←back to thread

The quiet art of attention

(billwear.github.io)
865 points billwear | 1 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.28s | source
Show context
vonnik ◴[13 Oct 24 16:53 UTC] No.41829523[source]▶
Cognitive control is one of the most important issues of our era, IMHO:

https://vonnik.substack.com/p/how-to-take-your-brain-back

There are many techniques to increase our CC. The ADHD community is a trailblazer in this respect.

replies(7): >>41829800 #>>41829818 #>>41830771 #>>41831539 #>>41831591 #>>41832143 #>>41834108 #
larodi ◴[13 Oct 24 21:06 UTC] No.41831591[source]▶
The universally accepted ADHD community’s technique seems to be called Adderall. It is difficult to pinpoint another universally accepted technique. Breathwork is not always good for ADHD from my personal experience and is not universally accepted. So really wonder what this trailblazer thing is about.

Another very apparent shortcut to ADHD treatment, also not universally accepted, is called endogenous adrenaline - the simplest drug molecule as somebody (Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash if memory serves right) designated it, and extreme sports provide a lot of it for free. This article though, does not seem to be about any of these - adrenaline or sports. Extreme sports such as snowboarding, downhill biking, paragliding (not really a sport), motorbiking, etc… are all about said state of flow and attention. No other activities I can think of that impact ADHD so quick and profound. Cause you loose your attention only once with these things.

replies(3): >>41831965 #>>41834852 #>>41836039 #
dailykoder ◴[14 Oct 24 06:43 UTC] No.41834852[source]▶
I just got diagnosed with ADHD in 2023, but been addicted to adrenalin all my life. And I must say it had tremendous effects. The times where I was doing active extreme sports (Downhill mountainbiking or Motocross in my case) have been those where I had my mind in the clearest possible state. It's not only that my mind would calm down in that exact moment, but it lasted for quite a few days.

At first there was the adrenaline spike, when it wore off then the body exhaustion kicked in, and when my body started to recover, the week was almost over again and I could get another dose.

Over the past couple years I tried to avoid the risk a little and been just doing "easy" mountainbike tours. And oh boy, that's the thing for me. I think only my brother can relate how that feels to me. It starts out like a normal bike ride, but my eyes are always on the outlook for some fun spots (where can I jump up/over/down? How long can I wheelie today? You name it..). This combined with hours of just mundane paddeling is the way for me. Keeps stress levels low and my mind at ease, plus a few fun adrenaline spikes.

BUT ritalin is still a great great relieve for me. Though I wish I would not need it. For now it works, but I'll try to find habits that will hopefully make it obsolete one day. And the diagnosis was a good starting point for that, because now I know why my brain behaves different than others

replies(1): >>41835187 #
1. larodi ◴[14 Oct 24 07:44 UTC] No.41835187[source]▶
Ritalin is not something everyone can take, contrary to amphetamines which seem to be super adopted, and particularly in the form of pseudo-ephedrine. My friend in Europe gets nausea from Ritalin and is considering obtaining Adderall from the black market. Even though this automatically means he stops driving cars. He is also potentially interested in micro-dosing psylocibine where anecdotal evidence exists it relaxes the adhd condition. Surprisingly even MAPS (maps.org) don’t do research in this particular direction even though they are pushing hard for FDA approval for many studies.

Everything else totally matches my experience and also resonates very strong and could potentially imply link between adhd and extreme sports. Would love to see an article on this topic, but I’m not trained in medicine so I can’t do it with reasonable credibility.

Whoever does it may cite comments here. A waiver.