Personally, I find physical pain to be somewhat helpful. When I start getting drowsy in one of my lectures, winding my hair around one of my fingers and pulling on it keeps me awake and cognitively alert. I’ve also found that biting my tongue is less effective at it.
I used to make good use of static electricity in some of my classes that had suitable carpet and chairs… but we kind of had different goals in mind than alertness. ;)
Did that work better than OTC chemical stimulants? Did the practice create any social penalties? And are you planning on making a top-level post with your rationalist’s guide to operating politically?
The time granularity for the stimulation does sound like an advantage.
If the abandonment of the post is due to time constraints, and you have a general idea and a list of sources, I’d be happy to attempt fleshing it out to article size and send it back for review.
If you’re getting drowsy in lectures wouldn’t you be better off either arriving at lectures better rested, or if you already are and the presenter bores you, learning information in another way? When I went to university, lecturers would get two weeks’ trial to prove that their lectures were worth attending. If they weren’t, I just read the syllabus, and would study the material from a textbook or the internet during the time allocated for the lecture.
It’s rather unfortunate that the majority of lectures were thus avoided, but better to use the allocated learning time optimally.
It probably would be, but that’s not always possible, and something about attending lectures and riding buses seems to trigger the “go to sleep” response in my brain whenever I’m not properly rested.
I also seem to have adapted to getting six hours of sleep each night; I naturally wake up about that much time after I go to sleep. Not sure why; it might have been a response to years of sleep deprivation (yay neural plasticity), in which case it might well be worth looking at to determine if it decreases my mental capabilities, and if it can be replicated. An extra two hours each day adds up, after all.
I often find myself getting drowsy while driving. The most effective thing I know of to do about this is to eat sunflower seeds (in the shell). I suspect this would also work during lectures.
You mean like the sort of peg you use to hang up clothes with? I’ve heard of people using them for kinky bondage stuff, but not for keeping themselves awake. Don’t they have the disadvantage that the longer you leave them on, the more they hurt when you take them off, thanks to cut off circulation?
At least with hair-pulling, you can keep it up indefinitely, and you can vary the pain level depending on how much you want and how much you can take. You’d also probably look a bit less weird fidgeting with your hair than you would wearing a clothespin clamped on your ear, even if you have to take up a hand to do so.
Yes, I’m referring to clothes pegs. One acquaintance of mine in particular who made use of it was quite adept at managing the sensory experience effectively to create different physical associations to subjects for various peg locations. He was also an arts major and sufficiently socially adept as to harness the ‘weirdness’ as a peacock effect. And when we went out at night the peg doubled as some kind of drinking game...
Other self-inflicted-pain based learning aids include elastic bands and the cat o’ nine tails.
Wouldn’t rubber bands be dangerous, due to the risk of losing a limb or something? Tourniquets aren’t supposed to be applied unless you’re in danger of bleeding to death or you’ve basically already lost the limb already, after all, and while a rubber band might not be as tight, it still seems dangerous. I haven’t got any first hand experience with them, so I might be wrong, though.
Also, cat o’ nine tails? Seriously? What are you going to do, pull your shirt off and start self-flagellating while you’re in the middle of a test or a lecture or a business meeting or something? :P XD
Wouldn’t rubber bands be dangerous, due to the risk of losing a limb or something?
Only in the sense that plastic bags are dangerous. If young children get the crazy idea of putting plastic bags over their heads or using elastic bands as tourniquets then they might suffocate or lose limbs. Sane people who use elastic bands as a source of self stimulus flick them against their wrist.
Also, cat o’ nine tails? Seriously? What are you going to do, pull your shirt off and start self-flagellating while you’re in the middle of a test or a lecture or a business meeting or something? :P XD
I thought I was safe with that one. It’s a cat o’ nine tails, an instrument used for brutal torture and maiming. No, you don’t use that as a substitute for a bottle of mountain dew when you need help paying attention. (Yet th self flaggelation usages still fits the category ‘self-inflicted-pain based learning aids’.)
Personally, I find physical pain to be somewhat helpful. When I start getting drowsy in one of my lectures, winding my hair around one of my fingers and pulling on it keeps me awake and cognitively alert. I’ve also found that biting my tongue is less effective at it.
Yep. I used to use electric shocks to keep awake during classes.
From what source?
I used to make good use of static electricity in some of my classes that had suitable carpet and chairs… but we kind of had different goals in mind than alertness. ;)
A cheap electrical muscle stimulation device.
Did that work better than OTC chemical stimulants? Did the practice create any social penalties? And are you planning on making a top-level post with your rationalist’s guide to operating politically?
No social penalties. Not conspicuous. Not stimulating myself during a period of low physical activity seems obviously correct to me. No plans to.
The time granularity for the stimulation does sound like an advantage.
If the abandonment of the post is due to time constraints, and you have a general idea and a list of sources, I’d be happy to attempt fleshing it out to article size and send it back for review.
Email me. Maybe we can set up a Skype conversation on it in a few weeks.
If you’re getting drowsy in lectures wouldn’t you be better off either arriving at lectures better rested, or if you already are and the presenter bores you, learning information in another way? When I went to university, lecturers would get two weeks’ trial to prove that their lectures were worth attending. If they weren’t, I just read the syllabus, and would study the material from a textbook or the internet during the time allocated for the lecture.
It’s rather unfortunate that the majority of lectures were thus avoided, but better to use the allocated learning time optimally.
It probably would be, but that’s not always possible, and something about attending lectures and riding buses seems to trigger the “go to sleep” response in my brain whenever I’m not properly rested.
I also seem to have adapted to getting six hours of sleep each night; I naturally wake up about that much time after I go to sleep. Not sure why; it might have been a response to years of sleep deprivation (yay neural plasticity), in which case it might well be worth looking at to determine if it decreases my mental capabilities, and if it can be replicated. An extra two hours each day adds up, after all.
I often find myself getting drowsy while driving. The most effective thing I know of to do about this is to eat sunflower seeds (in the shell). I suspect this would also work during lectures.
Some people use a peg on either a finger or an ear to harness that effect.
You mean like the sort of peg you use to hang up clothes with? I’ve heard of people using them for kinky bondage stuff, but not for keeping themselves awake. Don’t they have the disadvantage that the longer you leave them on, the more they hurt when you take them off, thanks to cut off circulation?
At least with hair-pulling, you can keep it up indefinitely, and you can vary the pain level depending on how much you want and how much you can take. You’d also probably look a bit less weird fidgeting with your hair than you would wearing a clothespin clamped on your ear, even if you have to take up a hand to do so.
Yes, I’m referring to clothes pegs. One acquaintance of mine in particular who made use of it was quite adept at managing the sensory experience effectively to create different physical associations to subjects for various peg locations. He was also an arts major and sufficiently socially adept as to harness the ‘weirdness’ as a peacock effect. And when we went out at night the peg doubled as some kind of drinking game...
Other self-inflicted-pain based learning aids include elastic bands and the cat o’ nine tails.
Wouldn’t rubber bands be dangerous, due to the risk of losing a limb or something? Tourniquets aren’t supposed to be applied unless you’re in danger of bleeding to death or you’ve basically already lost the limb already, after all, and while a rubber band might not be as tight, it still seems dangerous. I haven’t got any first hand experience with them, so I might be wrong, though.
Also, cat o’ nine tails? Seriously? What are you going to do, pull your shirt off and start self-flagellating while you’re in the middle of a test or a lecture or a business meeting or something? :P XD
Only in the sense that plastic bags are dangerous. If young children get the crazy idea of putting plastic bags over their heads or using elastic bands as tourniquets then they might suffocate or lose limbs. Sane people who use elastic bands as a source of self stimulus flick them against their wrist.
I thought I was safe with that one. It’s a cat o’ nine tails, an instrument used for brutal torture and maiming. No, you don’t use that as a substitute for a bottle of mountain dew when you need help paying attention. (Yet th self flaggelation usages still fits the category ‘self-inflicted-pain based learning aids’.)