Increasing 'Brain' Work Capacity

Velve921

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Lately, I've been putting more time and productivity into creativity of my work and increasing my work capacity in this area. So typically, when people are preparing for an athletic competition, it can be common for them to increase their work capacity for the competition. Right now, I'm focusing on increasing my work capacity for my brain function within my work.

For example, yesterday I spent 4 hours of writing material in a specific area and noticed in the final hour my mind and was fatigued. However, a couple weeks earlier I struggled to do more than 30 minutes at a time.

Does anyone have research that discusses work capacity of the mind, brain, or anything related in that area?

Thank you!
 

milkboi

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When my metabolism is sluggish and I'm tired it usually makes no sense for me to study at all. Nothing sticks, I have to read difficult sentences more than one time etc. When my metabolism is on point I can blast through whatever I do. But still, after a few hours (with little breaks inbetween) I'm mentally fatigued. I haven't found a way around that. You can probably stretch that time window by exercising the mental activity and optimizing metabolism, but difficult mental task can't be practiced all day every day in a sustainable way imo.
 

Hans

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For me when my brain is fatgued, I have some sugar, caffeine, methylene blue, B1 and then I'm good to go again. Works like a charm.

The ability of the brain to work for long periods depends largely on energy production.
And also, the more you use a certain part of your brain, the more it will "grow". It upregulates blood flow (vascularization) and mitochondrial mass in the specific areas that is used a lot, thus improving the ability to do something. Classic example is the taxi drivers mentioned by Peat.
 

Beastmode

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Consistent, quality sleep has been the biggest shift for me. Of course that requires a robust metabolism which points back to the same fundamentals over and over that Peat suggests.

I use 3 metrics for sleep:
- Ability to fall asleep fast without being exhausted.
- Sleeping throughout the night without waking.
- Ease and quality of waking up.

Still a ways to go, but getting these improved can be a "game changer."
 

Cirion

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Consistent, quality sleep has been the biggest shift for me. Of course that requires a robust metabolism which points back to the same fundamentals over and over that Peat suggests.

I use 3 metrics for sleep:
- Ability to fall asleep fast without being exhausted.
- Sleeping throughout the night without waking.
- Ease and quality of waking up.

Still a ways to go, but getting these improved can be a "game changer."

+1

I use waking body temperature/pulse as essentially my objective markers for sleep quality. Both are strongly correlated. If my waking temp is less than 98F, I can expect a rough day with not much productivity/sluggish metabolism also. But if my temp is closer to 98.4F+, I know I'm gonna have a good day both productivity wise and overall metabolically.

Yes the tips suggested like sugar/caffeine/MB can be useful in the short term, but if you don't fix waking temps/sleep in the long term, you'll be fighting an uphill battle.
 

Beastmode

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+1

I use waking body temperature/pulse as essentially my objective markers for sleep quality. Both are strongly correlated. If my waking temp is less than 98F, I can expect a rough day with not much productivity/sluggish metabolism also. But if my temp is closer to 98.4F+, I know I'm gonna have a good day both productivity wise and overall metabolically.

Yes the tips suggested like sugar/caffeine/MB can be useful in the short term, but if you don't fix waking temps/sleep in the long term, you'll be fighting an uphill battle.

I agree! Measuring those things haven't been a consist thing lately, but they definitely correlate with my experience as well. It's not a 100% accurate, but I can pretty much tell now where I'm at body temp wise with success.
 

baccheion

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Meditation, brainwave entrainment audio, nootropics, vitamins/minerals/amino-acids, working in fasted state, blended vegetables (akin to juice fasting), clean eating..

Brain fatigue in that way implies low energy/glucose or increased oxidation/inflammation. Some even take a nap to refresh.
 
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Some of this stuff mentioned here applies to me. Some days are just "off days" where I try things and it just seems more of a challenge mentally (like writing as I'm doing here for example). But then it seems almost magically that some other days everything is just easier to do quicker + more efficiently.

I don't know how much of it is metabolism and mindset (because the mindset does clearly matter too). I've had days where I felt super energized and refreshed, but not too excellent in the brain department -- and sometimes more the opposite (not feeling as high metabolically but able to do multi-tasking stuff quite well and etc.).

I know that certain foods/etc. can temporarily shoot up concentration and performance and whatnot (for me at least) like:

1. Lots of sugar/carbs (like > 100 grams at once or within a short time window);

2. Caffeine/coffees/etc. or at least two or three servings of a regular cup of coffee's caffeine amount for most people who can tolerate it;

3. Positive/positivity in mindset (when I feel more negative/stressed it seems more of a challenge and I lose focus -- when the opposite I'm more swift);

4. Exercise sometimes. On some days when I would exercise well I felt like a mental block release at times which opened up a whole new mode of thinking/mental acuity/etc. It isn't always a thing/doesn't always happen with exercising, but there's evidence I've heard that some exercise can help mental productivity/means overall.

5. Last would be supplements/nootropics aside from the already common things known. I'm not too sure here, but I'm hearing more and seeing more marketing of products tailored toward the more nootropic aware/informed crowds -- or just people looking for a "next-level" type of pick me up. I've heard of Neuriva and etc., but can't say how effective these are personally because, well, I've never tried any of them. Some people definitely get benefits from them, whether placebos or not.

And I realize now that I'm not linking any studies/research, but just personal observations.......
 

Beastmode

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Besides sleep, neurofeedback training has been quite surprising in my work capacity, organization abilities, etc.

Nowadays, you can get some of the basic ones for home use like Neuroptimal.
 
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