I've got a problem and I want to know if anyone else has had this happen and knows how to fix it. Go to the bottom if you want to skip the rambling...

For the past couple of days, my brain hasn't been anywhere near peak performance; my math and language skills have suffered greatly because of it, and I'm saying things before thinking about them. Just in the past couple of days, I've screwed up some really basic math stuff:
-Claimed that csc(t) is (1/cos(t))
-Completely failed at radian measurements (pi/2 is half a rotation... except it isn't)
-Messed up basic addition and multiplication

And those are just what I remember off the top of my head (which clearly ain't all that much at the moment). These weren't careless errors either, this was stuff I did carefully and checked, and when I found I was wrong, it took me up to half a minute to see what I did wrong (with someone telling me that I was wrong and pointing out what I'd done incorrectly).

My English skills have dropped considerably too, and I've been taking far longer to process language in general recently, let alone replying (which I've never been that good at anyway). And that's not to mention Japanese, which I've been doing quite well in until a few days ago. I could barely speak during my tutoring session today either, only able to say and repeat things that were basically given to me; even my pronunciation was worse than usual (I found normally easy sounds to be difficult to coordinate).

I thought I was getting enough sleep (7+ hours per night, often with a nap during the day), I've been eating fine, though my physical activity has dropped quite a bit because of my current schedule. Normally I have to be sick to get anywhere near this bad, but I seem to be fine.

I have been under a lot of mental stress recently (cramming shit into my head for seven week courses, preparing for the JLPT, doing the rest of life... which isn't much else), but considering I do my best to prevent and alleviate stress, I can't understand how it's built up so much; compared to what most of my peers deal with, even these conditions are lenient.

More important than my academic ability though, is the problem its giving me with my road rage; it really pisses me off when I'm dealing with people who can't drive or recklessly endanger other drivers... then I become a hypocrite and do things that are dangerous to myself and other drivers to 'get back' at some dumbass... It doesn't even make me feel good either.
Anyway, I had gotten it pretty much under control, but with my reasoning becoming so sluggish, I've slipped into bad behavior twice before being able to finish processing that what I'm doing isn't such a good idea...

So, to the actual questions:
Have any of you experienced this feeling of mental inability recently? Are there any suggestions for how to alleviate it? Considering all my current activities require a sharp mind, this presents a big problem, and I'd like to get over it as soon as possible.

I have periods like this and am currently awaiting diagnosis after being released from a mental hospital. It's easy to dismiss things as not worth making a fuss about but I think at the very least tell your GP. I'm not saying you should assume this is anything other than you having a bad few days but you really don't want to wait until you're sure you have a problem. Right now when you've noticed something is different is the best time to discuss it with a professional.

I don't know if it's the case, but just to cover all scenario: there are some substances which cause things like the ones you're experiencing.
I'm saying this in the hope to be useful to you, I was a user of "heavy" drugs in the past.
Now I use only coffee and I can guarantee you that abstinence from caffeine messes with your mental capabilities more than anything else. Especially memory.
Another bad thing is alcohol, it affects nemory and concentration pretty badly. And I'm not talking a out long time use.
I don't know if this applies to you, but if it does, then maybe stop drinking alcohol and coffee can help...

cophnia61 Wrote:Now I use only coffee and I can guarantee you that abstinence from caffeine messes with your mental capabilities more than anything else.

That's because of caffeine tolerance. When you become a heavy caffeine user, your brain becomes tolerant to it to a point where you are running sub-par till you get some caffeine in you. Its no different than any other drug.

vix86 Wrote:

cophnia61 Wrote:Now I use only coffee and I can guarantee you that abstinence from caffeine messes with your mental capabilities more than anything else.

That's because of caffeine tolerance. When you become a heavy caffeine user, your brain becomes tolerant to it to a point where you are running sub-par till you get some caffeine in you. Its no different than any other drug.

Yeah, you're perfectly right! Fact is that after you get used to it, it becomes very hard to do anything without it, at least until you go through the abstinence period and your brain relearn how to work again without it.
What I've experienced is that this process of dependence/tollerance is very strong with caffeine, at least for me. More than certain hard drugs. And it messes with your sleep so it is no good for your brain ._.

[ファブリス]

Sounds like you are going through a patch of high stress? Lately I read up again on Ashwagandha.. seems to help people get better sleep. It isn't doing much for me now in the evening but I think taking them in the monring can mellow you out a little bit, without side effects.

Now since substance use has been mentioned. There is the one substance few people recognizes as such, yet there is growing evidence that it severely affects your brain with long term use and that is pornography. The irony here, is that lots of people use pornography to deal with stress and/or trauma and difficult emotions. Pornography use causes huge spikes of dopamine, which over time will cause your brain to adapt the same way it does to other hard drugs. The great porn experiment is the shorter TED talk from Gary Wilson, and there are lots of resources and a longer, updated presentation on his site yourbrainonporn.org. I have no interest at all in debating this topic myself, I just put it out there for your information. (ps: the newer presentation "Your Brain on Porn: How Internet porn affects the brain" made 4 years later has more data and cites more recent research but it's a lot more boring to sit through on a 1st watch.)

If anyone wants to debate this then it's probably best to start a new thread (quote me if you like), and not derail too much from sholum's question.

Don't know if it helps, but I find I often get really tired this time of year. I find it worst around the autumn equinox, I think because the rate of change of day length is at it's maximum (the daily hours of daylight is decreasing at its fastest (in the northern hemisphere)).
There's a lot of hocus written about the power of the equinoxes on our spirit energy and blablabla, but there actually is some evidence supporting the link between the change in day length and mood.

eg
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles...n-violence
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3731411/

obviously these articles are more concerned with the more extreme end of the spectrum (violence and manic episodes) and I'm not sure how much we should read into the results relating to general mood but it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that changes in day length may be having some effect.

The good news is, if it's just a seasonal effect, then it will pass with time. The bad news is it will be back next year!

If it is sudden onset it could be stress that has built up to the breaking point although I'd figure stress is the sort of thing that would build up on you.

I'd go see a doctor.

The sudden onset as well as the level of problems is not a good sign. Could be anything, mini stroke, zombieism, maybe you heard a Justin Beiber tune.

But seriously, doctor time.

Hi Sholum - I really hope you feel better soon.

There are a lot of good tips here so you see a lot of internet "strangers," including the guy who runs the community, are concerned about you.

This may be nothing but I would speak to a doctor just to be on the safe side. Internet advice on health issues from non-doctors may, or may not, be a useful complement to professional medical advice, so maybe you think about our collective ideas in a second instance.

My non-professional experience is that:

The mind is limited in the amount of stress it can take, and it looks like you are burning the midnight candle.

My body likes consistency, particularly when being pushed hard:

-The body get accustomed to the stress relief and other benefits of exercise. No question my learning rates and memory retention are much higher on average when I am exercising.

-Consistent sleeping patterns. Are your siesta's no later than say 15:00h? Are they shorter than say 45 minutes? If not, then your evening sleep may be poor.

If you are drinking a lot of coffee, your body may be having difficulty regulating that. It can make your brain run in circles. Some people have (or develop) high sensitivity to caffeine. Also, high caffeine intake can cause major problems with the heart.

As you are working hard, check out your diet. Sugar spikes don't help the mind. Maybe ramp down your intake of sugar/corn syrup, bleached wheat, processed foods, etc. and ramp up your consumption of fruits and vegetables?

Good luck and keep us posted!

I wouldn't get too stressed about it because it seems stress is creating your problem in the first place. It seem like you've got a pretty packed schedule and I believe that your brain needs a chance to just think about nothing for a while, or do something pleasurable like walking along a beach, hiking in the woods, or even a regular walk around the neighborhood without thinking about thinking about your problems. If you don't give your brain a chance to idle, you're going to have problems.

If you don't have time for any hiking, consider looking into mindfulness meditation. I haven't practiced it too much, but when I'm stressed I give it a try for 5 or 10 minutes and it really seems to quiet things down for me so I can concentrate.

I've found from my own experience that when I have a lot of demands on my time, I end up not eating well. When I've made it a point to eat well and take multivitamins, my stress level and cognition has seemed to improve quite a bit, even when I'm not sleeping much. So if you aren't eating well, that could be another part of the puzzle.

I've also been doing some research on supplements(paper, summary), and started taking fish oil a month or so ago. I'm generally pretty skeptical about these kinds of things, but I tried it on a whim and it seems to be helping me with my anki reviews. It seems to work well enough that I've decided to get serious about finding out what works for me. There's a few other compounds found in nature at allegedly improve brain function that you may want to look into. L-Theanine found in tea, allegedly helps focus and attention, Bacopa monnieri allegedly improves memory and Creatine allegedly helps improve reasoning. Maybe one of these will help you, but it sounds like you just need a vacation.

cophnia61 Wrote:Now I use only coffee and I can guarantee you that abstinence from caffeine messes with your mental capabilities more than anything else. Especially memory.

I don't know about this. Maybe it's different for different people, but I quit caffeine several years ago and it's been nothing but positive. I can concentrate better and more consistently and it's not dependent on how long ago my coffee ran out. I wouldn't go making a big change like quitting coffee in the middle of a big crunch period though. I'd wait till you have some extra bandwidth to deal with quitting because it's not trivial and you will see a decline in productivity for the first few weeks or months.

Many thanks for your input everyone! I was working on setting up an appointment with my GP anyway, so going a bit sooner will be fine. If it seems that concerning to other people, then I guess I shouldn't ignore it (I don't think it'd be anything as severe as a stroke though, considering that both language and math seem to be affected).

Coffee/alcohol/drug use:
-I only use Coffee when I need a performance boost (tests; usually only once or twice a week), and it's usually just double shot of espresso (which would be a medium roast) or a single cup of a dark roast (not as much caffeine as in normal coffee). Otherwise, my drink of choice is decaf tea, and there's very little in that.

-Alcohol isn't something I drink much either, because of how it affects sleep and memory retention; it's been a couple of months since I last had a drink.

-I legally took enough mind altering drugs when I was younger (being in the age of 'there's a pill for that' and all) that I have no desire to use them recreationally; even with alcohol, one drink is enough for me, since I don't drink to get drunk.

Environment, exercise, diet and sleeping:
It is starting to cool off, and it's been really cloudy recently (in fact, it's raining as I type this...); it's dark before I get out of class too... I have relatives that lose energy as the days get shorter and colder, but I've never been one of them, maybe it's just something that happens after a while...

I always take the stairs and go out of my way to walk long routes on campus, but I haven't had time for a bike ride at all recently, and I was riding nearly everyday before. Maybe I need to get that shoved back in my schedule somewhere.

My diet was mostly proteins, fats, vegetables (especially greens) and simple sugars. The vegetables have dropped off a bit though.

My sleep schedule is a bit inconsistent: three days I wake up early, four days I wake up a couple of hours later; I only take naps when I get up early, at about 15:00 for one hour two days a week and until I feel rested on Fridays (usually about the same amount of time), in both instances, I'm on a hard surface and sleep comes quick, but isn't deep, and I wake easily; I feel refreshed when getting up and rarely have high sleep inertia.

Waking up in the morning has become difficult though, and I have to force myself to get up, often with muscle weakness and poor coordination as if I'm still half-asleep (which I am, but that shouldn't be so persistent); I have to do something to distract myself long enough to wake up; I can't watch the news after I finish breakfast or I'll fall back asleep. That's something I've been dealing with off and on for years, but it's only come back recently.

@Fabrice
That's rather interesting, but I'm fairly sure I don't have a porn problem... fairly sure (lol). I'll look over that stuff sometime, though; seems like it might be interesting. As for Ashwagandha, after a bad time of melatonin dependance, I avoid taking any sleep aides (especially if I don't know how they're supposed to work); it's not something I knew about before though, it was interesting to read about.

I think I'll talk to a professional.
Thanks again everyone!

yogert909 Wrote:Maybe one of these will help you, but it sounds like you just need a vacation.

That's entirely possible. The college I'm going to right now made a switch to offering only seven week courses last year (a semester is usually 14 or 15 weeks). This means that even classes I wouldn't choose to take in the compressed schedule, like lab classes, must be taken this way. And in order to keep my full time student status, I have to take at least 12 credit hours per semester, but the classes I'm taking this time are all 4 credit hours (which is how many hours per week it would be if they were in a normal semester, since it's a lecture only class, but this way makes it 8), so excluding all related work (studying), I'm sitting in lectures for 16 hours a week (as opposed to 12, if they were 3 credit hour classes). In uncomfortable chairs (you can't sit properly in them, so my back has been hurting too).
This has also screwed up scheduling, so I'm there for six hours a day doing nothing a couple times a week (thus naps). I get some studying done too, but after sitting for so long, it's difficult to keep doing it (now I understand how they manage to turn sitting into a torture method).

Thankfully there are only two weeks left in this half-semester (tetramester?), so maybe I'll feel better then. Hopefully.

How physically active are you? For me, mental sluggishness comes whenever I fall into a routine that doesn't involve daily physical activity (at least an hour of two of walking, but preferably more demanding workouts or sports).

And I realize how hard it is to be physically active every day, when you're busy studying, or have a desk job. It's almost impossible. But it's also very important...so you should sacrifice some time spent pursuing your intellectual interests, and start getting outdoors (if you're not already doing that, in which case never mind).

[Zgarbas]

It's normal. You need your rest , and while a moderate amount of stress is a great stimulus, stress overload has all sorts of negative consequences, which can go anywhere from poor concentration, to anger management problems, to outright memory problems, and not just minor stuff about mathematics... Don"t stress yourself out even more by worrying about it. Try to hold on for another 2 weeks and then make the most out of your break.
I was really freaked out when I started blocking out Japanese for the first time (took me 6 months to get over it), but these days i know that when my language skills drop suddenly it"s just a phase and says nothing about my skills on a long-term basis (these days it's limited to bad days, and maybe the odd bad week).

sholum Wrote:More important than my academic ability though, is the problem its giving me with my road rage; it really pisses me off when I'm dealing with people who can't drive or recklessly endanger other drivers... then I become a hypocrite and do things that are dangerous to myself and other drivers to 'get back' at some dumbass... It doesn't even make me feel good either.

So originally I wasn't planning to respond to this thread because I prefer to not wade into personal issues online. But when people start saying that they consider themselves to be a danger to themself and others all sorts of alarm bells go off for me.

Please talk to your family, friends and doctors. This is an online forum and we can only be of limited help. If you cause a car accident and seriously harm someone or someone dies - which happens every day, even when people are at their best - then you won't be able to take that back.

just take a short break and eat chocolate ，haha

bleacher Wrote:just take a short break and eat chocolate ，haha

Seeing this, I am reminded that I never updated... Apparently, it was stress on top of a light cold; was all better within a week of my last post here.

As others said before, get some rest, or go see a doctor. I could very well be a simple minor burnout, nothing more. By the way, have you been taking enough vitamins? What I've learned over the last year, is that if you want to preform well mentally, you have to preform well, or even better physically. No joke, but of course this might not apply to you, but cutting back on exercise time to gain more study time could be a bad trade off.

Double the amount of exercise you did / do a week, and definitely level up your vitamin dose, coupled with some extra stuff like Omega-3-6, or Ginko, or whatever. All this of course after 1-2 weeks of doing NOTHING.

If this doesn't help, go see a doctor.

Glad to hear it Sholum. Thanks for letting us know.