Smoking Weed and Optimizing Productivity

I've used to smoke everyday. Maybe go through 8th in 1 week. My friends and I used to hold sesh after work and play PES/FIFA. That was few years ago. Now that I relocated, I have no weed friends. So i just stopped smoking. I don't think weed hinders any work productivity long as your not high during work. However, weed tends to affect your motivation when your brain is still developing. I think the brain stops developing at age 24 or sth.

Have you tried vaping/dab pens/etc. I don't personally smoke often, but you may feel less tired doing one as opposed to the other.

I will say that long term weed use does have some negative side effects. There was a study awhile ago that correlated long-term (10+ years) heavy (daily) weed use to a loss of approximately 10 IQ points across 10 years. I don't know how well the study was controlled and IQ definitely isn't a definite measure of intelligence, but long-term heavy use will take its toll. The loss of the enjoyment from those things is probably due to the fact that you rewired the reward pathways in your brain by smoking almost every time you went out during a 2 year period. That's textbook addiction, and it'll take a decent period of time to rewire your brain back to "normal".

As far as work goes, I can't offer any advice.

Along the lines of vaping/dabs, have you tried different strains at all? If THC is leaving you feeling foggy-headed, you might like a strand that has higher CBD and less THC.

x

I've found vaping leaving me less foggy the next morning but this is compared to smoking joints and blunts which I am really trying to cut back on. Been using pens with different types of oils and have found it much cleaner. Also nice knowing exactly the strain you are getting

Typically use it before bed, especially if it was long day where I had a cup of coffee around 5 or 6. I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine so without taking a hit before bed I'd otherwise be laying in bed wide awake.

Exercise more drink water Its not the weed it's the 80hr weeks into your 30s Take a breather, sleep in two days in a row. Try green tea meditation or cold showers

lol you didn't have to make a post about this, it doesn't take a genius to realize you're a drug addict, if you're not sober at least 5 days a week then you've got a problem

As someone who smokes more frequently than you, works in a front office environment, and who I think is further down the stoner path: quit while you're ahead. It's the only way to avoid prolonged frustration and self-sabotage. Right now you're at the "there's no way something this stupid could interfere with my life" stage. Here's a hint: if you've gone as far as to consider this topic, it's impacting your productivity. Regardless whether you one day stop, think back to this post the next time you wonder...

New Zealand’s anti-marijuana stance negatively impacts consumers – both recreational and medicinal – in a number of different ways. In addition to an absence of quality control and the criminalisation of patients who rely on weed to cope with their health conditions, a lack of regulation in the country’s cannabis …

first, this is a throwaway account. I'm one of the top 30 certified users in terms of SBs, but in case my identity eventually gets revealed (it's inevitable), I didn't want this post to be attached to it

been smoking consistently for over 15 years, my IQ (recently got it tested) is still in the upper ranges (I've also checked this against other family members for confirmation). my career has only improved, and I've never missed an appointment, day at work, or other important commitment because I was stoned. this is all anecdotal evidence, but I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

life is about balance. I'm an otherwise healthy dude, I exercise (

Legalize it

vuw957:

as a STEM degree holder

This literally had nothing to do with the rest of that sentence. Nice humblebrag, though. I've come across people putting in high powered, high focused work, while high (though it was mostly repetitive tasks). It was very awkward for me, because they seemed high, even though they were generally productive. I couldn't see these people conducting a meeting or orchestrating complex systems. But, there's clearly some dependence issues with people feeling calm enough to be productive only while high.

I would feel bad about having developed the dependence at all. It's one of the reasons I think marijuana legalization is a bad idea, although I'm excited for the US coffers to benefit from all that luxury/recreational, income, and sales tax revenue. The point is, I don't look down on it because if people aren't foggily pressing buttons and sending off nuclear warheads, I'm okay with it, because they feel better, making them more productive, and hopefully the US Treasury will be more healthy. I would say keep up the good work. But, maybe don't quit cold turkey if you want to stop. I've seen that and they always go right back just as hard if not harder after a month or two.

I'm going to second some of what @irielB" said about balance. You're working 80 hours a week on your own enterprise. You are your own boss, salesman and entrepreneur. You have a drive to work hard and push yourself. That's fantastic, but if you're sleepy and perpetually have mental fog, you need to look at all the variables. The assumption that weed is solely to blame seems like a cop-out answer because you don't want to look at other possible factors. Weed may be a mitigating factor in the mental fatigue and fog. It may not be. What is the rest of your life like? How's your weight? What's your diet like? How's your sleep? Are you exercising? What's your consumption of alcohol and other substances like?

I think that you are viewing this through a binary lens, when you should examine all the variables. If you're not exercising enough, have a gained significant weight, etc., I would evaluate how to change those factors in your life. Your sleep could be affected by your choice of diet and lack of exercise and not necessarily the sobriety factor. Your motivation could be suffering because you don't have a "non-stoned" outlet for stress. One of the best things I ever did for my mental acuity and sleep was adapting to a ketogenic diet and increasing my exercise. After getting through the induction phase, I found myself with more energy, a greater degree of mental acuity and no brain fog, more energy, and much better sleep.

If you're that concerned, and this is where I echo @irielb" and his idea of doing an n=1 experiment. First come up with a list of every possible factor that could cause a negative situation. Obviously weed, stress, diet, and exercise all come to mind. Start a 2 week n=1 experiment for cutting out weed, changing how you smoke, and starting exercise. I would also spend 2 weeks doing a control test just to have a baseline out of your notes. 4 experiments over 8 weeks isn't bad. I'd also take copious notes every day to compare things. For Diet, depending on what you choose (and I highly advocate for a ketogenic diet because it worked for me), look at a 3-month experiment, where your first month is induction and then you add in exercise in months 2 and 3. Oddly enough, when I started doing keto, I was advised by a nutritionist that weed would help during the induction phase.

As previously suggested, I would also look at how you are getting high. Different ways of getting high produce different effects on the body. This may be your body's way of saying don't plant, but look into wax, oil, and vape cartridges. I can't speak to the effects of wax, oil, and vape cartridges, but knowing ex-cigarette smokers who now vape, they have seem a remarkable change in their health by moving away from smoking something combustible and using a vapor alternative instead.

Finally, if you haven't had one in a while, get yourself checked out by your GP. Get a physical and see where your health stands in general. There may be something else that could be causing an underlying problem as well.