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Am I mentally lazy?

I am having trouble concentrating for long periods of time, my brain shuts off and I do my work daydreaming, when this happens I cannot refocus.I'll have to sometimes even pull over on the way home for a powernap because I catch myself falling asleep. Maybe mental lazyness? What can I do?

Asleep At The Wheel

Docpotter's Reply:

No, you're "symptoms" are not caused by mental laziness! You need a physical check up. See your doctor to make sure you're okay. It's worth a few tests, blood work, etc.

You can also check yourself out. Here's how:

Collect data on the experience when it occurs. Call the experience you are concerned about "it". Don't try to change it - just observe it and write your observations in a notebook. Note the situation, time of day, what you had just been doing, what time you got up, went to bed, how many hours you slept and what you've eaten. After several days review your "data" and look for patterns. This will be very revealing. And this is the scientific approach. The patterns will give you important answers.

I had similar experiences driving home after day long workshops. It was almost like a trance or being taken over by uncontrollable sleep. I also had to stop the car. I'd get out and walk rapidly, back and forth for 2 to 3 minutes, next to the car. I found eating sugar - candy and cokes - right before drive helped, too.

You may have a nutritional depletion. Don't expect MD-type doctors to know anything about this - or to even give the possibility any credence. You may have a neurochemical imbalance. Our brain chemicals - neurotransmitters are easily depleted. When that happens we can feel depressed, or get uncontrollable sleepiness, experience personality changes, experience physical problems. Very little is understood about brain chemistry and psychology. I've know people who exhibited behavioral problems and were told my their friends to "see a shrink!" and it turned out to be depletion of brain chemistry. You might be hyperglycemic and need to eat! You might not be getting enough sleep. there are many other possibilities as well.

When you identify a pattern from the data you collected, you might experiment with attempts at correction the experience - such as eating a candy bar, for example. You're "powernap" is an example of a correcting action. Note in your recordbook how each attempt works. My book, Brain Boosters: Foods & Drugs That Make You Smarter is very informative.

You may discover an effective solution on your own. However, don't be stupid. Something IS going on with your brain causing your "symptoms". If it continues or seems serious, seek medical advice - possibly neurological or hormonial - expertise. Take your data with you to the doctor. Also explore alternative approaches because modern medicine doesn't understand the brain.

-docpotter

PS you might want to look into smart drugs -

http://www.smart-publications.com

Check it out!