Do any of you ever feel as if you’re intelligence is evaporating? I frequently experience periods of time, days sometimes, where reading is near impossible, where the words simply fail to congeal into ideas. I find myself reading the same damned sentence three or four times before comprehending (actually, I tried reading one of the SD books yesterday, and couldn’t get past the chapter on science…nothing was making sense). I never used to have this problem, but I do now, more and more with less “up time” in between, and it scares the bejeezuz out of me.
See, I’m a writer (though you can’t tell from this poorly constructed OP), an editor for my college newspaper, actually, and it’s the one thing at which I’ve always considered myself good, but writer’s block comes fast and furious during these same times.
I’m only 21, for the love of Pete, and I already feel like my brain is emploding or something.
You’re not alone, DB. I’m only 20 and I already felt my intelligence was waning in my junior year of high school. I’m a writer at timea as well, but stories and many many times I haven’t been able to come up with a thing. I just to roll them out like they were water. And I just dont’ feel I retain things as well or as easy anymore or keep them as long. It really upsets me to think I’m getting stupid.
I wouldn’t be concerned DB. I find when I have either a) not slept enough, b)am under stress, c)haven’t had enough sex or d)have been reading too much (and I normally read a lot), I have the same problem. Hmm, maybe it’s an early 20’s thing? I am 22.
I’m nearly nineteen, and I feel the same way. I still do well in academic stuff, perhaps better than ever, but I feel like my once-scathing debate skills are leaving me, and my brain is starting to move slower. The peak for me was sixteen. It might just be that we’re getting more discerning and demanding of ourselves. I’d been a pretty smart teenager, but now I’m suddenly an adult, and rather unremarkable. It’s sort of like moving from amateur to pro status in sports. I figure it will take another fifteen or twenty years for me feel like a fairly intelligent adult.
I am either constantly tired or I can’t sleep, sometimes both at the same time, whichever is most inconvenient. I have no appetite. I have no sex drive and no motivation. And I find my brain just getting mushier and mushier.
This has been going on for about a week. At first I scented “depression”, but then I realized that I’m not actually depressed in any way comparable to any of my other bouts of depression. It’s like I have all the side symptoms and not the actual depression itself.
I’m making a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Maybe it’s a physical thing.
It’s a little known fact that the human brain is incredibly inefficient at replacing destroyed brain cells (ask any drunk). When one is young (pre-puberty), the brain produces an excess of new neurons, far outstripping the rate of destruction.
Actually, this is to prepare the young person for the joys of puberty. S/He needs these new neurons to process and remember all the new things they will be learning as budding adults (what is the opposite sex, how to hide an erection in algebra class, how to convince your mom that the B/F and you were actually studying French while the door to your room was closed, how to convince the officer that some vandals drove past your car and just threw those empty beer bottles into your back seat through the open window, etc.)
The peak for excess brain cells occurs between the ages of 14 and 25 (thus accounting for the perception that one’s parents know nothing of real value). After that it’s all downhill.
Heck, I just turned 42 (yesterday, as of this posting) and I doubt I have more than five functioning neurons. Three of these work part-time and one is already preparing for an early retirement.
Don’t think this gives you an advantage over your elders, however. While we have fewer functioning brain cells, we’ve learned to do a lot with the little we have.
Age and treachery win out over youth and reflexes every time.
I would post something meaningful and intelligent in response, but I’ve been reading the OP for about 45 minutes now, and am still trying to make sense of what he’s talking about.
You ever have that happen, when sometimes your mind just doesn’t process information, or is it just me?
Matt_Mcl said:
*I am either constantly tired or I can’t sleep, sometimes both at the same time, whichever is most inconvenient. I have no appetite. I have no sex drive and no motivation. And I find my brain just getting mushier and mushier.
This has been going on for about a week. At first I scented “depression”, but then I realized that I’m not actually depressed in any way comparable to any of my other bouts of depression. It’s like I have all the side symptoms and not the actual depression itself.*
Now we’re getting somewhere. Without getting TOO into detail, let’s just say that I know what you mean in regard to depression.
Yes, those are the side effects. I believe that one can be “depressed” and not feel “down.” Do you know what I mean? Or that someone who has been depressed in the past can be nagged by these symptoms for a period of time following the cessation of the actual melancholia.
It’s almost as if the brain is left with these lingering, residual difficulties. In other words, a car can be in an accident, you can take it to the body shop, get it fixed, but you’ll notice certain things, certain little tics, are causing it to act funny, things that weren’t there before you drove it into the concrete embankment.
I’m sorry that you feel that way, Matt. I’m tired all of the time, too. Unmotivated, as well, two emotional states that don’t mix well with college.
