I’ve found this happening to me a lot lately - when I buckle down and concentrate on something intensely for a few hours, I end up feeling “out of it” and kind of “tranced out” or “stoned.” This can be something like buckling down and really reading a good book for hours, writing a long article or paper, or working on writing music - the key is that it has to be interactive, so watching a long movie doesn’t have the same effect.
I have ADHD and was on ritalin as a child and teen, and it’s pretty much that same feeling of being on the medication - I feel kind of tranced out and zoned. I generally have a frenetic and inconsistent attention span, but when I really “hone in” on something, I feel that “tranceyness” after a while.
Anyone else experience this? It’s kind of weird, and it almost makes me wonder if my body is, through the intense concentration, somehow producing the same effect that the medicine used to.
Only when I hotbox my office. I might suggest stopping burning cannabis in your workspace and this issue might go away on it own.
In all seriousness though, the attentional areas of your brain use a lot of energy to work and after a long stretch of hard work, why wouldn’t you expect to feel a little different? I think you’re pretty normal unless this is leading to some sort of major problem with functioning. If so, you’ll probably want to talk to a professional.
That’s what I call it too. I definately get it whenever I’m studying for a couple hours at a time on something that I’m really interested in. I really like the feeling.
Mom says I “concentrate so hard I put her in mind of those soup cubes”. If I’m doing something and you need to talk to me, make sure your first word is my name - otherwise I won’t hear a word you say.
I’ve been known to come out of my “Maggi cube state” (“the zone”, uh?) with cramped legs, partial sunburn (one side of one leg bright red, the rest just fine), my eyes complaining because they’ve been looking at the same distance for too long…
When you’ve* been working on something for a while, very concentrated, and you have to move to something else, you usually need to… clean up your brain. Work out the mental kinks, stretch your brain. At home we call this process “changing the diskette”.
What you are doing is basically meditating - except instead of focusing on “nothing,” you’re focusing on something. The point is you’re focusing for a long duration. So you will feel those effects.
Congratulations - drug-free exploration of the mind is a wonderful thing.