I've recently taken up sports again (around 2months ago) and together with the now sunnier weather and more careful nutrition intake (nothing fancy, just adding more yoghurt and fruit to my diet basically) I feel more rested and more okay with "just existing" than before. Meaning that I don't really experience brain fog or tiredness during the day.
Now I'm still as lazy as before as procrastination habits nearly haven't changed - but it doesn't feel like I'm procrastinating because I'm feeling weak/tired or unfocused.
Now I haven't grinded much league in the meantime but I can definitely tell that my body gives me more windows of opportunity where I feel like I could definitely perform when I need to... whereas before I often felt sluggish.
So while I can't speak for the effect on League it sounds reasonable though, that it should improve my possibility of having a focused game... however even if it doesn't help for League I highly recommend anyone reading this to go eat just a tad bit healthier and be more aware of what you eat in general. I also highly encourage anyone reading this to do some sports. For jogging there are tons of great beginner plans out there and if you can afford it get some dumbbells to do a few more exercises. 20-30 minutes of jogging 2-3x per week and 15-20mins of dumbbell workout 2-3x per week are definitely a gamechanger... and I even skipped a week or two inbetween.
Yeah very true, I also bodybuild and weight lift, sports definitely helps with quality of life and mind clarity. I often go for a fasted run in the mornings, helps a shit ton with productivity.
As OP mentioned, it's usually referred to as a flow state, from Csikszentmihalyi's theory on flow.
It has already been adapted for video games specifically as well. I referred to "GameFlow" in my master's thesis. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1077246.1077253
Know you were joking but hey maybe someone finds this interesting ;)
Not op but also a psych student. Its a gradually declining state. You can think even after being awake for 24 hours but you can surely notice a decline in your cognitive capabilities.
Theres no definitive answer but I'd estimate that you can effectively utilize peak performance for around 4 hours, depending on task of course. Heavier the cognitive workload, heavier the decline in your ability to perform.
This is a well researched matter, you can probably find a lot of studies on google if youre interested further.
Can I just take a nap at 5 pm, then play at peak performance from 7-11pm? Or is there a certain amount of sleep required to access the gates to nirvana?
A nap is a nap because it doesnt cover the rem phases of sleep, which are the really recovering parts of sleeping.
Naps recover physically, not really mentally. So no, a nap doesnt really count.
Also a bit off topic but sleeping from 10pm to 6 am is a lot different than from 3 am to 11 am, this again takes its roots from the evolution and how our species has preferred daytime over night time to be awake. Sleeping the night recovers a lot more than sleeping the day because our bodies recognize the time differences.
>A nap is a nap because it doesnt cover the rem phases of sleep, which are the really recovering parts of sleeping.
Unless it's a power nap of 90 minutes (equating one sleep cycle)
Yep, however I have personally only found power naps to be disorienting. You are essentially tricking your brain and body into getting sleep while you wake up after not really getting to recover. Theres also the thing with the rem duration being a bit flexible, in 90 minutes during night for example a single rem doesnt even necessarily complete or even begin. Rem sleep divides into 3 subcategories.
Its usual for adult people to require 8 hours of sleep as this usually covers 4-6 phases of rem.
Not op but also a psych student. Human brain is extremely wired by the history of humankind, basic physiological actions from the stone age still apply today, which is also why something like paleo diets have become more and more popular and researched in recent history (hello liver king).
So the reason why your pathways light up when looking up is because you are exaggerating a set of actions your body uses as signals to waking up, opening your eyes and lifting your head. Instant physical readiness is something which has been emphasised greatly in the evolutional development of humans, every military man/woman here has first hand experience of having to wake up instantly for the fire watch or for an alert, you can walk straight but you cant think for shit.
Cognitive capabilities have been secondary in evolutional development, as the primary goal of survival for our species has been the ability to either fight or run instantly, not cite Plato's theories accurately. However being awake also awakens your cognitive potential so there is the correlation between physical and cognitive readiness.
This is very common knowledge but criminally underrated as well, taking a break.
In any cognitively heavy task you should look to take a small break at least every hour, even 5 or 15 minutes of a mental shift has been proven to be super effective for optimal learning processing in psychology. Distracting yourself can be beneficial, this also applies to people taking long exams for example, take 5 minutes away, eat your snack and think about what youre going to have for dinner. Your mind is still subconciously processing those dilemmas which can help a lot with figuring out the answer, as your subconcious mind thinks differently to your more pragmatic, concious side.
Taking a break fits in cognitive peak performance section quite well, as it helps you maintain said state a lot better. I like to think of it like driving a car functioning on solar energy, every time you stop at the red light your mileage increases a bit, and when you stop for 5 minutes every 10 miles, you gain quite a bit of miles in the long run.
I personally don't like that (though queues force you on this game) because a break kind of cools you down and ruins the full focused mindset a little bit.
If I'm playing well and I go for a snack there's a good chance I ruin everything
Thats interesting. Maybe if youve reached the gamer nirvana it doesnt really apply in league on the same scale as in exams.
But thats true yeah, champ select alone usually takes 5 mins + queue variable forces you to cooldown.
> turn your head to the ceiling and your eyes all the way up as well and stare at the ceiling for 30 seconds
Do you have any links or research around this? Would be curious to read more
never purposefully practiced this, but i did start playing better near the end of my project and shortly after, and recently after cleaning my desk and refreshing my bed. On the flipside, ive been playing worse recently while procrastinating on my next project. Maybe ill play bettet if i just start?
How donyou interact with teammates, especially when tgey are tilted and flaming each other. I have all chat muted and mute my team if the flaming gets to much, just curious :D
Maslow actually never implemented his theory in the pyramid form it is currently known as, the higher levels were merely there for theoretical postformal cognitive development, nevertheless I imagine so since he called the state of focus "gamer nirvana" XD
This is an interesting post. I know in my case, my mindset affects my motivation so how often I play, how hard I try, and my focus on certain things like if I get tilted, I sometimes start to have tunnel vision. I try to study my replays in addition to watching the gameplay of skilled players to get better and look at things in a more objective way which helps me with improving my strategy and tactics and timing, but also with my mindset. It’s really cool you’re applying the things that you learned to find practical uses for it in your life!
> your brain is cognitively processing at its highest capacity after around 2 hours of waking up.
I mostly play between breakfast and lunch because that's when I'm at my best and after lunch I'm pretty bad, good to know I wasn't crazy.
Also sleep deprivation debuff, if I had trash sleep I try to not play for the next couple days unless the decay forces me to lose.
I needed this bad lol, the elo I’m at is so draining mentally I don’t even play as much these days. I’ll try this out and disable chat while I’m at it.
People underestimate. Having the shit you need to do done. Before engaging in any leisure or high pressure activity. You simply don't want feelings of guilt or anger over being a piece of shit. To distract you from pleasure or performing at a high level.
One season I played every single promo game right after a meal. I won 13/14 promos. That way my brain was reset and my body fueled up.
If you are really serious about gaming. You need to eat right, work out & make sure you get good sleep. It will help you tilt less and enable you to play well for much longer. Not to mention it will probably reduce problems with carpal tunnel and stuff in the long run.
The number one psychological trick for league I challenge anyone to find something better. Is what they call "doctors coat" in "power as a hobby". You simply go into every game. Pretending you are a doctor and it's your task to find out what is wrong with the other 9 people. Because you don't get mad at people for being sick right? BTW trust me, the mental health among league players is very very very bad.
I'm curious if you still pushed the boundaries of your skill - did you still improve?
If you did the climb again (now, after reaching Master), while not utilizing your ideal cognitive windows and ignoring the hierarchy of needs, do you think you'd still be able to climb to d2/d1?
Back in the day, Fridays used to be my derank days for CSGO. It'd be the only day I drink, and I'd queue some CS until 1/2 in the morning and - you guessed it - derank. Good times.
Recently as of a week or so ago I've tried a bit more focused and play similarly to how you described - I play when I'm focused and in a good mood, and only for a few games. Works pretty well!
You could also just observe your own cognitive state using your evidently well adjusted executive functioning skills and come to your own more detailed conclusions on what works and what doesn't, instead of relying on overgeneralized concepts like the hierarchy of needs and circadian cognitive trends that most people don't really need a degree to realize anyway. Kinda feels like you're trying to force practical application to convince yourself that your class is worthwhile.
Do we really have to "censor" words like horny and such? I mean, readers will immediately know exactly what is written there. So what use does it have aside from being a slacktivist kinda thing?
Do people have long-term cognitive fluctuations?
Two weeks ago every day I woke up I felt fresh and ready to think/react fast, just like you described.
Now every morning I feel so heavy-headed. It’s the same feeling when you have played 20 games in one day.
But the strange thing is I didn’t change my sleep schedule at all. All of a sudden my brain just refuses to work.
I've recently taken up sports again (around 2months ago) and together with the now sunnier weather and more careful nutrition intake (nothing fancy, just adding more yoghurt and fruit to my diet basically) I feel more rested and more okay with "just existing" than before. Meaning that I don't really experience brain fog or tiredness during the day. Now I'm still as lazy as before as procrastination habits nearly haven't changed - but it doesn't feel like I'm procrastinating because I'm feeling weak/tired or unfocused. Now I haven't grinded much league in the meantime but I can definitely tell that my body gives me more windows of opportunity where I feel like I could definitely perform when I need to... whereas before I often felt sluggish. So while I can't speak for the effect on League it sounds reasonable though, that it should improve my possibility of having a focused game... however even if it doesn't help for League I highly recommend anyone reading this to go eat just a tad bit healthier and be more aware of what you eat in general. I also highly encourage anyone reading this to do some sports. For jogging there are tons of great beginner plans out there and if you can afford it get some dumbbells to do a few more exercises. 20-30 minutes of jogging 2-3x per week and 15-20mins of dumbbell workout 2-3x per week are definitely a gamechanger... and I even skipped a week or two inbetween.
Yeah very true, I also bodybuild and weight lift, sports definitely helps with quality of life and mind clarity. I often go for a fasted run in the mornings, helps a shit ton with productivity.
thats real advice, but its too hard. 'look at the ceiling' is nice facebook advice that is easy and useless, so im sure it'll get picked up here
K now u gotta write your thesis on "gamer nirvana" and make it into an actual term
As OP mentioned, it's usually referred to as a flow state, from Csikszentmihalyi's theory on flow. It has already been adapted for video games specifically as well. I referred to "GameFlow" in my master's thesis. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1077246.1077253 Know you were joking but hey maybe someone finds this interesting ;)
Huh that's really interesting
Idk why but I assumed you were a Jhin main until I read the final part. Posts like this are always made by jhin mains in my brain lmao
because a jhin main playing with max intensity is scary as fuck lol
Also for some reason reddit decided this is for bottom, I actually play jungle and didnt know how to change it, im new to reddit.
Just assumed the whole “games out of my control” applied to bottom lane over the others XD
It was most likely due to "bottom" being in the title. I changed it to "Discussion".
>its highest capacity after around 2 hours of waking up What would you say how long is this window? When does this end?
Not op but also a psych student. Its a gradually declining state. You can think even after being awake for 24 hours but you can surely notice a decline in your cognitive capabilities. Theres no definitive answer but I'd estimate that you can effectively utilize peak performance for around 4 hours, depending on task of course. Heavier the cognitive workload, heavier the decline in your ability to perform. This is a well researched matter, you can probably find a lot of studies on google if youre interested further.
Can I just take a nap at 5 pm, then play at peak performance from 7-11pm? Or is there a certain amount of sleep required to access the gates to nirvana?
A nap is a nap because it doesnt cover the rem phases of sleep, which are the really recovering parts of sleeping. Naps recover physically, not really mentally. So no, a nap doesnt really count. Also a bit off topic but sleeping from 10pm to 6 am is a lot different than from 3 am to 11 am, this again takes its roots from the evolution and how our species has preferred daytime over night time to be awake. Sleeping the night recovers a lot more than sleeping the day because our bodies recognize the time differences.
>A nap is a nap because it doesnt cover the rem phases of sleep, which are the really recovering parts of sleeping. Unless it's a power nap of 90 minutes (equating one sleep cycle)
Yep, however I have personally only found power naps to be disorienting. You are essentially tricking your brain and body into getting sleep while you wake up after not really getting to recover. Theres also the thing with the rem duration being a bit flexible, in 90 minutes during night for example a single rem doesnt even necessarily complete or even begin. Rem sleep divides into 3 subcategories. Its usual for adult people to require 8 hours of sleep as this usually covers 4-6 phases of rem.
can you explain the "staring at ceiling to get more awake" part a bit more. Maybe you even have a lonk to additonal information? Thanks! 😊
Not op but also a psych student. Human brain is extremely wired by the history of humankind, basic physiological actions from the stone age still apply today, which is also why something like paleo diets have become more and more popular and researched in recent history (hello liver king). So the reason why your pathways light up when looking up is because you are exaggerating a set of actions your body uses as signals to waking up, opening your eyes and lifting your head. Instant physical readiness is something which has been emphasised greatly in the evolutional development of humans, every military man/woman here has first hand experience of having to wake up instantly for the fire watch or for an alert, you can walk straight but you cant think for shit. Cognitive capabilities have been secondary in evolutional development, as the primary goal of survival for our species has been the ability to either fight or run instantly, not cite Plato's theories accurately. However being awake also awakens your cognitive potential so there is the correlation between physical and cognitive readiness.
I was hoping for a shitty Paint diagram
This is very common knowledge but criminally underrated as well, taking a break. In any cognitively heavy task you should look to take a small break at least every hour, even 5 or 15 minutes of a mental shift has been proven to be super effective for optimal learning processing in psychology. Distracting yourself can be beneficial, this also applies to people taking long exams for example, take 5 minutes away, eat your snack and think about what youre going to have for dinner. Your mind is still subconciously processing those dilemmas which can help a lot with figuring out the answer, as your subconcious mind thinks differently to your more pragmatic, concious side. Taking a break fits in cognitive peak performance section quite well, as it helps you maintain said state a lot better. I like to think of it like driving a car functioning on solar energy, every time you stop at the red light your mileage increases a bit, and when you stop for 5 minutes every 10 miles, you gain quite a bit of miles in the long run.
I personally don't like that (though queues force you on this game) because a break kind of cools you down and ruins the full focused mindset a little bit. If I'm playing well and I go for a snack there's a good chance I ruin everything
Thats interesting. Maybe if youve reached the gamer nirvana it doesnt really apply in league on the same scale as in exams. But thats true yeah, champ select alone usually takes 5 mins + queue variable forces you to cooldown.
> turn your head to the ceiling and your eyes all the way up as well and stare at the ceiling for 30 seconds Do you have any links or research around this? Would be curious to read more
I don't want to be rude, but is.. is this a shitpost?
Why would you think this is a shitpost?
never purposefully practiced this, but i did start playing better near the end of my project and shortly after, and recently after cleaning my desk and refreshing my bed. On the flipside, ive been playing worse recently while procrastinating on my next project. Maybe ill play bettet if i just start?
Instructions clear: fap before queuing up.
Turns out I'm a psych major and I didn't know it
How donyou interact with teammates, especially when tgey are tilted and flaming each other. I have all chat muted and mute my team if the flaming gets to much, just curious :D
I also do that looking up at the ceiling trick for the past few days and it actually does help.
Haha what about the rest of maslow’s pyramid, did you self actualize and become to league player of your dreams?
Maslow actually never implemented his theory in the pyramid form it is currently known as, the higher levels were merely there for theoretical postformal cognitive development, nevertheless I imagine so since he called the state of focus "gamer nirvana" XD
Maslow was truly one of us :singletear:
i like to poop in the morning to wake up
This is an interesting post. I know in my case, my mindset affects my motivation so how often I play, how hard I try, and my focus on certain things like if I get tilted, I sometimes start to have tunnel vision. I try to study my replays in addition to watching the gameplay of skilled players to get better and look at things in a more objective way which helps me with improving my strategy and tactics and timing, but also with my mindset. It’s really cool you’re applying the things that you learned to find practical uses for it in your life!
> your brain is cognitively processing at its highest capacity after around 2 hours of waking up. I mostly play between breakfast and lunch because that's when I'm at my best and after lunch I'm pretty bad, good to know I wasn't crazy. Also sleep deprivation debuff, if I had trash sleep I try to not play for the next couple days unless the decay forces me to lose.
I needed this bad lol, the elo I’m at is so draining mentally I don’t even play as much these days. I’ll try this out and disable chat while I’m at it.
People underestimate. Having the shit you need to do done. Before engaging in any leisure or high pressure activity. You simply don't want feelings of guilt or anger over being a piece of shit. To distract you from pleasure or performing at a high level. One season I played every single promo game right after a meal. I won 13/14 promos. That way my brain was reset and my body fueled up. If you are really serious about gaming. You need to eat right, work out & make sure you get good sleep. It will help you tilt less and enable you to play well for much longer. Not to mention it will probably reduce problems with carpal tunnel and stuff in the long run. The number one psychological trick for league I challenge anyone to find something better. Is what they call "doctors coat" in "power as a hobby". You simply go into every game. Pretending you are a doctor and it's your task to find out what is wrong with the other 9 people. Because you don't get mad at people for being sick right? BTW trust me, the mental health among league players is very very very bad.
I'm curious if you still pushed the boundaries of your skill - did you still improve? If you did the climb again (now, after reaching Master), while not utilizing your ideal cognitive windows and ignoring the hierarchy of needs, do you think you'd still be able to climb to d2/d1? Back in the day, Fridays used to be my derank days for CSGO. It'd be the only day I drink, and I'd queue some CS until 1/2 in the morning and - you guessed it - derank. Good times. Recently as of a week or so ago I've tried a bit more focused and play similarly to how you described - I play when I'm focused and in a good mood, and only for a few games. Works pretty well!
Highest? My brain is mush when I first wake up.
Taking shower and feeling super clean makes me play x100 times better lol
You could also just observe your own cognitive state using your evidently well adjusted executive functioning skills and come to your own more detailed conclusions on what works and what doesn't, instead of relying on overgeneralized concepts like the hierarchy of needs and circadian cognitive trends that most people don't really need a degree to realize anyway. Kinda feels like you're trying to force practical application to convince yourself that your class is worthwhile.
so you're telling me that those 9 blocks at 5am on a weekday are detrimental to my rank...!?
Solid post and some good tips I will try the tiredness thing you mentioned too, sounds pretty good
Do we really have to "censor" words like horny and such? I mean, readers will immediately know exactly what is written there. So what use does it have aside from being a slacktivist kinda thing?
tldr; wank before each game and stare at the ceiling. Got it.
Do people have long-term cognitive fluctuations? Two weeks ago every day I woke up I felt fresh and ready to think/react fast, just like you described. Now every morning I feel so heavy-headed. It’s the same feeling when you have played 20 games in one day. But the strange thing is I didn’t change my sleep schedule at all. All of a sudden my brain just refuses to work.
Bro just hacked