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244 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
% Fixing Concentration
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I had serious problems concentrating. Typically, I rapidly lost focus or just
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felt blah and unmotivated the whole day, often with a (minor to medium)
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depression thrown in for good measure. Here's what I tried and how I finally
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fixed it.
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Diet and Drugs
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==============
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Caffeine
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--------
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![totally safe](coffee_cat.jpg)
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Caffeine does drastically improve my concentration. It gave me an
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indiscriminate, but very narrow focus. I could work for hours on basically anything,
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but found it hard to change topics or decide what to do in the first place. But
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if I made those decisions early on and arranged it so that I could work all day
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without disturbances, then caffeine worked really well.
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Nonetheless, there are multiple problems with caffeine. Most importantly, it
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reduces serotonin and builds up a resistance. Because of the resistance, you
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either soon get diminishing returns while still dealing with all of the
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downsides, or you keep on increasing the dosage till you crash. I typically went
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the crash route. Reduced serotonin levels lead to an unstable mood, depression,
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crankiness and twitching muscles. All very sucky.
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Furthermore, caffeine screws up my sleep. It improves some part of it, but makes
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it less regenerative and harder to fall asleep. However, a sudden large dose has
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the opposite effect. I fall asleep easily and dream very vividly, totally
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cocaine-fueled. While I won't *feel* sleep-deprived, I will still *be* it.
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Caffeine also is bad for my digestion and raises insulin levels (particularly
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because I prefer coffee with at least some sugar). Given all those
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disadvantages, I tried to get rid of it for years now, but never found a worthy
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alternative. With the discovery of the following techniques, though, I finally
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managed to kick it for good.
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Animal Fat and Protein
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----------------------
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Despite what virtually all common wisdom is going to tell you, animal fat is
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probably the most important thing for you to eat. (The second-most important are
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bacteria[^bacteria]). As I'm a bit lazy, I'll do no convincing here and leave
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this to the [Paleo] crowd. (Ignore the libertarians. Just try it yourself for a
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week and be amazed.) If you are an vegetarian, then you really shouldn't be one.
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But the very least don't be a vegan, k? Because then you are royally screwed
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with regards to food.
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[^bacteria]:
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I'm just gonna send you over to [Seth Roberts] on this. I completely agree
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with him on everything about nutrition, having tested it all myself.
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Seriously, grab yourself some strong jogurt (not the sweet stuff, but the
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good, sour one), kefir or miso and eat it. Every day. You can thank me later
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when most of the problems you just lived with are gone.
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[Seth Roberts]: http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/category/umami-hypothesis/
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[Paleo]: http://www.paleonu.com/what-is-panu/
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Eating about 50-100g of butter refuels my energy almost completely in less than
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20 minutes and greatly increases concentration. I perform better on all
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intelligence and memory tests I used and find learning (especially with Anki)
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to be easier and more enjoyable. I'm now reworking my diet to get in as much
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as I can. I eat plenty of quark, butter (even raw) and as fatty a dinner as I
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can get away with.
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Butter is my clear favorite. Very high-fat (>50%) cream, cheese or quark work as
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well, but I don't like their taste too much. I do eat a lot of quark with about
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15-20% fat content, though, and the occasional psychedelic cheese[^cheese].
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When choosing butter, be sure to pick one from grass-fed cows. It contains high
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levels of Omega-3, which also greatly increases all kinds of mental functions
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and general health. A good and wide-spread brand is Kerrygold, although there
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are often local alternatives as well.
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[^cheese]:
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I'm not kidding here. I have no idea what exactly is causing it, but
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*something* in certain cheeses is clearly psychedelic. I get a trippy mood,
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incredibly wild dreams and even some mild hallucinations. I suspect the
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tryptophan, but it doesn't really fit the dosage and only seems to happen
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with cheese. Anyway, I recommend Danish Havarti.
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The other component is protein. I'm not yet sure about a good base level, but I
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found that eating a lot more meat and eggs also helps. Not as noticeable as with
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fat (that is, the effect doesn't kick in right away), but it's certainly there.
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Just as with animal fat, this doesn't apply to any plant source. Soy or flour
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don't count as a good protein source because of all their other negative
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effects. I know how much living without grains sucks, being a big fan of pizza
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and tofu, but having collected data for months now, I can quite clearly say
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that, at least for me, grains are never worth it. They screw up your digestion,
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your mental performance and sap away your energy. That feeling of being totally
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sated and need for a nap after dinner? That's the grains. It's not normal.
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Eating dinner should have you *more* active than before, not *less*.
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St. John's Wort
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----------------
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St. John's Wort has gotten quite a bit of attention recently for being as least
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as effective as all other depression medicine while generally having far less
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side-effects.
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So far, it has been very successful in both preventing my typical seasonal
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depression beginning around November and in aborting an ongoing depression. I
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also took it during my most recent caffeine withdrawal and I think it greatly
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improved it, but I'm quite unwilling of doing another as a control.
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I'm unsure if there is any positive effect beyond preventing the depression. I
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had no noticeable side effects despite taking 900mg of it for months. As a test,
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I stopped a week after my caffeine withdrawal was over, as my serotonin levels
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were stable anyway and I suspected that St. John's Wort slightly decreases
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motivation, at least when it is unnecessary.
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Unfortunately, I had about a week of withdrawal, which mostly resulted in mild
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mania, severe tiredness and low motivation. Still more pleasant than caffeine
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withdrawal and certainly better (and shorter) than depression, which could last
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for months. I would still advocate slowly reducing the dose instead to avoid
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withdrawal.
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After that, my motivation didn't really recover. My mood was stable and my sleep
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returned to more normal levels, but I was still wasting a lot of time, as is
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typical for depression. So I went back to my daily dose and am quite happy with
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the result. I'm still trying to find the perfect dosage that is *just* beneath
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the overdose when my muscles start twitching and I get nervous. About 600mg work
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seems to work, though. I may try getting off again next spring, nonetheless,
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after everything has stabilized more.
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I suspect that 5-HTP works very well, too, although I never got to test it. I
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failed to try it a few years back when it was still unregulated in Germany,
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although I actually wanted to. It has a very good track record and I would
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recommend trying it if St. John's Wort doesn't work for you. I might... obtain
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it at some point, but so far, I am happy with St. John's Wort and see no
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advantage in switching.
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I have a relatively low opinion of most mainstream medication for depression,
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though especially SSRIs may be worth a try. Personally, I also had good
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short-term success with MAO inhibitors, but wouldn't recommend them because they
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are so incompatible with many other drugs or important food. It's just too hard
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to eat right and too easy to kill yourself on MAO inhibitors. Also, raised
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serotonin levels and drugs don't mix at all, especially MDMA or DXM. [Serotonin
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syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome) isn't nice. It's a
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bit of a pity, though, but I can live with that.
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Tyrosine
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--------
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![lolcatecholamines](lolcats.jpg)
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Now comes the magic bullet. Seriously, Tyrosine is among my favorite chemicals
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because it fixes a problem without creating new ones. That's quite rare.
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Tyrosine is basically a building block for many important neurotransmitters,
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most importantly the catecholamines (CATs) which are necessary for
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concentration and proper motivation. If you can't get yourself to do something
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you actually want to do (and enjoy), then you have a big CAT deficiency.
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Caffeine is by far the most common "cure", but with all its side-effects, it
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doesn't really fix the problem.
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Tyrosine, for me, does. On the first day, I took 900mg in the morning and all
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desire for caffeine was gone. I took another 900mg after dinner and kicked
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caffeine immediately. Without any side-effects or withdrawal symptoms. *None*.
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If you have ever done a caffeine withdrawal after heavy use, that might already
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be the selling point right there.
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I now use 900mg every morning and occasionally 900mg after a nap if I have a
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lazy day. I haven't yet experimented with higher doses (up to 4g) because I
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don't wanna jinx it. Taking the powder orally (keeping it in your mouth a bit)
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has a faster onset (and slight high), but taking capsules seems to have more or
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less the same effect. I'm still experimenting with this, though.
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I'm now completely caffeine free and have better long-term memory and a far more
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usable level of concentration. Full-on caffeine mode is slightly stronger, but
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so manic that it is utterly useless. Mental tunnel-vision is not a good thing,
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you know.
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With tyrosine, however, my concentration is as it should be. I don't have to
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trick myself into starting anything, but can just work right away. I only get
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exhausted when I actually did something (and can refuel with sleep and butter)
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and not at random times.
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As a last piece of evidence, I'm just going to mention three numbers. They are the
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number of daily [SRS](/reflections/srs.html) repetitions I could do per day
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before my brain would shut down. A year ago, using almost no caffeine and no
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tyrosine, I managed about 80 reps, max. A few months ago, using caffeine, I got
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up to 150, maybe 200, but that's a good day. 100 would be normal. The last two
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weeks, I did over 500 each day without breaking a sweat. I got up to 800 after 3
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hours of continuous work and that's still not the maximum level. I just normally
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stop after an hour or so because it gets too time-consuming or boring otherwise.
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Tyrosine is, however, useless when your serotonin levels are bad. You can be as
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concentrated as you want, if you are apathetic, nothing will get done. That's
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why I consider St. John's Wort more important, but tyrosine is more noticeable
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right away and ultimately the effect I was hoping for.
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Magnesium
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---------
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I took magnesium for my sore knee a year ago and noticed a minor drop in
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motivation while using it. I'm not exactly sure why and I couldn't find many
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reports, but a friend who used a similar dose of magnesium at the same time
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noticed the same thing, so better watch out, you know.
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Exercise
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========
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For simplicity's sake, there are two kinds of exercise: short-term muscle growth
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and long-term endurance training. The first one is good for you, but I found no
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effect on concentration or motivation at all. (Except for a testosterone high
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for about half an hour afterwards.)
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Endurance training does raise serotonin somewhat, but not very reliably and
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requires a large investment of energy beforehand. It's very hard to get yourself
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motivated enough to start and unless you own a treadmill or something like it,
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you won't have fast access either. I had reasonable success in fixing the
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serotonin problem with jogging, but it did very little for my concentration or
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motivation. Unless you enjoy it and would do it anyway, I recommend against it.
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There is also some indication that it is bad for your health, so it's not
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necessarily a good trade-off.
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Meditation
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==========
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Meditation works great, but has a serious disadvantage - it has a circular
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dependency on its own effect. In other words, when you practice meditation
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daily, it will greatly improve your discipline and concentration (among other
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things, like bringing you enlightenment), but to meditate successfully, you need
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discipline and concentration. You see how that's a problem?
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The typical solution to that problem has been either trying for years until you
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finally manage to bootstrap the process or going on retreats or entering a
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monastry, for a week to a whole year, where you are forced to meditate and have
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no alternative or escape route. It works, sure, but it's both kinda cruel and
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very inconvenient.
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Because of that, meditation is more of a middle- to end-game strategy. I highly
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recommend it, but you need a certain level of skill and concentration already to
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really use it. If you can't get out of bed, then meditation ain't gonna work,
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either. For introductions to meditation, I recommend going on a 10 day
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[Vipassana] retreat and [Shinzen Young]'s videos.
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[Shinzen Young]: http://www.youtube.com/user/expandcontract
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[Vipassana]: http://www.dhamma.org
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