Mental acuity and brain fog

Seer

Member
Hi everyone,

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has mostly resolved cognitive issues through rebooting. I'm currently 5 days without P, M or O.

For a bit of context, I started using P at around age 12. I used to feel very sharp, then my school performance plummeted from top of the class to bottom of the class within a year at around 15. I'm now 25, studying electrical engineering and I'm really struggling - I have been using P off and on (mostly on) since age 12. I have to read the same page from a book 5 times to begin to understand it. My brain just feels dumb, I remember very little from my classes and I always have this weird dense brain fog. Even in general conversations I feel like I can't articulate things that I actually know a great deal amount. My brain just feels like it's working at half power, 95% of the time.

I exercise 5 days per week, eat very well (my best friend is a doctorate level nutritionist) and sleep as well as I can (~8 hours, wake same time every day, avoid blue light at night etc.). I have been to a psychologist for 1 year and 'cleared' anything significant with EMDR. No drugs or alcohol. No known medical conditions. All of this and yet I still get frequent comments about looking ultra tired. The only other healthy habit I aim to, but haven't really implemented is meditation.

I'm interested to hear some real examples of just how much your mental acuity has changed throughout this process. I am aware rebooting can help, but I'm a bit unclear on to what extent. I have read many success stories on YBOP, however, most of them are quite vague, or are from people who have done perhaps 30 days without P. I'm very interested to hear from people who have been a few months without P and have noticed significant changes in memory, brain fog, focus - general sharpness and feelings of reclaiming intelligence.

Thank you.
 

canguro

Active Member
Yeah, I wanna know, too. Brainfog is one of my main issues, I totally feel you.
I'm at like day 40 and I cant say if it got better. Some days I feel better, some ist really bad again. But I realized, that one real big factor is social media. This scrolling thorugh pages, not being focused on anything, but just feeding my brain senseless stimuli is a real isse. When I start in the morning with that, my brain feels like jelly afterwards, but when I stand up early and go to work straight, I feel much clearer in my head.

so at the moment I try to avoid social media (I only have twitter left and I think I have to cut it off for good, too, soon) and don't use my TV, PC or smartphone in the morning whilst breakfast, but plan the day or read a newspaper etc.

Meditation is good in any case, as it helps the brain to come down and relax, so when you are a stressed person it's really a must have =D

PS: This senseless scrolling through social media is in some way the same as lookong through P, searching for THE best clip, having opened many tabs at the same time etc...therefore I think not PMOing has to have an effect.
Secondly, because PMO is making you numb to normal life, as your addicted brain needs much stronger stimuli in terms of dopamine.
 

Seer

Member
I strongly agree friend. I've noticed when I 'task switch' a lot it seems to trigger this fog (it's always present tbh, but made far worse by this) which can last for quite awhile afterward, unfocused behavior is essentially 1:1 with task switching. But in particular anything that mimics the flighty, quick scanning associated with P use and edging is the absolute antithesis of focus.

I was listening to a talk the other day given by a monk on the topic of focus. He claimed that directed focus is not possible with a nervous system which is unrelaxed. He suggested 'Yoga Nidra' as a practice to help calm the nervous system down. I have practiced it a few times and must say I've noticed some improvement only after a few days. I know not everyone is keen on Eastern philosophy/spirituality - if you're one of these people reading this, be aware that Andrew Huberman is a strong advocate of Yoga Nidra
 

Not a Rabbi

Active Member
so at the moment I try to avoid social media (I only have twitter left and I think I have to cut it off for good, too, soon) and don't use my TV, PC or smartphone in the morning whilst breakfast, but plan the day or read a newspaper etc.

Meditation is good in any case, as it helps the brain to come down and relax, so when you are a stressed person it's really a must have =D

PS: This senseless scrolling through social media is in some way the same as lookong through P, searching for THE best clip, having opened many tabs at the same time etc...therefore I think not PMOing has to have an effect.
Secondly, because PMO is making you numb to normal life, as your addicted brain needs much stronger stimuli in terms of dopamine.
Completely agree here. PMO addiction is one piece of what you could probably call "stimulation addiction" that includes compulsive use of things like social media/internet/smartphone. Definitely helps to address those things also, and meditation is a great tool.
 
I obviously can't prove this is related to rebooting of course, but I've noticed in the past few months my concentration has started improving. I never used to be able to listen to non-fiction audiobook (my mind would wander and I would miss large sections of what I was trying to listen to), now I've realised that I can listen to non-fiction books too on topics that interest me and I can keep my attention on what I'm listening much better.
 

Seer

Member
Completely agree here. PMO addiction is one piece of what you could probably call "stimulation addiction" that includes compulsive use of things like social media/internet/smartphone. Definitely helps to address those things also, and meditation is a great tool.
Thanks. I got rid of my smartphone 3 weeks ago and I've definitely noticed small improvements beginning. I'd like to remove screen time entirely, but that's very tricky as a student.
 
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