(no subject)

[noahgibbs]

It's striking me, in the current mad rush at work, that I'm a very chemically-oriented programmer. I don't mean I consume a lot of drugs or chemicals -- far from it, especially in these low-caffeine days.

No, I mean that I watch my serotonin and dopamine levels (I've talked about that here before, I think, and certainly in other people's journals) and my blood sugar level quite closely, and the quantity of my work is very dependent on those things.

Just a random Monday thought.

Comments

[griffjon.livejournal.com]

whenever geeks start talking about blood sugar levels, I can't help but picture this perl manpage on regex being but into use:

    $x = "Time to feed the cat!";
    $x =~ s/cat/hacker/;   # $x contains "Time to feed the hacker!"
    if ($x =~ s/^(Time.*hacker)!$/$1 now!/) {
        $more_insistent = 1;
    }

[shipofools999.livejournal.com]

I keep a tight rein on the sugar levels. My entire life seems to center around my blasted blood sugar levels.
How do you watch your serotonin and dopamine levels.
~pirategrl

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

There's a mental condition which corresponds to way, way, way too much dopamine. You can achieve this state of mind by consuming lots and lots of stimulants and staying up long enough that everything seems significant, most of it eerily so. Paranoia may set in. There are milder versions of this condition which can be achieved by long hours, consumption of lots of stimulants, or several other activities. It's awful for designing or creativity, pretty good for executing on a plan, and excellent for debugging code.

There's the far other end of the dopamine/serotonin spectrum where you're creative and serene, maybe even a little blissful, where old habits and mindsets drift away and very little real gets done. It can achieved through meditation, among other things. Again, there are milder versions of this.

I spent most of college way over toward the dopamine side of the scale. I'm much more in the serotonin direction these days, which is a mixed blessing. Most of the way I manage my mindset (which can correspond to serotonin and dopamine, but I don't know for absolute certain that that's what I'm managing) is in rough behaviors. You can increase serotonin levels by eating meat -- tryptophan is a serotonin precursor, one of many. You can get a similar effect, possibly also involving serotonin, by relaxing and getting enough sleep. So for design work, I sleep, I relax, I eat well and enough. For dopamine, there's a very easy answer -- stimulants. You can also fail to get enough sleep, and eat badly. That mindset is better for coding and much better for debugging, where paranoia is the name of the game.

Blood sugar should be kept high but reasonably stable in either case, though the combination of the caffeine high and blood sugar dive that Mountain Dew causes seems to hit a short-term productivity sweet spot for me, especially if fed with more sugar, and if I'm primed with grease and starch beforehand. This would tie back into the dopamine mindset and eating badly to achieve it.

[shipofools999.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation. Hadn't really thought of it that way before. I guess for me, I do the same thing on the dopamine/serotonin scale that I do for the blood sugar = Moderation. No lows, no highs. Can't afford them.

It is odd for such an extremist as me to realize that I am keeping something in the middle. I guess I keep my extremes in moderation. :)

~pirategrl

[queen-elvis.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered how much what I eat affects my mood versus how much I just think it does. Placebo effect, I mean. My mom was big on explaining away everyone's behavior as related to food.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

I know blood sugar really is a big deal. I find myself feeling grumpy and out-of-sorts and then suddenly, mysteriously feeling better after eating. I figure if something's been true for awhile and I only just noticed how it goes away when I consume something, I can basically rule out the placebo effect -- that effect is unexpected.

I'm not sure that's a good assumption, but it's my current one.

The dopamine/serotonin thing is just explaining in chemicals a mood thing I'd noticed well before. Still could be placebo, but it's also a common thing.

[griffjon.livejournal.com]

Heh, my Roomie's girlfriend carries around an "Emergency Granola Bar" to feed him whenever her gets grumpy, as he's very sensitive to blood sugar levels