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I struggle with nicotine, caffeine, and porn. I take Chantix and run at the gym which in combination helps a great deal, but I still relapse now and then on th

I struggle with nicotine, caffeine, and porn. I take Chantix and run at the gym which in combination helps a great deal, but I still relapse now and then on the nicotine. The others I seem to have overcome completely. I had to change my life and I also found spirituality, something I had denied due to insecurity and unwillingness to accept others. I wish you luck.

yiedyie 13y ago
I had a gap in my professional career where I didn't code nor worked with computers very much and I saw a decrease in addictive behavior. Can we blame programming or isolation when coding, is this a professional disability? Too bad that there is no real interest in studying this issues from a psychological/sociological point of view.
- mattm 13y ago
  Personally, in my experience, I have found it to be because of the constant thinking and amount of concentration required. Our brains use a disproportionately large amount of our bodies resources and I believe this leads to large amounts of stress when done too much. I'm a big believer that programmers should not code more than 4 hours per day so that our minds have enough to rest and recover properly.
  - yiedyie 13y ago
    That reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut: "We’re only smart four hours a day." http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/18/james-brady-on-media-cx_jb_0119vonnegut.html http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/18/james-brady-on-media-cx_jb_...
- yunyeng 13y ago
  I am thinking to move to India or Nepal somewhere near temples to clear my mind and body with books and stuff, Am I doing right ?
  - paublyrne 13y ago
    From my experiences in India, you might not find it clears your mind. India can seem like complete chaos to people from the West, and it kind of is. You don't have to go somewhere to find peace of mind, though. Have a look at Mindfulness - its central tenet - roughly - is that we spend too much time living in the past and the future, when we can be happy if we just accept where we are right now.
    - yunyeng 13y ago
      Where are you currently living ?
- danieltillett 13y ago
  I think we all have only so much willpower and the more we work the less willpower we have to resist temptation. I find it much easier to resist that choc chip cookie when I am not working hard than when I am in the middle of some huge project.
  - yiedyie 13y ago
    Depends what kind of work, I had a gap in my IT career but I worked all this time, some physical labor and helping and caring for my old-aged grandparents. Exactly this is my speculation: spending time in front of a computer coding has some adverse repercussions on your mental health. If social media does it, why not coding? I don't think is a willpower issue, I think it is more of a surrounding environment issue. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
  - Dewie 13y ago
    If that is true, then just think of how much willpower we have to exert in modern society, from the novelty and escape that the browser provides to the candy bars in the supermarket. I read about a study some years ago that posited that, indeed, willpower is something that you deplete and have to recharge.

yiedyie 13y ago

I had a gap in my professional career where I didn't code nor worked with computers very much and I saw a decrease in addictive behavior. Can we blame programming or isolation when coding, is this a professional disability? Too bad that there is no real interest in studying this issues from a psychological/sociological point of view.

mattm 13y ago
Personally, in my experience, I have found it to be because of the constant thinking and amount of concentration required. Our brains use a disproportionately large amount of our bodies resources and I believe this leads to large amounts of stress when done too much. I'm a big believer that programmers should not code more than 4 hours per day so that our minds have enough to rest and recover properly.
- yiedyie 13y ago
  That reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut: "We’re only smart four hours a day." http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/18/james-brady-on-media-cx_jb_0119vonnegut.html http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/18/james-brady-on-media-cx_jb_...
yunyeng 13y ago
I am thinking to move to India or Nepal somewhere near temples to clear my mind and body with books and stuff, Am I doing right ?
- paublyrne 13y ago
  From my experiences in India, you might not find it clears your mind. India can seem like complete chaos to people from the West, and it kind of is. You don't have to go somewhere to find peace of mind, though. Have a look at Mindfulness - its central tenet - roughly - is that we spend too much time living in the past and the future, when we can be happy if we just accept where we are right now.
  - yunyeng 13y ago
    Where are you currently living ?
danieltillett 13y ago
I think we all have only so much willpower and the more we work the less willpower we have to resist temptation. I find it much easier to resist that choc chip cookie when I am not working hard than when I am in the middle of some huge project.
- yiedyie 13y ago
  Depends what kind of work, I had a gap in my IT career but I worked all this time, some physical labor and helping and caring for my old-aged grandparents. Exactly this is my speculation: spending time in front of a computer coding has some adverse repercussions on your mental health. If social media does it, why not coding? I don't think is a willpower issue, I think it is more of a surrounding environment issue. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
- Dewie 13y ago
  If that is true, then just think of how much willpower we have to exert in modern society, from the novelty and escape that the browser provides to the candy bars in the supermarket. I read about a study some years ago that posited that, indeed, willpower is something that you deplete and have to recharge.