
Ask HN: How do you deal with brain fog? -  noshbrinken
Do programmers have this?  Has it affected your work? 
======
slmrnz
As I get older, I'm noticing my head has gotten much cloudier. 

I often fix it at work by leaving notes for myself within in my code, my
notebook, and assigning myself JIRA bug.  I've also noticed that working out in
the morning before work leaves more relaxed during the day and helps my memory
quite a bit. 

It hasn't negatively impacted my work as far as I can tell.  I've had to
bandaid fix it using the above methods, but as long as it doesn't get much
worse I don't see it becoming an issue. 

------
cdvonstinkpot
I'm not a programmer per se, but I've encountered this.  Probably after age 35
I noticed I couldn't remember stuff I wanted to come back to as well as I had
become used to years prior.  I've adapted by taking extensive notes & using a
"To Do List" app on Android in which I can remind myself of stuff for later. 

I have to say though, this year is the first time I've used an Android, having
been a BlackBerry fan since 2006.  I still have yet to find a "Tasks" app as
good as the BlackBerry's "Tasks" app. 

Perhaps worth mentioning is that I've also noticed that coffee (& caffeine in
general) no longer provides the desired 'pep' & alertness it used to.  I
switched to Yerba Mate last summer & it didn't live up to the hype that caught
my interest.  Was lurking on r/Nootropics for awhile before deciding that would
be too expensive to try.  Saw some success stories there, so I figured I'd
mention it here.  YMMV

Best of luck! 

------
iclouddrive
time off, therapy, anti-depressants, outdoor hobbies. 

keeping tons of notes, screenshots and todos in onenote

~~~
smt88
I'll add sleep to this list. 

Also, re: anti-depressants: the research is very mixed on the effectiveness
vs. placebo[1], and the side effects may not be worth what positive effects
are experienced.  Many anti-depressants can actually _create_ brain fog (which
is, of course, a worthwhile price to pay if the alternative is feeling
suicidal). 

In general, it's wise to start with therapy and see what your health-care
providers recommend from there. 

1\.
[https://gimletmedia.com/episode/11-antidepressants/](https://gimletmedia.com/episode/11-antidepressants/)

~~~
iclouddrive
for me, sleep wasn't happening and didn't come until several weeks of both
therapy and antidepressants - but yes, everyone is different and different
drugs work in different ways for everyone.