bluejeff
Level 7 Valued Member
Greetings SF community.
I am a 40 year old working on an undergraduate physics degree. While I find the material and much of the mathematics quite interesting, the sheer volume of it in the timeframe I have to learn each semester often feels overwhelming. I want to start homework the evening after classes, but often times if I exercise in the afternoon, I lose mental energy and it becomes very hard to focus. Many days it's hard even if I don't work out.
I am not sure how much to attribute this to age at this point, and how much to attribute to the fact that it really is a lot of material (especially for someone who only first learned calculus something like 18 months ago). I just feel like I learn reaallllyyy slowwww. It's not that I can't understand the material; it feels like I need a dozen exposures to the same thing for it to start to stick. In the past I have relied on repetition and practice, but currently have some struggles even getting to the point where I can do that, depending on what the topic is. The pace of the courses also does not allow me to take my time and let things really sink in.
I guess I am wondering if anyone has had any success with supplements, diet, lifestyle modifications, etc for increasing mental energy and focus. I realize it is an unfortunate reality of university that the workload kind of takes over one's life, but I am struggling with my mental gastank. The will to do the work and read and watch videos and whatnot is all there, it's just that I run out of gas and at that point the information on a page in front of me just looks like gibberish.
I also have had to reduce my training volume to something like a third of what it used to be. I've relied on greasing the groove and playing with different semi-minimalist routines, but I feel like school exhaustion is holding me back from much progress, which I've seen little of in the last six months.
I do drink a little and use a little THC (legal here in Colorado), but try my best to limit myself to just a few beers a week and one (sometimes two...) days using THC. I try to do these things on my weekend when I don't have to be in school the next day and just have to work the weekend job. I do wonder if cutting out one or both entirely would impact things much though.
Just curious if anyone has gotten through similar experiences and come out "on top." I fully realize that the reality of these things may very well just be that it is the way it is and I just need to get through it.
Thanks in advance.
I am a 40 year old working on an undergraduate physics degree. While I find the material and much of the mathematics quite interesting, the sheer volume of it in the timeframe I have to learn each semester often feels overwhelming. I want to start homework the evening after classes, but often times if I exercise in the afternoon, I lose mental energy and it becomes very hard to focus. Many days it's hard even if I don't work out.
I am not sure how much to attribute this to age at this point, and how much to attribute to the fact that it really is a lot of material (especially for someone who only first learned calculus something like 18 months ago). I just feel like I learn reaallllyyy slowwww. It's not that I can't understand the material; it feels like I need a dozen exposures to the same thing for it to start to stick. In the past I have relied on repetition and practice, but currently have some struggles even getting to the point where I can do that, depending on what the topic is. The pace of the courses also does not allow me to take my time and let things really sink in.
I guess I am wondering if anyone has had any success with supplements, diet, lifestyle modifications, etc for increasing mental energy and focus. I realize it is an unfortunate reality of university that the workload kind of takes over one's life, but I am struggling with my mental gastank. The will to do the work and read and watch videos and whatnot is all there, it's just that I run out of gas and at that point the information on a page in front of me just looks like gibberish.
I also have had to reduce my training volume to something like a third of what it used to be. I've relied on greasing the groove and playing with different semi-minimalist routines, but I feel like school exhaustion is holding me back from much progress, which I've seen little of in the last six months.
I do drink a little and use a little THC (legal here in Colorado), but try my best to limit myself to just a few beers a week and one (sometimes two...) days using THC. I try to do these things on my weekend when I don't have to be in school the next day and just have to work the weekend job. I do wonder if cutting out one or both entirely would impact things much though.
Just curious if anyone has gotten through similar experiences and come out "on top." I fully realize that the reality of these things may very well just be that it is the way it is and I just need to get through it.
Thanks in advance.