visual tracking more generally, try BeeLine Reader. [1] It is used as a speed reading tool by some, but is also used as an assistive technology by people with visual tracking issues, attention issues, and dyslexia. The Chrome extension has a 2-week free trial, and the iOS extension is completely free. It's also now available on textbooks, though may not be available on medical textbooks. Disclosure: I am the founder (and am happy to send you a free pass to our Chrome extension, if you find it helpful). 1: http://www.beelinereader.com http://www.beelinereader.com
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you. I will check this out today.
kubectl_h 4y ago
Do you live in North America? Have you possibly been exposed to Lyme disease? These are all common symptoms of early Lyme and possibly even long term exposure.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I do live in an area where ticks are prevalent. Thanks for mentioning.
- Freak_NL 4y ago
  Ticks carrying Lyme's disease are not limited to North America. In fact, the whole northern hemisphere is affected.
  - kubectl_h 4y ago
    Good to know, thanks.
JimtheCoder 4y ago
How much were you reading before you had this realization? Have you been a lifelong reader? Or did you read a lot, and then stop for a few years, and are now getting back into it and having trouble...?
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Yes, lifelong reader, I own almost 700 books and have read a very large percentage of them.
jacquesm 4y ago
Dumb question: have you had your eyes checked? I had serious reading issues, massive headaches and whole pile of other assorted symptoms and someone on HN suggested I go to an eye exam. A set of +2 reading glasses later and everything was fine again for many more years. 45 is roughly the age at which you can start to expect that kind of thing.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Yes, 3 times since July and just got new glasses 2 months ago. I have everyday glasses and also glasses for reading/screens. They help to enlarge the text and make it more crisp. They are an improvement.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Ok, so you can rule that out. I felt it was weird to ask because it's such an obvious thing but better safe than sorry. Best of luck with this, it is super tricky. Next step: neurologist, and hope for the best. Hang in there! edit: ah, and only now I noticed you had mentioned that, who needs glasses here ;)
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      TY. I value your feedback.
  - eYrKEC2 4y ago
    I heard somewhere that moving along the metabolic disease path from pre-diabetic to diabetic can cause structural deformation of the eye lens rather dramatically due to increased blood sugar content and can be the cause of a symptom like, "I woke up one morning and couldn't read." Anyways, worth looking at diabetic markers in that age range even if my previous sentence is bunk.
sandworm101 4y ago
Questions: If you could read well during your undergrad, but decades later now cannot, what happened in between those times? Did you read regularly? Is this simply a bad case of skill fade masquerading as a medical issue? Are there types of reading that are not so difficult? Can you read articles on your phone or screen without these issues? Do you remember material that you don't directly read such as an audio lectures? If you are reading in a new field, you might not be used to actually reading every letter of a word. If you only read in a narrow subject matter then your mind can memorize word shapes rather than reading through every letter. When you then switch to a new field with unfamiliar words things slow down as you downshift into letter-by-letter reading. But they will speed up again once you get a grip on those new words. (This is a common law student complaint. The children of lawyers who grew up around words like "constitutionality", "relevancy" or "admissibility" temporarily seem to be faster readers because their brains have already memorized those word shapes. By second year this advantage disappears.)
fnordpiglet 4y ago
Are you burned out? Depressed? Anxious? All of these also lead to an inability to focus and reduced comprehension. Have you tried a concentration based meditation such as vipassana?
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I meditate for 3-4 hours every day. I am no stranger to 10, 20, 30 days of a vipassana silent meditation experience.
  - paraph1n 4y ago
    3-4 hours every day?! How do you find the time to do that, in addition to medical school? That's 1/4 of the waking hours in a day.
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      yup, I make it my priority. I live very simply, I eat only raw produce. Sometimes it is 2-3 hours if I am feeling cramped for time, but 3-4 hours 4-5 days a week.
      - fnordpiglet 4y ago
        Have had done metabolic panels? A raw vegan diet can be very difficult and for some people unsustainable. But still, are you burned out? Depressed? Anxious?
        jason_slack 4y ago
        My panels are good. I will think about being depressed, anxious, etc. it could be a real possibility.
        fnordpiglet 4y ago
        My experience with burnout is exactly like you described FYI. It was like my mind just couldn’t process properly. I couldn’t read, or engage in thought on anything with any depth or acumen. Coupled with the burnout was a depression and deep anxiety. If you meditate a lot then I’d suggest examining with your awareness what is happening when you’re reading. If you’ve coupled some Buddhism with your practice then you can examine whether you are resisting / reacting. With burn out it happens at a subconscious level, but you should be able to sense a resistance when trying to engage in things you have trouble with. Do you feel joy? Interest in things? Can you remember what music you like? These sorts of things are useful to ask yourself. Finally, I assume you’re male. Have you had your testosterone levels checked?
jedberg 4y ago
Have you had a brain scan? I don't want to scare you but that sounds like it may be a tumor. Or at least I know two people who had brain tumors that had similar symptoms.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Actually, I do feel a slight lump (about the size of a nickel) above my right ear and it changes in size, sensitivity, etc. My PCP wrote it off, but sometimes it feels very warm too.
  - jedberg 4y ago
    Push on them harder for a head MRI. Point out that you have the lump and that you can't find other causes. Keep pushing. Eventually they will get tired of you asking. Good luck!
  - postalrat 4y ago
    Maybe a pilar cyst? Does it move around at all or is it attached to bone?
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      It stays in the same location, I believe it is attached because I can't really move it, but it does seem to change size, etc.
  - timr 4y ago
    If you can feel it on the outside of your head, it's not a brain tumor. Jedberg is freaking you out.
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      It seems to be between my skull and my skin. I should mention that I have had some auditory hallucinations within the last few weeks.
cdelsolar 4y ago
You almost have to learn to read again. I regrettably stopped reading for years (other than web articles, email, skimming, etc). In the last few years I started reading novels for pleasure again, and I swear if I stop for a couple of weeks when I get back to it I have to take my time and be slow. Something that has helped is reading books in my native language (Spanish). Since I'm not as strong as I used to be in Spanish, I find that reading in Spanish really forces me to take my time reading every single word. Resist the urge of your brain / eye saccades to skip ahead a bit. Keep reading and soon you'll realize you can do this for many pages. Edit: I saw that you read plenty for pleasure, so it's probably not this :/
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to write a response :-)
  - daniel_reetz 4y ago
    I had a similar experience when I joined grad school in 2007. I couldn't get through, or even really understand papers, even though I thought I was a good reader. I also had to "learn to read" again. For me, it was about 1 semester of focused effort to rebuild the skill. I was in my 20's then. That said, if you don't see (or haven't seen) noticeable improvement over 3-5 months, that is probably a signal to pay attention to.
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      can you share what you did that semester to help?
msie 4y ago
You can also try asking reddit medical group for advice. r/diagnoseme
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Interesting idea, wisdom of the crowd....TY.
  - msie 4y ago
    Also it just occurred to me that lots of medical students are probably on there and can relate to reading medical texts.
IAmGraydon 4y ago
You could have an attention deficit brought on by spreading your attention too thin for a long period of time. You're reading fine, but you aren't absorbing/comprehending the information because that requires singular focus. Today's world with all of its distractions trains us to do the opposite - multitask with our attention on multiple things at once. The solution? It seems to me that the opposite of spreading your attention in every direction is meditation. Sitting quietly and silencing your mind. Perhaps if you can learn and become comfortable in that state of mind, you can evoke it to some degree while you're reading to help achieve focus.
influx 4y ago
What's your exercise regimen?
- 300bps 4y ago
  This is an important question. Speaking from experience, when you're 20 you can get away without exercising. 45 is about the time when lack of exercise starts to have a significant effect on your life.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I don't exercise really, but I do tend to walk 10,000 steps every day.
WalterBright 4y ago
I realized in my 50s that I had been reading less and less for many years. I didn't know why, and it bothered me. Then, one day in the drug store, they had these reading glasses on one of those wire displays. On a whim, I tried one on. My gawd! I could see! My vision had declined so gradually I didn't notice it, but the reason I wasn't reading anymore was because of the effort to make out the letters. The reading glasses solved that problem, and I was reading again. I also had been in denial and finally got progressive lenses for my glasses. I know this is not your particular issue, what's happening to you sounds awful.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you for writing a reply.
shanebellone 4y ago
So visual therapy takes years. It took me 3+ years before I noticed improvement. You are likely rebuilding neural pathways which takes time and effort. It's a process and it's awful. It sounds like you have a "tracking" problem?
- jason_slack 4y ago
  in part, yes, I believe that I do and I believe the visual therapy and new glasses every few months seem to be helping.
  - shanebellone 4y ago
    I'd really like to encourage you to trust that process. I spent years dealing with the repercussions of a traumatic brain injury (weekly visual rehab). I remember feeling like it only made the migraines worse and more frequent. In my case, it actually helped. The results just weren't obvious at the time. Good luck.
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      Thank you. I do continue with the therapy every day.
victorbstan 4y ago
Maybe the reading material is just not engaging? I know I can be selective about what topics I can concentrate on and which require me to reread every other paragraph again and again because I start daydreaming. Never going to be a chemist.
jareklupinski 4y ago
curious, does something like https://www.spreeder.com/app.php?intro=1 https://www.spreeder.com/app.php?intro=1 make it easier to read for you? click the Spreed button if it doesnt start automatically
eterps 4y ago
Probably not related, but just to be sure: check the quality of your display/monitor. Recently I experienced a lot of improvement in investing in a much better monitor (an Eizo in my case, which isn't cheap, but made quite the difference).
purpleblue 4y ago
I'm in my 50s. The cognitive decline in my mid to late 40s was very, very real. I'm hanging on hard because I work at a FAANG and I have to keep my job, but I'm literally dumber than I was 10 years ago. I don't know if there's anything you can do about it. I did start drinking those energy drinks with nootropics, at least the caffeine helps. Some other suggestions are: get a lot of sleep, cognitively I declined tremendously when I got sleep deprivation. I would also get an MRI. I just read your comment about slurring words and I would spend the money and get an MRI on your own money just to be sure.
- dabernathy89 4y ago
  Well this is terrifying (especially as someone who barely sleeps).
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I’m asking my PCP to order one.
etrautmann 4y ago
I suspect that this is true for a number of people and you're being honest with yourself. I find that frequently skimming social media, mostly twitter and IG, makes deeper reading harder. If you do that even 30 min a day, you're untraining reading and training skimming. the rapid cognitive switching involved with skimming a wide range of topics that fly by on a timeline also trains the neural grooves for rapid context switching over attending to something for a while. Good luck - might take a few months, but with good sleep and restricting phone use, I would imagine you'll see improvements. Med school is also very hard - my wife's a doctor so I see this up close. Don't be too hard on yourself.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  my screen time on my phone is less than 45 mins each day. I use an iPad also but I don't have any social media apps, etc loaded. Its very strictly used for classwork, research, assignments, etc.
  - politician 4y ago
    I've found that I cannot use an iPad, even though I spend a lot of time writing code on a MacBook and use an iPhone. So, even though the font rendering system is the same (yes, I get headaches for a few days when I switch between font rendering systems - Windows, Linux, macOS), there is something about the iPad display -- even in environments where the phone is fine -- that hurts my eyes.
  - anotherevan 4y ago
    I'm not sure Ipads are particularly good bulk reading devices. Something with an Eink display (i.e. non-light-emitting) might be a better option. I use a Kobo ereader a lot. It has integration with Pocket[1] which makes it handy for reading a lot of web pages. Then there is Calibre[2] for converting and managing any other documents I may need to deal with. Good luck! [1] https://getpocket.com/ https://getpocket.com/ [2] https://calibre-ebook.com/ https://calibre-ebook.com/
    - jason_slack 4y ago
Decabytes 4y ago
I'm starting to think everything we do has a use it or lose it quality. I remember reading how people who haven't spoken in their native language in awhile (for example because of a study abroad) have difficulty speaking their language when they come back. They also end up using simpler vocabulary as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if skills like reading also fall under this. But to be fair the stuff you are probably reading is probably really dense and full of lots of medical terminology so it might not be surprising that you have to reread it.
AdrianB1 4y ago
What I see most often, there are 3 main causes that I was able to identify, probably a lot more than I am not aware of. 1. Eye glasses. At this age (~ 42-43, more precise) most people start to have degrade vision that requires some correction, mostly for reading. Even if you can read without glasses, it is not really efficient. 2. Information overload in the Internet age made us learn to skim instead of read. This is involuntary and it is very difficult to correct, but at least you can do something about it. 3. Age shows for your brain, this is why we do school very young. There is nothing you can do about this particular point, just learn to live with it and handle the consequences. This applies also to coding, there was a question yesterday about coding and focus at 40 years old.
EvanAnderson 4y ago
I’m 45 as well. I’ve read aloud to my daughter regularly for the last 9 years. I started reading novels to her 5ish years ago. It was a challenge at first to say every word and not to skim the text. I’m able to put myself into “read aloud mode” now (without actually speaking) and it helps me with dense text. I’m probably subvocalizing when I read this way, and it’s definitely slower than my “normal” reading, but I get more out of text. (I’ve gotten more out of novels that I read when I was younger just reading them aloud to her. It was kind of shocking to read mindfully and see what I was missing.)
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you for the response.
blobbers 4y ago
Were you ever considered to be a strong reader? You mention you used not have trouble with any topic, but were you academically 'excellent'? Depending on where you are, your curriculum may not have been all that rigorous in reading. Not asking in a facetious way, but is this medical program a level up from what you've done in the past?
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Yes. I’ve always been an excellent student
argc 4y ago
If I were you I'd get a neurological test and try to rule out all serious possibilities. Not because they are likely but because its good to catch many of those possibilities early and the fact that you are posting here suggests it is at least a possibility. IANAD
2devnull 4y ago
Mental illness is a possibility. You may think that’s impossible, but anosognosia is a common symptom. Adult onset ADD is possible and can be diagnosed with a brain scan.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you. I can explore this.
mullingitover 4y ago
It might be a good idea to check your sleep - there are apps like SnoreLab that can tell you if you're snoring heavily, and if you are, you should get a sleep study done to see if you have apnea.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  I use an Oura ring currently.
tinglymintyfrsh 4y ago
I'm 44, too sedentary, out-of-shape, and wasting time on video games lately. I'm ADHD-PI with timeblindness, tangents, procrast, and overfocus. I have monofixation syndrome (MFS) that I never knew I had until my new old-timer opth found incidentally. Stress maybe? How's your Maslow's sleep, diet, exercise, and mood? Also, consider that age comparing now with peak performance of say 15-20's is unfair. Give yourself a break. Maybe a sabbatical is in order.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Perhaps some time away would be a good idea. Thanks for mentioning it.
neilv 4y ago
This is the second time today that an HN front page post about some perceived decline has started the headline with their 40+ age. Even when the problem might have nothing to do with their age. I suspect that an effect of headlines like this is that it reinforces ageism in tech. Ageism has been a problem in tech since the the modern flavor of Internet startups started. (AFAICT, with the "drop out of college to be a founder, because you have fewer commitments, and will work harder" essays.) And we're still seeing mutated versions of that.
fswd 4y ago
You should definitely be able to read freely and fine at 45, and definitely see a doctor. Something you can do in the in between time is order a full blood panel, kidney, liver, thyroid, hormones, etc, online or through your doctor's office. Then get a copy of this (you can often download a PDF from the lab company that does your panel, or doctor's office) and visit a natural path (ND). You might be able to find one through your school. Bring up what foods you eat, your lifestyle, exercise, sleep habits. Then, try and see if any adjustments work. When you finally do get an appointment for a medical doctor (you said in 9 months) bring this information, so your doctor has something to go on. Your MD will probably just re-order the labs again, but now you will have some previous data, and some experience tweaking your lifestyle with what worked and didn't.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you. My panels are good. Do you have experience with an ND?
bretthowell 4y ago
I had a similar situation/concern a few years back… went to Dr and Optician got glasses, light therapy etc. No improvement and became exasperated. What solved the mental focus for me was light movement while reading (walking on treadmill etc) and/or laying down to relax most core muscles. Second, shockingly NOT chewing gum or doing too much downward facing iPhone reading made a massive difference to my vision. Causality? The impact of posture and/or movement on breathing has a big impact on brain focus. If you have a blood O2 meter you can test this while your are reading. Ironically the more worried you become about not focusing the more you hold your breath and the more clenched your posture. It’s a vicious cycle. Gum was the shocker, I would habitually chew in the morning for an hour or two (mindlessly) and it turns out it was over taxing the jaw and neck muscles. This caused the eye muscles to be impacted and resulted in blurry strained vision. Cutting out gum for a week almost entirely removed my need for glasses. Lastly, I would still get blurry vision occasionally and finally narrowed it down to iPhone “texting neck”. I’ll post a couple of refs in a minute. May be unrelated but if there’s a thread to pull on here I hope it helps.
- bretthowell 4y ago
  Link to comment about phone and gum: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23363566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23363566
- bretthowell 4y ago
  Link to post about breathing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24102829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24102829
- dorchadas 4y ago
  I've found this too, even at 30. Walking on a treadmill (or using a stationary bike) while reading makes it so much easier, though I am starting to find it easy enough to read in bed without moving again. It took some time to build back up to it though.
- jonahbenton 4y ago
  This is super interesting, thanks for reporting.
axus 4y ago
To add to the pile of random medical advice, finally getting my wisdom teeth removed helped my thinking and attention a bit.
jonahbenton 4y ago
Sorry to hear, thanks for reporting. Am in my 50s. I did notice a drop off in deep reading and attention capacity in my early 40s, including seemingly physical issues like line skipping, transposing and other weirdnesses that I never had before. I definitely feel like I am back to higher functionality in my 50s, though the reading process is definitely different. If you are familiar with Kahneman metaphors of System 1/System 2, my reading when I was younger used to be System 1 (quick, ingestion for memory rather than concept, etc) and now it is almost entirely System 2 (slow, conscious, model building). So it is slower, but definitely deeper, and maybe on balance more efficient. In terms of what helped- I recall noticing this reading issue and being unhappy about it, and making a conscious effort to practice...which means what exactly? Not sure. I don't experience those seemingly physical issues anymore of transposing or skipping. And while I have had distance glasses since my teens, I still don't require reading glasses. Am sure at some point I will. One odd association here fwiw is that I am very careful these days about staying fully hydrated when doing intellectual work. I drink very large quantities of water- up to and over a gallon some days. I never feel thirsty but when I start to notice subtle intellectual deficiencies, or my attention is sagging, I go and drink 16 or 32 ounces of water, and then often performance improves. Sometimes I take a bit of salt as well. Seems bizarre to me, I don't understand the biochemistry. But it works like a charm. This is a recent practice for me- last 5-10 years. After sleep, staying very hydrated is the top of the maintenance list. Good luck to you.
somberi 4y ago
I am 50. I was telling my wife last week, the thing I miss the most about being young(er) is the ability to sit in a corner and be lost in the pages of a book - really entrenched. Now, it is hard. I am constantly writing my comments at the end of each page, and pausing to re-read a line. One thing that helps is to read important content right after working our or meditating, when the mind is at it's most focused. I live close to a park and a river, and leaving my phone behind and reading at either of these places, brings that boy in me back now and then. I also keep a small notepad where I mark down all the distractions that assume fake urgency, and I get back to reading. However it is not all negative though. I am able to make sense of what I read in a _different_ way than I did when I was in my 20s. I am able question what I read, toss it around, swirl it in my mind more and reflect on what I read. Years ago, what would have appeared as a stand-alone fountain of new knowledge, now gets bunched to an vestibule of other knowledge I have accumulated over years about a field I am reading about. I learn more by contrasting with what I know, than de novo. All the best.
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Thank you for the reply. Helpful.
trws 4y ago
If the issue is visual tracking and comprehension, consider seeking an audio version of the textbook. These are often prepared as part of accessibility for the blind or visually impaired, but can also be a great help to people with other issues like dyslexia. It’s not ideal, because medical terms and dense topics tend to be harder in that form, but it could really help with ensuring that you can ingest all the content, possibly with access to the physical text for cross referencing.
the_angry_angel 4y ago
Coming up to 37 and for the last few weeks I’ve had the same sort of realisation - reading novels seems to take more concentration than it should, and I’ve become lazy with maths. I’ve had an eye check, a few months back a general medical. Both were fine/no significant changes. I rarely drink, no drugs. I feared a series of migraines might been response but I’ve been assured otherwise. I so far figured it’s too much skim reading, a lot of very poor sleep, being on the edge of burn out and maybe a touch of post COVID brain fog. Your post is encouraging me to start doing something about it. I don’t have much to add but it’s reassuring to know that I’m not alone
SkyMarshal 4y ago
Learning some speed reading improved my focus when reading. Google it and look into the different methods available, see if any work for you.
smitty1e 4y ago
I bought a gadget to magnify and backlight the text. Small hardcopy print just gives me a headache.

85 points by meifun 4y ago

odysseus 4y ago

One thing you might try is reading aloud. Ref: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200917-the-surprising-power-of-reading-aloud https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200917-the-surprising-p... I find this really helps me both focus and retain what I'm reading, even though it takes a bit longer. It also helps tremendously when reading ancient texts, the Bible, etc.

Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago

What about setting a very large font and read on the phone? This way there is at most 1 line at a time

dv_dt 4y ago

Do you read for fun? I had declined in the amount I read purely for pleasure over the years, and recently re-upped my time spent in it, and subjectively I think it improved my reading in general. There are some studies that seem to support that: https://neurosciencenews.com/reading-aging-memory-22011/ https://neurosciencenews.com/reading-aging-memory-22011/ On a more active path, you might also consider consulting a neurologist and describe to them your the differences between past and current reading performance as well as observations of the problems you're having now.

stuff4ben 4y ago

I've noticed my reading ability has been impaired as I've gotten older, but I think it's just a concentration thing. Have you thought about ADHD drugs?

jason_slack 4y ago
I was on ADHD medications for 2 years and stopped this past July. I felt like the medications kept me withdrawn and my spouse said I wasn't the same person. Also, they didn't seem to help even on a large dose of Vyvanse.
- mthoms 4y ago
  If you have ADHD isn’t that the answer to the question you’re asking? When I don’t take my meds I can’t retain or focus on anything. I realize that doesn’t solve your problem if the meds give you undesirable side effects. As an aside, one thing I have noticed is that focusing on print vs screen is way easier for me.

oa335 4y ago

Consult a neurologist, specifically.

jason_slack 4y ago
I am on a 9 month waiting list and that was the shortest wait list for top drs in my state.
- projectazorian 4y ago
  I don't think you need a top tier doctor to do a basic exam and order a scan. You can always go that route if something abnormal shows up, the waiting time will likely be a lot shorter in that case.

tw600040 4y ago

I don't have much to add on the reading issue, but huge respect for "I've gone back to school into a medical degree." at 45

meifun 4y ago
Oldest person in my group. Coincidentally, they call me "boomer" and have adopted me as group "mom".
- sam1r 4y ago
  That’s actually really funny. Good luck with figuring this out!
- duderific 4y ago
  Ha, you are gen-x or millennial if anything!
- WalterBright 4y ago
  They call me boomer, I call them whippersnappers.

labrador 4y ago

I'm older than you and also have trouble reading but I figured out the problem. I've spent so many years skimming articles on the web that I'm having a hard time breaking the habit. I'm reading "Spare" today by Prince Harry and it's a struggle, but I'm managing to slow down and comprehend each sentence and each word if necessary before moving on. I'm doing this because I want to start reading books again in my retirement. You case sounds different though, like it might be something organic. Are you taking a medication that makes you less sharp? Bipolar meds certainly do that. Do you have headaches that might indicate some problem? Have you had Covid so maybe have brain fog from long Covid? Are you depressed and anxious? Do you drink a lot? Etc... Good luck figuring it out.

sfpotter 4y ago
Agree with this. Seems like there could be many confounding factors in this case. Others: How much do you sleep? How active are you? What is your diet like?
- jason_slack 4y ago
  Taking no meds for the last 9 months, never had Covid, my PCP referred me to the development/behavioral ophthalmologist. updated the main post as well to reflect this..
  - Freak_NL 4y ago
    But do you have a reading habit? That is, outside of reading the non-fiction texts you now need, do you read fiction for leisure?
    - jason_slack 4y ago
      Yes, I read a lot for enjoyment. This has also gone down hill.
yamtaddle 4y ago
This x1,000. The only time I'm able to effortlessly get in a lot of long-form reading done is if I go on vacation somewhere with no goddamn Internet at all. It's wonderful. I swear, if a genie gave me three wishes, concern about being able to properly craft the wish would be the only thing that'd keep me from burning one of them to permanently eliminate the Internet. [EDIT] That is, in addition to weakening my reading ability through use of it, the presence of the Internet is so damn distracting that it's hard to read more than a few pages at a time. Consider how, say, pop-culture trivia questions used to come and go from one's mind with hardly any conscious notice taken—no relevant book on hand, no friend or family member present who might know, well, even calling someone's too much effort for something so unimportant, and off goes that idle thought, probably never to come up again—now, though, those sorts of questions reach one's conscious mind all the time, and they itch until you take the 5-second break to answer them; repeat for everything else, like how's so-and-so doing, wonder if anyone's posted anything interesting, et c.

zxexz 4y ago

I would definitely seek medical advice. Start with your PCP. They’ll be able to refer you to a relevant physician, maybe a neurologist or psychiatrist. Anecdotal, but your experience sounds similar to a friend of mine who’s dyslexic + ADHD. AFAIK that would have have shown earlier but I’m not a doctor! On another note, have you tried any text to speech software? I used to do that in school when my eyes were tired or I just felt like listening.

gnicholas 4y ago

For line skipping and visual tracking more generally, try BeeLine Reader. [1] It is used as a speed reading tool by some, but is also used as an assistive technology by people with visual tracking issues, attention issues, and dyslexia. The Chrome extension has a 2-week free trial, and the iOS extension is completely free. It's also now available on textbooks, though may not be available on medical textbooks. Disclosure: I am the founder (and am happy to send you a free pass to our Chrome extension, if you find it helpful). 1: http://www.beelinereader.com http://www.beelinereader.com

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you. I will check this out today.

kubectl_h 4y ago

Do you live in North America? Have you possibly been exposed to Lyme disease? These are all common symptoms of early Lyme and possibly even long term exposure.

jason_slack 4y ago
I do live in an area where ticks are prevalent. Thanks for mentioning.
Freak_NL 4y ago
Ticks carrying Lyme's disease are not limited to North America. In fact, the whole northern hemisphere is affected.
- kubectl_h 4y ago
  Good to know, thanks.

JimtheCoder 4y ago

How much were you reading before you had this realization? Have you been a lifelong reader? Or did you read a lot, and then stop for a few years, and are now getting back into it and having trouble...?

jason_slack 4y ago
Yes, lifelong reader, I own almost 700 books and have read a very large percentage of them.

jacquesm 4y ago

Dumb question: have you had your eyes checked? I had serious reading issues, massive headaches and whole pile of other assorted symptoms and someone on HN suggested I go to an eye exam. A set of +2 reading glasses later and everything was fine again for many more years. 45 is roughly the age at which you can start to expect that kind of thing.

jason_slack 4y ago
Yes, 3 times since July and just got new glasses 2 months ago. I have everyday glasses and also glasses for reading/screens. They help to enlarge the text and make it more crisp. They are an improvement.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Ok, so you can rule that out. I felt it was weird to ask because it's such an obvious thing but better safe than sorry. Best of luck with this, it is super tricky. Next step: neurologist, and hope for the best. Hang in there! edit: ah, and only now I noticed you had mentioned that, who needs glasses here ;)
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    TY. I value your feedback.
- eYrKEC2 4y ago
  I heard somewhere that moving along the metabolic disease path from pre-diabetic to diabetic can cause structural deformation of the eye lens rather dramatically due to increased blood sugar content and can be the cause of a symptom like, "I woke up one morning and couldn't read." Anyways, worth looking at diabetic markers in that age range even if my previous sentence is bunk.

sandworm101 4y ago

Questions: If you could read well during your undergrad, but decades later now cannot, what happened in between those times? Did you read regularly? Is this simply a bad case of skill fade masquerading as a medical issue? Are there types of reading that are not so difficult? Can you read articles on your phone or screen without these issues? Do you remember material that you don't directly read such as an audio lectures? If you are reading in a new field, you might not be used to actually reading every letter of a word. If you only read in a narrow subject matter then your mind can memorize word shapes rather than reading through every letter. When you then switch to a new field with unfamiliar words things slow down as you downshift into letter-by-letter reading. But they will speed up again once you get a grip on those new words. (This is a common law student complaint. The children of lawyers who grew up around words like "constitutionality", "relevancy" or "admissibility" temporarily seem to be faster readers because their brains have already memorized those word shapes. By second year this advantage disappears.)

fnordpiglet 4y ago

Are you burned out? Depressed? Anxious? All of these also lead to an inability to focus and reduced comprehension. Have you tried a concentration based meditation such as vipassana?

jason_slack 4y ago
I meditate for 3-4 hours every day. I am no stranger to 10, 20, 30 days of a vipassana silent meditation experience.
- paraph1n 4y ago
  3-4 hours every day?! How do you find the time to do that, in addition to medical school? That's 1/4 of the waking hours in a day.
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    yup, I make it my priority. I live very simply, I eat only raw produce. Sometimes it is 2-3 hours if I am feeling cramped for time, but 3-4 hours 4-5 days a week.
    - fnordpiglet 4y ago
      Have had done metabolic panels? A raw vegan diet can be very difficult and for some people unsustainable. But still, are you burned out? Depressed? Anxious?
      - jason_slack 4y ago
        My panels are good. I will think about being depressed, anxious, etc. it could be a real possibility.
        fnordpiglet 4y ago
        My experience with burnout is exactly like you described FYI. It was like my mind just couldn’t process properly. I couldn’t read, or engage in thought on anything with any depth or acumen. Coupled with the burnout was a depression and deep anxiety. If you meditate a lot then I’d suggest examining with your awareness what is happening when you’re reading. If you’ve coupled some Buddhism with your practice then you can examine whether you are resisting / reacting. With burn out it happens at a subconscious level, but you should be able to sense a resistance when trying to engage in things you have trouble with. Do you feel joy? Interest in things? Can you remember what music you like? These sorts of things are useful to ask yourself. Finally, I assume you’re male. Have you had your testosterone levels checked?

jedberg 4y ago

Have you had a brain scan? I don't want to scare you but that sounds like it may be a tumor. Or at least I know two people who had brain tumors that had similar symptoms.

jason_slack 4y ago
Actually, I do feel a slight lump (about the size of a nickel) above my right ear and it changes in size, sensitivity, etc. My PCP wrote it off, but sometimes it feels very warm too.
- jedberg 4y ago
  Push on them harder for a head MRI. Point out that you have the lump and that you can't find other causes. Keep pushing. Eventually they will get tired of you asking. Good luck!
- postalrat 4y ago
  Maybe a pilar cyst? Does it move around at all or is it attached to bone?
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    It stays in the same location, I believe it is attached because I can't really move it, but it does seem to change size, etc.
- timr 4y ago
  If you can feel it on the outside of your head, it's not a brain tumor. Jedberg is freaking you out.
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    It seems to be between my skull and my skin. I should mention that I have had some auditory hallucinations within the last few weeks.

cdelsolar 4y ago

You almost have to learn to read again. I regrettably stopped reading for years (other than web articles, email, skimming, etc). In the last few years I started reading novels for pleasure again, and I swear if I stop for a couple of weeks when I get back to it I have to take my time and be slow. Something that has helped is reading books in my native language (Spanish). Since I'm not as strong as I used to be in Spanish, I find that reading in Spanish really forces me to take my time reading every single word. Resist the urge of your brain / eye saccades to skip ahead a bit. Keep reading and soon you'll realize you can do this for many pages. Edit: I saw that you read plenty for pleasure, so it's probably not this :/

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you for taking the time to write a response :-)
- daniel_reetz 4y ago
  I had a similar experience when I joined grad school in 2007. I couldn't get through, or even really understand papers, even though I thought I was a good reader. I also had to "learn to read" again. For me, it was about 1 semester of focused effort to rebuild the skill. I was in my 20's then. That said, if you don't see (or haven't seen) noticeable improvement over 3-5 months, that is probably a signal to pay attention to.
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    can you share what you did that semester to help?

msie 4y ago

You can also try asking reddit medical group for advice. r/diagnoseme

jason_slack 4y ago
Interesting idea, wisdom of the crowd....TY.
- msie 4y ago
  Also it just occurred to me that lots of medical students are probably on there and can relate to reading medical texts.

IAmGraydon 4y ago

You could have an attention deficit brought on by spreading your attention too thin for a long period of time. You're reading fine, but you aren't absorbing/comprehending the information because that requires singular focus. Today's world with all of its distractions trains us to do the opposite - multitask with our attention on multiple things at once. The solution? It seems to me that the opposite of spreading your attention in every direction is meditation. Sitting quietly and silencing your mind. Perhaps if you can learn and become comfortable in that state of mind, you can evoke it to some degree while you're reading to help achieve focus.

influx 4y ago

What's your exercise regimen?

300bps 4y ago
This is an important question. Speaking from experience, when you're 20 you can get away without exercising. 45 is about the time when lack of exercise starts to have a significant effect on your life.
jason_slack 4y ago
I don't exercise really, but I do tend to walk 10,000 steps every day.

WalterBright 4y ago

I realized in my 50s that I had been reading less and less for many years. I didn't know why, and it bothered me. Then, one day in the drug store, they had these reading glasses on one of those wire displays. On a whim, I tried one on. My gawd! I could see! My vision had declined so gradually I didn't notice it, but the reason I wasn't reading anymore was because of the effort to make out the letters. The reading glasses solved that problem, and I was reading again. I also had been in denial and finally got progressive lenses for my glasses. I know this is not your particular issue, what's happening to you sounds awful.

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you for writing a reply.

shanebellone 4y ago

So visual therapy takes years. It took me 3+ years before I noticed improvement. You are likely rebuilding neural pathways which takes time and effort. It's a process and it's awful. It sounds like you have a "tracking" problem?

jason_slack 4y ago
in part, yes, I believe that I do and I believe the visual therapy and new glasses every few months seem to be helping.
- shanebellone 4y ago
  I'd really like to encourage you to trust that process. I spent years dealing with the repercussions of a traumatic brain injury (weekly visual rehab). I remember feeling like it only made the migraines worse and more frequent. In my case, it actually helped. The results just weren't obvious at the time. Good luck.
  - jason_slack 4y ago
    Thank you. I do continue with the therapy every day.

victorbstan 4y ago

Maybe the reading material is just not engaging? I know I can be selective about what topics I can concentrate on and which require me to reread every other paragraph again and again because I start daydreaming. Never going to be a chemist.

jareklupinski 4y ago

curious, does something like https://www.spreeder.com/app.php?intro=1 https://www.spreeder.com/app.php?intro=1 make it easier to read for you? click the Spreed button if it doesnt start automatically

eterps 4y ago

Probably not related, but just to be sure: check the quality of your display/monitor. Recently I experienced a lot of improvement in investing in a much better monitor (an Eizo in my case, which isn't cheap, but made quite the difference).

purpleblue 4y ago

I'm in my 50s. The cognitive decline in my mid to late 40s was very, very real. I'm hanging on hard because I work at a FAANG and I have to keep my job, but I'm literally dumber than I was 10 years ago. I don't know if there's anything you can do about it. I did start drinking those energy drinks with nootropics, at least the caffeine helps. Some other suggestions are: get a lot of sleep, cognitively I declined tremendously when I got sleep deprivation. I would also get an MRI. I just read your comment about slurring words and I would spend the money and get an MRI on your own money just to be sure.

dabernathy89 4y ago
Well this is terrifying (especially as someone who barely sleeps).
jason_slack 4y ago
I’m asking my PCP to order one.

etrautmann 4y ago

I suspect that this is true for a number of people and you're being honest with yourself. I find that frequently skimming social media, mostly twitter and IG, makes deeper reading harder. If you do that even 30 min a day, you're untraining reading and training skimming. the rapid cognitive switching involved with skimming a wide range of topics that fly by on a timeline also trains the neural grooves for rapid context switching over attending to something for a while. Good luck - might take a few months, but with good sleep and restricting phone use, I would imagine you'll see improvements. Med school is also very hard - my wife's a doctor so I see this up close. Don't be too hard on yourself.

jason_slack 4y ago
my screen time on my phone is less than 45 mins each day. I use an iPad also but I don't have any social media apps, etc loaded. Its very strictly used for classwork, research, assignments, etc.
- politician 4y ago
  I've found that I cannot use an iPad, even though I spend a lot of time writing code on a MacBook and use an iPhone. So, even though the font rendering system is the same (yes, I get headaches for a few days when I switch between font rendering systems - Windows, Linux, macOS), there is something about the iPad display -- even in environments where the phone is fine -- that hurts my eyes.
- anotherevan 4y ago
  I'm not sure Ipads are particularly good bulk reading devices. Something with an Eink display (i.e. non-light-emitting) might be a better option. I use a Kobo ereader a lot. It has integration with Pocket[1] which makes it handy for reading a lot of web pages. Then there is Calibre[2] for converting and managing any other documents I may need to deal with. Good luck! [1] https://getpocket.com/ https://getpocket.com/ [2] https://calibre-ebook.com/ https://calibre-ebook.com/
  - jason_slack 4y ago

Decabytes 4y ago

I'm starting to think everything we do has a use it or lose it quality. I remember reading how people who haven't spoken in their native language in awhile (for example because of a study abroad) have difficulty speaking their language when they come back. They also end up using simpler vocabulary as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if skills like reading also fall under this. But to be fair the stuff you are probably reading is probably really dense and full of lots of medical terminology so it might not be surprising that you have to reread it.

AdrianB1 4y ago

What I see most often, there are 3 main causes that I was able to identify, probably a lot more than I am not aware of. 1. Eye glasses. At this age (~ 42-43, more precise) most people start to have degrade vision that requires some correction, mostly for reading. Even if you can read without glasses, it is not really efficient. 2. Information overload in the Internet age made us learn to skim instead of read. This is involuntary and it is very difficult to correct, but at least you can do something about it. 3. Age shows for your brain, this is why we do school very young. There is nothing you can do about this particular point, just learn to live with it and handle the consequences. This applies also to coding, there was a question yesterday about coding and focus at 40 years old.

EvanAnderson 4y ago

I’m 45 as well. I’ve read aloud to my daughter regularly for the last 9 years. I started reading novels to her 5ish years ago. It was a challenge at first to say every word and not to skim the text. I’m able to put myself into “read aloud mode” now (without actually speaking) and it helps me with dense text. I’m probably subvocalizing when I read this way, and it’s definitely slower than my “normal” reading, but I get more out of text. (I’ve gotten more out of novels that I read when I was younger just reading them aloud to her. It was kind of shocking to read mindfully and see what I was missing.)

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you for the response.

blobbers 4y ago

Were you ever considered to be a strong reader? You mention you used not have trouble with any topic, but were you academically 'excellent'? Depending on where you are, your curriculum may not have been all that rigorous in reading. Not asking in a facetious way, but is this medical program a level up from what you've done in the past?

jason_slack 4y ago
Yes. I’ve always been an excellent student

argc 4y ago

If I were you I'd get a neurological test and try to rule out all serious possibilities. Not because they are likely but because its good to catch many of those possibilities early and the fact that you are posting here suggests it is at least a possibility. IANAD

2devnull 4y ago

Mental illness is a possibility. You may think that’s impossible, but anosognosia is a common symptom. Adult onset ADD is possible and can be diagnosed with a brain scan.

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you. I can explore this.

mullingitover 4y ago

It might be a good idea to check your sleep - there are apps like SnoreLab that can tell you if you're snoring heavily, and if you are, you should get a sleep study done to see if you have apnea.

jason_slack 4y ago
I use an Oura ring currently.

tinglymintyfrsh 4y ago

I'm 44, too sedentary, out-of-shape, and wasting time on video games lately. I'm ADHD-PI with timeblindness, tangents, procrast, and overfocus. I have monofixation syndrome (MFS) that I never knew I had until my new old-timer opth found incidentally. Stress maybe? How's your Maslow's sleep, diet, exercise, and mood? Also, consider that age comparing now with peak performance of say 15-20's is unfair. Give yourself a break. Maybe a sabbatical is in order.

jason_slack 4y ago
Perhaps some time away would be a good idea. Thanks for mentioning it.

neilv 4y ago

This is the second time today that an HN front page post about some perceived decline has started the headline with their 40+ age. Even when the problem might have nothing to do with their age. I suspect that an effect of headlines like this is that it reinforces ageism in tech. Ageism has been a problem in tech since the the modern flavor of Internet startups started. (AFAICT, with the "drop out of college to be a founder, because you have fewer commitments, and will work harder" essays.) And we're still seeing mutated versions of that.

fswd 4y ago

You should definitely be able to read freely and fine at 45, and definitely see a doctor. Something you can do in the in between time is order a full blood panel, kidney, liver, thyroid, hormones, etc, online or through your doctor's office. Then get a copy of this (you can often download a PDF from the lab company that does your panel, or doctor's office) and visit a natural path (ND). You might be able to find one through your school. Bring up what foods you eat, your lifestyle, exercise, sleep habits. Then, try and see if any adjustments work. When you finally do get an appointment for a medical doctor (you said in 9 months) bring this information, so your doctor has something to go on. Your MD will probably just re-order the labs again, but now you will have some previous data, and some experience tweaking your lifestyle with what worked and didn't.

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you. My panels are good. Do you have experience with an ND?

bretthowell 4y ago

I had a similar situation/concern a few years back… went to Dr and Optician got glasses, light therapy etc. No improvement and became exasperated. What solved the mental focus for me was light movement while reading (walking on treadmill etc) and/or laying down to relax most core muscles. Second, shockingly NOT chewing gum or doing too much downward facing iPhone reading made a massive difference to my vision. Causality? The impact of posture and/or movement on breathing has a big impact on brain focus. If you have a blood O2 meter you can test this while your are reading. Ironically the more worried you become about not focusing the more you hold your breath and the more clenched your posture. It’s a vicious cycle. Gum was the shocker, I would habitually chew in the morning for an hour or two (mindlessly) and it turns out it was over taxing the jaw and neck muscles. This caused the eye muscles to be impacted and resulted in blurry strained vision. Cutting out gum for a week almost entirely removed my need for glasses. Lastly, I would still get blurry vision occasionally and finally narrowed it down to iPhone “texting neck”. I’ll post a couple of refs in a minute. May be unrelated but if there’s a thread to pull on here I hope it helps.

bretthowell 4y ago
Link to comment about phone and gum: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23363566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23363566
bretthowell 4y ago
Link to post about breathing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24102829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24102829
dorchadas 4y ago
I've found this too, even at 30. Walking on a treadmill (or using a stationary bike) while reading makes it so much easier, though I am starting to find it easy enough to read in bed without moving again. It took some time to build back up to it though.
jonahbenton 4y ago
This is super interesting, thanks for reporting.

axus 4y ago

To add to the pile of random medical advice, finally getting my wisdom teeth removed helped my thinking and attention a bit.

jonahbenton 4y ago

Sorry to hear, thanks for reporting. Am in my 50s. I did notice a drop off in deep reading and attention capacity in my early 40s, including seemingly physical issues like line skipping, transposing and other weirdnesses that I never had before. I definitely feel like I am back to higher functionality in my 50s, though the reading process is definitely different. If you are familiar with Kahneman metaphors of System 1/System 2, my reading when I was younger used to be System 1 (quick, ingestion for memory rather than concept, etc) and now it is almost entirely System 2 (slow, conscious, model building). So it is slower, but definitely deeper, and maybe on balance more efficient. In terms of what helped- I recall noticing this reading issue and being unhappy about it, and making a conscious effort to practice...which means what exactly? Not sure. I don't experience those seemingly physical issues anymore of transposing or skipping. And while I have had distance glasses since my teens, I still don't require reading glasses. Am sure at some point I will. One odd association here fwiw is that I am very careful these days about staying fully hydrated when doing intellectual work. I drink very large quantities of water- up to and over a gallon some days. I never feel thirsty but when I start to notice subtle intellectual deficiencies, or my attention is sagging, I go and drink 16 or 32 ounces of water, and then often performance improves. Sometimes I take a bit of salt as well. Seems bizarre to me, I don't understand the biochemistry. But it works like a charm. This is a recent practice for me- last 5-10 years. After sleep, staying very hydrated is the top of the maintenance list. Good luck to you.

somberi 4y ago

I am 50. I was telling my wife last week, the thing I miss the most about being young(er) is the ability to sit in a corner and be lost in the pages of a book - really entrenched. Now, it is hard. I am constantly writing my comments at the end of each page, and pausing to re-read a line. One thing that helps is to read important content right after working our or meditating, when the mind is at it's most focused. I live close to a park and a river, and leaving my phone behind and reading at either of these places, brings that boy in me back now and then. I also keep a small notepad where I mark down all the distractions that assume fake urgency, and I get back to reading. However it is not all negative though. I am able to make sense of what I read in a _different_ way than I did when I was in my 20s. I am able question what I read, toss it around, swirl it in my mind more and reflect on what I read. Years ago, what would have appeared as a stand-alone fountain of new knowledge, now gets bunched to an vestibule of other knowledge I have accumulated over years about a field I am reading about. I learn more by contrasting with what I know, than de novo. All the best.

jason_slack 4y ago
Thank you for the reply. Helpful.

trws 4y ago

If the issue is visual tracking and comprehension, consider seeking an audio version of the textbook. These are often prepared as part of accessibility for the blind or visually impaired, but can also be a great help to people with other issues like dyslexia. It’s not ideal, because medical terms and dense topics tend to be harder in that form, but it could really help with ensuring that you can ingest all the content, possibly with access to the physical text for cross referencing.

the_angry_angel 4y ago

Coming up to 37 and for the last few weeks I’ve had the same sort of realisation - reading novels seems to take more concentration than it should, and I’ve become lazy with maths. I’ve had an eye check, a few months back a general medical. Both were fine/no significant changes. I rarely drink, no drugs. I feared a series of migraines might been response but I’ve been assured otherwise. I so far figured it’s too much skim reading, a lot of very poor sleep, being on the edge of burn out and maybe a touch of post COVID brain fog. Your post is encouraging me to start doing something about it. I don’t have much to add but it’s reassuring to know that I’m not alone

SkyMarshal 4y ago

Learning some speed reading improved my focus when reading. Google it and look into the different methods available, see if any work for you.

smitty1e 4y ago

I bought a gadget to magnify and backlight the text. Small hardcopy print just gives me a headache.