Just plain good nutrition helps too. I've been on Huel (comparable to HN's sweetheart, Soylent) and I find my focus, clarity and mental stamina is noticeably better. A glass of freshly juiced fruits & vegetables makes me feel amazing for hours too. You need to give your body diverse nutrients and a steady metabolism. Empty calories and a sugar crash at 10:30 can really kill your momentum for the day.

This may be a bit OT but CBD have worked wonders for me in terms of better sleep. It really calms you down and keeps your heart rate down which is exactly what I wanted. And I’ve tried everything from melatonin to vitamin D and magnesium.

For me, the concern with CBD is that it's unregulated (therefore you don't necessarily know what you're getting) and is a legal grey area in most places.

Growers / producers in states with medical or recreational are a good place to look, since they have a vested interest in not losing their license. Some companies publish lab results — because, like you said, the regulation hasn’t caught up yet and you don’t know what you’re getting.

Legally, unless a state has specific laws against it (TX maybe?), the 2018 farm bill made hemp and its derivatives legal. But then the FDA jumped in right away and said, CBD supplements aren’t legal without approval.

IANAL, but I think the FDA memo applies to producers; I.e., I don’t believe one could get in trouble for buying CBD oil, but someone could theoretically get in trouble for selling it, if they market it as a supplement.

My concern is that it seems to be touted as some kind of "wonder cure" for anything and everything. While I'm sure a lot of people have seen results in various areas it does set off my bullshit alarm.

Many states with legal marijuana include regulations that require lab analysis results on a label attached to the product. This includes things like marijuana-derived CBD products.

Just to add some anecdata - same here. I've had moderate-to-mild anxiety issues my whole adult life - with a big somatic component. I've realized that I'd rather just live with it than deal with the downsides of any of the drugs out there, until CBD. It calms your body and slows your thoughts perfectly, with zero impairment or any other easily visible downside. If only it were more affordable.

For me, the concern is the dosage. I have heard the 20 mg capsules are not nearly enough, and it could get costly if you go well above that.

It works wonders for me, but I can only afford it about every other week.

No offense, but that's kind of a load of shit. As someone diagnosed with ADHD, I can get by alright without Adderall, but there is no denying the profound intensity of focus I get when I take it. And a good night's sleep doesn't even come close.

There are plenty of good arguments against enhancement-style use of stimulants, but to suggest they don't do anything more than decent rest is just silly.

I have ADD myself, and while I agree that adderall is something of a wonder drug in this regard, adopting a regular sleep schedule has had absolutely immense benefits for me. Almost every activity where it’s possible to gauge performance has seen a benefit.

I think the parent’s point about it being the biggest relative increase in cognitive function is correct.

I have ADHD as well, and sure, the stims absolutely help our focus. But we have ADHD. We have less dopamine and norepinephrine floating around our brains (in addition to other issues, like smaller-than-average size of the prefrontal cortex, by volume). These are the chemicals released by the medication. The goal with the meds, however, is to bring us up to baseline -- to a normal level of focus. To us, it feels like "Wow, look at all this FOCUS! I can actually CONCENTRATE!" But we feel like that because we have lots of experience knowing what it's like to be physically unable to do so, and merely operating at a normal level feels like magic to us.

I can't focus or perform adequately at all without my medicine. I didn't get diagnosed until 28, so I have a lifetime of evidence to back this claim up. And once I started taking meds, I went from a depressing career I hated to spending significant time and effort self-teaching programming and computer science in the evenings while working full time, and eventually changed careers. Something I absolutely never could have achieved without medically prescribed stimulants.

But it's really hard for me to take my experience as someone with a neurological disability/impairment, and try to apply it to other people without that impairment. For instance, even with my condition, there is a very delicate balance that has to be achieved with dosing. If I take even a little bit too high of a dose, I am hyperfocusing in a way I can't control, and on non-productive tasks. Spending three hours furiously rearranging books alphabetically is not productive. And since "normal" people don't have the same deficits that I do, I genuinely feel like have those people take any significant amount of stimulants would do something similar. I was around plenty of people who "used adderall to study" in college but clearly didn't actually have the condition. Let's just say "studying" tended to involve many things that weren't actually studying.

I don't think the parent comments's author was suggesting that stimulants are no more effective than sleep. Rather, I think he was suggesting that--if you aren't also struggling with ADHD or some other medical condition requiring stimulants--working on your sleep hygiene should be one of the first things you do before even considering stimulant use. Trying to patch over bad sleep with stimulants is long-term harmful.

I would imagine that when articles like these are posted, that their target audience is the average healthy individual without any medical issues which directly conflict with the subject at hand. As someone with ADD, I realize that the advice and guidance from my medical providers should come first and foremost and that my experiences and treatment paths will not be typical compared to the average individual.

Different people respond differently to different things. What he says (reliable sleep being remarkably effective for improving attention and focus) is very true, and was also recommended to me as a treatment for my ADHD because medication didn't work for me. Reliable rest worked better for me. So what you said is just silly.

I'd add "workout frequently" as well.

One of the best things a person can do to improve and maintain cognitive and physical function as they age is to workout. And it needs to be a real workout, not 45 lazy minutes on the elliptical while talking on the phone. A mix of HIIT and heavy weight lifting currently appears optimal.

EDIT

People really do hate exercise around here. The point of HIIT and weights is that when someone is younger they should be trying to build a base that can serve them as they age. When I think of life span and health span, having those reserves will make it easier to keep doing things as a person ages. If I could only pick a single thing to do to prepare myself for old age it would be lift weights. Specifically squats and dead lifts.

Don't listen to this guy. If you want to do 45 minutes on elliptical good for you. Some exercise > No exercise.

Sure, some is better than none. But, my comment specifically said the best way.

Definitely agree. And any of the following if you're physically able:

For my dad: I'll add in kayaking or canoeing (through a club, training with competitors), for my mom: rowing (same, again). For myself: mid-to-long distance running mixed with shorter sprints. It's also good for the knees if you look after your health, do it regularly, and wear proper shoes for the terrain and your body.

Yes! Exercise and a diet consisting largely of fresh food. And then some junk food, because life is for the living and you have to find some time for enjoyment as well.

Instead of junk food I go for super unhealthy but high-end food, rarely. A huge steak, excellent bar food, extravagant cake and baked goods - that sort of thing. Nutritionally bad for you in a way similar to junk food, but minus the mysterious lab-made stuff, and you get to have an aesthetic experience while still stimulating your monkey-brain.

You are probably throwing in some humor here. But...

> And then some junk food, because life is for the living and you have to find some time for enjoyment as well.

Interesting how enjoyment is connected to junk food.

Definitely a bit of humour. But it can be anything. I just mean you should look after yourself, but also don't take everything all too seriously. "It's life and life only." And I think indulging that side of oneself lends to happiness. The key is not giving over to that side completely.

My "junk food" in this case is beer, whisky, pizza, chips, and bad comedy movies. I enjoy them all greatly. Food can be a visceral pleasure and I can derive as much or more from a crappy pizza as I can from a gourmet meal. So... my "junk food" really is a lot of junk food. Yours or others may not be. Also YMMV.

I don't know why you were downvoted, and I'm also not sure what the GP means. Does he mean junk food == enjoyment or does he mean junk food is fast, saving you time for enjoyment?

Going quasi-paleo, I learned how food is supposed to taste, and everything tasted better. Junk food also tasted better. Way better. Crazy better. Years later, I still remember 1/6 of a pretty basic Safeway chocolate donut tasted, and what I was doing at the time (physics club). It was the first junk I had had in months.

On the other hand, my life would have been perfectly enjoyable without it as well. A link between junk food and enjoyment... I'm not going to judge it, but I'll say life's better when that link doesn't exist. When my life was nothing but junk food, nothing really tasted good. It was all just bland; like I was feeding a habit more than having a treat. Junk food was an escape from life for me, because life sucked. In part, it was not under my control. But in maybe the greater part, it was, and junk food was one thing I used to avoid having to do anything about it and still feel 'ok'.

As far as time, if you're eating well, planning ahead is key. You don't need junk food to help you get things ready faster, because you've already cut up some fruits and veggies for snacks, or you've got a bit of last night's steak for part of your breakfast.

Junk food is engineered pleasure. It has everything that your ancestors craved (salt, sugar, fat) compressed into a calorically dense marvel of science.

Indeed. A lot of very "highbrow" stuff fits into this category too (high salt,sugar,fat), not just Big Macs.

Heheh—many chefs will readily admit that what makes their food taste so good is the excess butter and salt they use compared to what people would use at home. Also "season at every stage".

I agree.