• LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

MEGA - Studying, Exams, Stress, and coping with them

liberal script pads from medics or medical officers, except the methcathinone. That was just what they could get easy and quick to keep them selves alert and awake for vicious 80 something hour urban battle...

Methamphetamine was written by US doctors, as desoxyn.
 
From a performance enhancement vantage with respect to simple cognitive tasks, stimulants (caffeine and amphetamines) and modafinil have roughly equivalent effects. The effects are slight, and are useful mainly to reduce the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation. The advantage of modafinil is that it reduces those effects without having the unwanted side-effects of stimulants. None of them can replace sleep.

However, stimulants score higher than modafinil on subjective assessments of "how awake" a person feels--even though those who said they were more awake actually scored no better on assessment tests.

All have substantial placebo effects, which may account for anecdotes one hears from time to time of the student who took drug X and then read and memorized War and Peace while learning Cantonese overnight.

For those with ADD/ADHD, though, medications can definitely help return concentration ability to normal levels. Everything I've written above is strictly with respect to individuals who do not have ADD/ADHD.
 
Most of my research on AD(H)D indicates that people with the 'disorder' usually respond similarly to classical stimulants as do others.

ebola
 
Studying vs. Sleep/Food

Does anyone else feel like there isn't enough time in the day to complete all of your studying and homework? Do you find yourself skipping unnecessary assignments and/or pulling all-nighters just to keep up?

IME, finishing all of the assigned reading and write-ups is often impossible unless I forgo sleep and food. Is this unusual? I'm curious if other people have the same feeling.
 
I found that definitely the stress that results from feeling overwhelmed often would kill my appetite. Either that, or I was hungry, but was too focused on what I was doing to go get food. And ya, as for sleep, definitely. Of my 11 semesters of college/grad school, I probably averaged 10 all-nighters per semester. Then again, I was pushing myself hard in difficult programs, but I surely sympathize with you.

Do you work on weekends too? Foregoing weekend festivities, even at the sacrifice of your social life and/or your sanity, often helped me keep in pace without feeling overly pressured during the week.
 
haha I encounter this problem a bit, I'll get so caught up in what I'm working on at the moment and suddenly I'll realize that I havn't eaten much all day long. I figure that my mind will work better if I keep a healthy diet though and get good regular sleep, so I kinda just force myself to take breaks even when I have stuff to do. Always get 7 hours of sleep and have a very very regular sleep schedule
 
My anecdotal experience is that as someone who has a 'textbook' case of ADHD, I respond very differently to amphetamines than those without the condition. Paradoxically, amphetamines tend to really 'slow me down' so my attention's not darting all over the place. For example, last time I took speed with a group of friends, we went to a nightclub where they did the typical 'go nuts' thing and I sat down and read the paper for 2 hours.
 
I think bottom line is that, unless you have a condition like ADD/ADHD, drugs only slightly increase performance from baseline, though they can significantly ameliorate the deleterious consequences of sleep deprivation (albeit not entirely; you'll still be functioning at a disadvantage). I've also seen some research indicating that certain drugs can reduce the unwanted cognitive side-effects of other treatments, e.g. modafinil to reduce "chemo-brain," though I believe that such research is only preliminary.

There is some interesting research being done on new types of cognitive enhancers, involving inverse agonists to certain GABA sites, which have been shown to improve memory in mice and monkeys, but I don't think they've even begun human testing. Could be wrong.

My experience is that students tend to have the same attitude towards performance enhancers that athletes do: they really want to believe drug X will help, and so will take it and then swear by its effects. So some students claim that taking adderall enables them to digest half a college course in a night, and some athletes claim that viagra helps them pitch faster.

The best performance enhancers are simply practice, time, nutrition, and sleep. If you want to develop better verbal skills and memory, practice them. If you want to develop better mathematical skills and memory, practice them.

There's also a growing field in which certain mental games are used to develop various neurological functions, which seem to have a demonstrated effect and are not task specific. That is, while doing crossword puzzles every day will make you better at doing crossword puzzles, but not at much else, these games develop skills that are useful across different tasks.

If you google "neuroplasticity" and "games" you'll probably get plenty of websites concerning them.
 
In "classical stimulants," do you mean (meth)amphetamines and the ADD/ADHD family of drugs, or CNS stuff like cocaine?

Both, actually. Stuff that effects release of dopamine and/or blocks its reuptake.
...
I think bottom line is that, unless you have a condition like ADD/ADHD, drugs only slightly increase performance from baseline

Sort of. If one's problem is motivation to stay on task (distinct from focus-proper), stimulants will help a lot, albeit in quite unsustainably. And one study (peer reviewed and replicated) found d-amp to boost IQ (Stanford-Binet, IIRC) by an average of 8 pts., for uni students of 'typical' intelligence (using IQ, lets say 100-120).

But your overall point stands. Those with ADD tend to have a 'bottom-up' orientation toward directing their focus (novel things catch their attention) while others tend to operate more 'top-down' (choosing what they will focus on, with selective blindness to other things). Classical stims steer most everyone toward top-down attentional focus, but this effect will more greatly benefit those with bottom-up styles working in settings that favor top-down styles.

ebola
 
long responses.
i'm guessing that many use stims....ie, right now in this thread. ;)
...
i. Are you in college? Grad school, in particular sociology.
ii. Is stimulant abuse common at your college? No idea, but I bet. A handfull of soc grad students I know use modafinil when they can get it. I know one guy who got an adderall script, but it turned out that he likely has ADD.

iii. What country or what part of the us do you attend college? Cali, US

1. Have you ever used any of these drugs: Cocaine, ritalin (or generics), adderall (or generics), focalin, dexedrine or another form of dextro-amp such as vyvanse, or methamphetamine (street dope, called crank, zip, tweak, etc).

All except focalin.

2. If yes, was it to give you a "push" through your studies and hard work? Or was it purely for fun (i.e. Taking speed at a party for increased stamina).

Undergrad: sparingly, only for fun (poor access).
Grad: both, usually for work...but more for motivation and making work fun...I can focus well enough already. ;)
Right now: non-user

3. If you use this drug recreationally, explain why you choose to use this drug, i.e. Tell me how it "gets you off."

Amps make me unrealistically optimistic and euphoric. Chatty and confident. Razor sharp feeling, mentally. Great body high. Music's a bit better and easier to analyze.

coke, ritalin, mdpv, etc. make me feel anxious and fiendy. Yuck.

4. Many of my college friends refer to ir adderall as "study buddies." would you agree with this nickname? Have they benefited your academic work in any way?

Not really. It makes the work more pleasant, and I feel more productive and insightful at the time, but I really churn out the same stuff. However, they make me less likely to procrastinate.

5. In your opinion / experience, in your area, are men more prone to abusing speed, or women? I don't want facts or statistics, i want educated opinions and first-hand knowledge.

Not that I've seen.

6. Do you have a stimulant of choice? Is there one that simply cannot be beat?
I used to swear by meth, but the euphoria is so strong that it's almost distracting. Nowadays, i prefer dex.

If it weren't so neurotoxic, meth. So dexedrine. If empathogens count, then MDMA.

7. How do you usually take your stimulants? Do you simply swallow it, or do you snort or inject, or in the case of meth, smoke it?

I prefer oral. Long, fun come-up, good body high, less fiending.

8. Have you ever tried to curb your stimulant use and were unable to do so?

Nope. Never too heavy a user though.

9. If yes, have you suffered any ill effects (i.e. Weight loss, chronic insomnia, poor hygiene, or psychosis / bizarre behavior due to excessive use)?

Occasional insomnia.

10. Lastly, how does your stimulant abuse make you feel? Guilty? Cool? Indifferent (don't give a fuck either way)? Other emotions?

Well...it's not abuse. But once I reach the crash, it all seems like it was for naught, y'know?

ebola
 
Sort of. If one's problem is motivation to stay on task (distinct from focus-proper), stimulants will help a lot, albeit in quite unsustainably. And one study (peer reviewed and replicated) found d-amp to boost IQ (Stanford-Binet, IIRC) by an average of 8 pts., for uni students of 'typical' intelligence (using IQ, lets say 100-120).

These were well-rested students without a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD? Would you happen to have a link to the study, or maybe a couple of names associated with it off the top of your head? It's cool if you don't. I'd just be curious to read it.

The material I've read looking at the cognitive enhancement effects of various stimulants and modafinil looked to tests such as digit span tests, and so forth, and for normal volunteers showed some improvement, largely the same among the stimulants tested, but nothing that I would think would equate to an eight point jump in IQ. But this isn't something I'm anywhere close to being expert on.
 
Of my 11 semesters of college/grad school...

Sorry to stray a wee bit off topic here, but seeing as how you've gone through 11 semesters.....

I'm in my 6th and have lost all motivation for school =(. I'm at that halfway mark and seem to be a little burnt out.

Is this normal? Any suggestions?
 
^ I got a boost after finishing undergrad (first 8 ). If you can hold on and finish undergrad, you should get some momentum. Especially if you switch schools/geographic locations.

But ya, I had a few minor cases of feeling burned out in the process. Really, though, the extreme burnout came once I got my Master's. I was going to do a PhD immediately afterward, and then abandoned that idea entirely. For that factor mainly.
 
Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to struggle through it. I think my main lack of motivation is stemming from the fact that I still don't have a major (I guess you could call me a professional student). I've tried to take a little bit of everything to see if anything will spark my interest, but to no avail.

we'll see how it goes.
 
Oh, then ignore what I said before -- didn't know you were a professional student. I thought you were including grad school. Nothing wrong with professional students. I felt like I rushed through it so fast that I didn't have a time to really get into what I liked early enough.

It might just be that you're at the wrong school. Some schools just have bad facilities or professors or such across the board. Have you thought about a transfer? A better atmosphere could work.
 
I would honestly love to transfer, butttt there aren't any "good" universities close by within communting distance--except for the one I'm attending now. I'm absolutely terrified of swimming up to my eyeballs in debt with student loans and with the university that I'm at now, all of the tuition/fees are paid for by grants and scholarships. (I'm still somewhat mooching of mommy and daddy..they provide the roof over my head).

Money is the only issue I would have/worry about with transferring.
 
Ya, I can understand that. For some people, having debt actually can serve as a motivator, though. If I don't get this degree and do well, I am going to be in deep shit. It all really comes down to your personality type. Do you think this could work as a motivator for you?

But ya, it sounds like you just need to find ways to get motivated there. Some people suggest, in contrast, not letting your parents down by running up their bill through staying longer than you could have, serving as your main motivator.

Not trying to get all "tough love," though. I understand how it can be. Trust me.
 
Top