It's strange that I didn't discover it until now. Here's the regime:
0. Abstain from caffeine, chocolate and other stimulants for 2-3 weeks or so
1. Eat just enough to make sure you aren't hungry.
2. Sleep and wake without an alarm then get up as soon as you're conscious
3. Exert yourself at an uncomfortable pace for at least 30 minutes. Running on the treadmill works for example.
4. Do 1-4 daily for at least 4 days
That's it. I tried adderall after falling off this regime and adderall is worse for 4 reasons.
1. Adderall makes you feel like you have to do something - like there's some kind of urgency. The regime makes you feel like everything is ok but then work just happens to get done.
2. Adderall makes going faster enjoyable when moving, working, driving, etc. With the regime everything seems to move slower but you end up moving faster. I was driving on the highway and going 90 felt like 55, at work things that seemed to take a long time to finish only took ~20 minutes. On adderall it just felt good to go 90 and it felt like I was rushing while working.
3. The ability to switch contexts is worse on adderall. If someone bothered me on adderall or I got another task that needed to get done it was hard to essentially load my brain with information regarding the other task and then back again. The work got done, but it required effort. On the regime I just swapped, swapped back and felt nothing.
4. Adderall fades after a day. The residual effect from exercise stayed around for 2 days after I stopped and I slowly regressed.
Adderall is easier and worse but still productive. The regime is better, probably healthier longterm but more difficult to maintain than just eating a 5mg pill every day.
I'm not really sure why I'm writing all of this. I just wanted to share I guess. I'm thinking about going on a hike through Norway this summer. I need to reboot.
