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Comment by fnordpiglet | Hacker News Reader

Are you burned out? Depressed? Anxious? All of these also lead to an inability to focus and reduced comprehension.

Have you tried a concentration based meditation such as vipassana?

I meditate for 3-4 hours every day. I am no stranger to 10, 20, 30 days of a vipassana silent meditation experience.

3-4 hours every day?! How do you find the time to do that, in addition to medical school? That's 1/4 of the waking hours in a day.

yup, I make it my priority. I live very simply, I eat only raw produce.

Sometimes it is 2-3 hours if I am feeling cramped for time, but 3-4 hours 4-5 days a week.

Have had done metabolic panels? A raw vegan diet can be very difficult and for some people unsustainable.

But still, are you burned out? Depressed? Anxious?

My panels are good.

I will think about being depressed, anxious, etc. it could be a real possibility.

My experience with burnout is exactly like you described FYI. It was like my mind just couldn’t process properly. I couldn’t read, or engage in thought on anything with any depth or acumen. Coupled with the burnout was a depression and deep anxiety. If you meditate a lot then I’d suggest examining with your awareness what is happening when you’re reading. If you’ve coupled some Buddhism with your practice then you can examine whether you are resisting / reacting. With burn out it happens at a subconscious level, but you should be able to sense a resistance when trying to engage in things you have trouble with. Do you feel joy? Interest in things? Can you remember what music you like? These sorts of things are useful to ask yourself.

Finally, I assume you’re male. Have you had your testosterone levels checked?

Thank you for the reply. My T levels are where they re supposed to be.

I do feel joy.

I have an interest in a lot of things and notebooks full of ideas.

I love and listen to music daily.

I am Buddhist and have a daily practice along with prostrations and reading texts, meditation, etc.

I would definitely back off the restricted diet. It's not hard to imagine how you could be missing an important nutrient by eating only raw produce.

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