Procrastination. Inability to study or focus.

[sleepless1]

I am sitting at the library. I've been here for 3 hours. There is a book in front of me but I have yet to open it. This happens everytime!

Is it:

-Learned helplessness
-Fear of failure (not learning anything?)
-Something else?

Note that anxiety puts a lock on my brain so studying while nervous will be pointless anyways because nothing will be retained, or at worse, it will subconsciously condition me to hate the thing I'm studying.

When I was younger I had an intellectual curiosity and got pleasure from learning, after a few years on SSRI's this seemed to go away.

How can I start studying, and also, get that curiousity back?

 

[Korven]

I get the same thing when I have high estrogen symptoms from gut irritation. I feel extremely stimulated (in a negative way) and am unable to focus on anything for more than a few seconds, I also get lazy, angry and frustrated, feel overwhelmed, etc. This goes away when I stick with foods that I feel good eating, coffee is also helpful for me.

What does you diet look like? I would recommend keeping a food journal and see if some foods trigger this state for you. Low body temps/hypothyroidism also makes it hard to study.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I am sitting at the library. I've been here for 3 hours. There is a book in front of me but I have yet to open it. This happens everytime!

Is it:

-Learned helplessness
-Fear of failure (not learning anything?)
-Something else?

Note that anxiety puts a lock on my brain so studying while nervous will be pointless anyways because nothing will be retained, or at worse, it will subconsciously condition me to hate the thing I'm studying.

When I was younger I had an intellectual curiosity and got pleasure from learning, after a few years on SSRI's this seemed to go away.

How can I start studying, and also, get that curiousity back?

I would suggest drinking liquid meals during the day and solid meals after being productive. Solid meals make me feel like procrastinating.

 

[Peatness]

I've seen your post on the vaccine mandate at your school, no wonder you can't concentrate. It's a tough decision but once you decide where you stand you will be able to move forward.

 

[Chad_Catholic]

You need to match your breathing--i.e. your oxygen input and CO2 output--with the activity. Do 15-20 minutes of Buteyko breathing before you start studying, starting with smaller inhales and longer exhales.

 

[Callmestar]

It's a form of ADHD. Be it from your birth brain chemistry, or from emotional trauma/ptsd destroying your attention span or simply the reality we currently live in with phone screens, technology and the instant gratification of a dopamine hit at the click of a button.....no brain wants to study when it has the alternative option of something far more interesting and more dopamine inducing on their phone or tablet via social media, youtube or whatever your thing is.

 

[sleepless1]

It's a form of ADHD. Be it from your birth brain chemistry, or from emotional trauma/ptsd destroying your attention span or simply the reality we currently live in with phone screens, technology and the instant gratification of a dopamine hit at the click of a button.....no brain wants to study when it has the alternative option of something far more interesting and more dopamine inducing on their phone or tablet via social media, youtube or whatever your thing is.

Thanks for all the responses.

But this one especially!

I was diagnosed with ADHD and started taking Ritalin recently. I still struggle. I also take lion's mane and sulforaphane (broccoli extract), but I don't think they're helping either.

What else can I try?

 

[YourUniverse]

Low thyroid.

 

[Deborah888]

Thanks for all the responses.

But this one especially!

I was diagnosed with ADHD and started taking Ritalin recently. I still struggle. I also take lion's mane and sulforaphane (broccoli extract), but I don't think they're helping either.

What else can I try?

You sound just like my 19yo son, who got it from me. He has adhd. He studies at night so at dinner he takes 2 Mind Lab Pro capsules and sometimes 500mg Aniracetam, which really help him. (We've tried the prescriptions but for him they caused chest pains and severe depression). Mind Lab Pro has Lion's Mane in it along with l-theanine, bacopa, phosphatidylserine, nal-tyrosine, rhodiola, pine bark and citicoline, as well as B6, B9, and B12. Also, staying on a rigid sleep schedule has been crucial. Aniracetam is hard to find but it's the only thing that's helped both me and him with mood and motivation. No side effects so far for either of us, anyway. I hate that my only "help" is some supplements but we've tried so many things and have only found these to be helpful. He does seem to study better if he doesn't eat much before or during.

 

[Callmestar]

Thanks for all the responses.

But this one especially!

I was diagnosed with ADHD and started taking Ritalin recently. I still struggle. I also take lion's mane and sulforaphane (broccoli extract), but I don't think they're helping either.

What else can I try?

I have much the same difficulties. I'm not yet diagnosed with ADHD but have been on a waiting list for over 2 years waiting for diagnosis. Either way, I don't need the diagnosis to tell me I have it, but some Ritalin to help on occasions where I desperately need to focus, might be useful. Without a diagnosis, it seems near impossible to get Ritalin in the UK. Where are you based?

On to your question of what else can you try. In my experience, other than medications, the few practical things that can help are:

- Being disciplined to the extreme. You have to force yourself to create the habit of being organised, tidy, sticking to a routine, avoiding procrastination and instant gratification where possible. It will be very difficulty if you have an ADHD brain but I fully believe if you do this consistently enough, and create the habit of discipline, your brain begins to change through neuroplasticity and is automatically more orgainsed, more focused and less drawn towards procrastination and instant gratification.

- Meditate. Any meditation if you are consistent with it can help but specifically I have find focus type medications to be beneficial for improving ADHD/lack of focus. When I say focus meditation, I mean something like an open eyes meditation where you stare at one spot for the entire meditation. That could be a candle flame (I've found this useful) or any random spot on the way. As long as you stay focused on this one spot for the meditation, it is training your focus. Alternatively, eyes closed meditation where you focus on a bell sound that rings and fades out, then rings again, I have found useful. Listen to the sound intently and attempt to focus on only that.

- Have rules around Phone/device use. A good one, is do not use your phone for the first hour of the day. Allow your brain to do what it needs to do after sleep before jumping instantly do dopamine draining phone scrolling. Also I would avoid phone/device use at least one hour before sleep if possible. Ideally if you can limit the use of devices/social media etc to a few hours a day as a treat, that would be beneficial.

- Read. Just ****** read. Do it instead of using your phone in bed at night. I can't stand reading. Other than if it's information such as on forums like these. But reading books, I found tedious and I can't get absorbed into fiction. But it seems to do something to recalibrate the brain and improve focus if you read regularly rather than using devices for entertainment.

I hope some of that helps.

 

[Sitaruîm]

Stop trying to give it names. Discipline is what you need, and you can train yourself little by little. Set amicable goals that you know you will achieve, and go on gradually increasing what you demand from yourself. Soon enough you will notice a difference.

 

[Nilogic]

Hello all,
I also struggle with a mild ADD form and am also a student in pharmacy technics,
I try to avoid medication because I feel really shitty on rilatin. I noticed that NAC, HTP5 (Griffonia) & Omega 3 supplements helped me most.

Here is an interesting video about it (it's quiet long I admit but very interesting)
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFL6qRIJZ_Y

 

[Zpol]

Have you tried practicing single pointed concentration?
I have found this to be unbelievably useful (after nutritional needs have been met of course). For a half hour a day I count my breaths, 1-20 and over again.
Others have counted words in a book for example. Basically any single thing will work, but do it intently. What will happen is that every few seconds other thoughts will come into your primary stream of thought, then you redirect it back to the intended single point of concentration over and over again. The intruding thought may be an itch you think you need to scratch or a thought about political events. Doesn't matter, you just keep redirecting it back to the original thought.

Technically this is considered a form of meditation so be careful with that. Meditation has it's down sides. The ability of single pointed concentration can be taken advantage of. Back when I first started practicing it, after about 4-6 months of solid practice, my efficiency and accuracy significantly increased at work, I ended up getting a promotion and a raise. This is why meditation is taught at corporate retreats (and in cults) I would imagine. Point being, the ability is great if you use it for something valuable like your studies for example, but it's soul crushing if you use it to enhance your performance at a meaningless job (or to join a cult which happened to a family member).

I stopped doing it after my soul got crushed. My concentration went haywire again, started getting anxiety and lost my ability to study anything, even important stuff like health for example. I've begun again with a new understanding. That's my anecdotal story but there does happen to be a lot of research on the beneficial affects of practicing concentration on brain function (it's hard to separate from research on meditation though unfortunately).

 

[SlowWalker]

Lots of people giving good advice, but consider maybe what your studying or procrastinating is not aligned with what you want in your life. I struggled greatly with procrastination in my studies (did not resonate with them but had to do it to complete my degree) it was quite bad to the point I thought I had some serious brain imbalances, as soon as I dropped it my procrastination problems went away. I don’t find myself procrastinating no where near as much as I did as Im mostly doing things I enjoy and see value in.

This might not be helpful as there will always be things in life that we dont want to do but need to for a greater means but it is worth considering if your studies are where you want to be.

 

[IT'S OVER]

same, i was very good at school until 14, then at 15 i started to have insomnia : never been able to study again, iam still trying but i just cant =(