Have you ever noticed how much time goes into preparing for an action rather than the action itself?

Take this example. One day, you decided to finalize a report for work. You thought: “OK, I can probably just start planning already.” But as the moment was approaching, you started thinking you needed a cup of tea. Then you thought you needed a friend for your tea — a sandwich. Then you realized you really needed to clear your desk first. You did that, and then you started thinking about the report. You did the research, worked out the structure in your head. You added some notes, but then the search results felt too surface‑level. You also thought maybe the structure of the report was too casual, that the tone didn’t follow the professional outline. Being a perfectionist, you started rethinking the plan to fix that, but then realized you were going off topic in your thoughts, maybe even watching your phone. By then the tea was gone, so you needed to boil more water and bring another friend to your tea — maybe cookies. By the time you finally started the report, it was midnight. But instead of feeling happy you feel very exhausted.

Sound familiar? This is analysis paralysis. Therapists actually refer to the “indecision-inaction phenomenon” — a fancy way of saying we think so much we never actually take action. It’s a state where the brain endlessly replays the same thoughts, considers every possible scenario, prepares for the worst… but never actually gets going. And the longer you think, the scarier that first step becomes.

This phenomenon has been discussed online for several months under the provocative term “Retardmaxxing.” The word may seem shocking, even extreme. But behind it lies a need that almost everyone recognizes: “Stop spending your time analyzing and evaluating. Just do it.” Here’s why turning off your brain became the biggest productivity trend of 2026.

Retardmaxxing: Life on Autopilot as a New Philosophy

“Retardmaxxing” refers to making instant, intuitive decisions and taking action without prior analysis or reflection. Breakdown of the term: “maxxing” comes from the “looksmaxxing” subculture (improving one’s appearance), while the first part — although it’s slang with a negative connotation (meaning “to act dumb” in this context) — refers to the deliberate disengagement of the “smart” brain.

The term may seem provocative, but its essence — setting aside the shock value — is very simple. It’s that “conscious simplicity” where you intentionally let go of complex thought patterns in favor of direct action. The idea gained traction online, but it really took off when it aligned with what Jeff Bezos calls his “70% rule” — acting when you have enough information (70% information), not all of it — and what Mel Robbins calls her “5-second rule”: move before your brain kills the impulse. Both capture the same core message: stop overthinking, start doing.

This philosophy promises freedom from “analysis paralysis.” Stop mulling over the same thoughts; stop second-guessing everything — just take action. This is the principle of action without analysis in its purest form.

The Diagnosis Gen Z Made: Why We Can’t Stop Our Brains

Why has “Retardmaxxing” — or, if you prefer, the cult of “smart laziness” — gone so viral? Because it’s a reaction to genuine cognitive overload — a state where the brain is processing more information than it can handle.

A 2025 study titled “Decoding the Emotional and Behavioural Triggers of Overthinking” revealed alarming numbers: 81% of people spend at least 3 hours a day ruminating on the same thoughts. They replay conversations, imagine worst-case scenarios, or obsess over what others think of them. 60% feel anxious even when faced with a simple message.

Running in circles with your thoughts is a trap. In reality, endless analysis isn’t productivity — it’s a form of inaction that creates an illusion of control while life passes you by.

The symptoms of cognitive overload are familiar to many: brain fog, a sense of unreality, insomnia when the brain refuses to “shut down,” and chronic fatigue. There’s this thing called the “paradox of choice” — basically, the more options you have, the more your energy gets diverted from action into analysis. You’re tired not because of the tasks you have to complete, but because of the decisions you haven’t made. “Decision fatigue” — another scientific term — explains why by evening we’re willing to agree to anything just to avoid choosing.

The idea of doing nothing has also lost its appeal in a culture focused on productivity and visibility. Now people want to “do” — but without fear. That’s exactly what Retardmaxxing offers.

The Neurochemistry of Laziness: Why “Turning Off the Brain” Is So Hard

From a biological standpoint, our brain is naturally pessimistic. As psychotherapists explain, it perceives uncertainty as a threat. To avoid suffering, it switches into “hyperanalysis” mode — mentally playing out scenarios, preparing for the worst.

The paradox is that this kills motivation. Taking action releases dopamine, while waiting to act under stress releases cortisol (the stress hormone).

The longer you put off that call or the start of a project, the scarier it seems. The success of Retardmaxxing lies in breaking this dopamine loop at its weakest point: the beginning.

The “Dumb Action” Tactic: A User’s Manual

This isn’t a call to become permanently foolish. Rather, it’s a situational tactic for building momentum. Let’s call it the principle of action without analysis:

Prioritize action over optimization. Stop waiting for the perfect moment. Voltaire put it well: “Perfect is the enemy of good.” Start now, even if you don’t feel ready. Smart laziness works like this: you’re smart enough to understand that the perfect moment doesn’t exist, and lazy enough not to waste time waiting for it.

Let go of judgment. Stop worrying about how others will perceive your failures. The shame of the first step lasts a second; the regret of a missed opportunity lasts years.

Trust your instincts. Act quickly enough so that your analytical mind doesn’t have time to sow doubt. This is where conscious simplicity comes in: you deliberately choose speed over precision.

Ignore the end result. Focus exclusively on the process itself. Just getting started is already a victory.

Experts in cognitive-behavioral therapy recommend applying a time-limited planning rule. Don’t give yourself an hour to deliberate — give yourself 5 to 10 minutes for a quick pros-and-cons analysis, then act.

How to Combine the Pleasant with the Useful?

How do you overcome analysis paralysis without turning into a vegetable? How do you balance “smart laziness” with real effectiveness?

So what does this look like in practice? Here’s my messy middle ground:

Mornings are the most productive part of the day, so I try to schedule all my important tasks for then. But there’s a danger in overthinking before morning even arrives — you end up staying up all night and coming to decisions with bloodshot eyes and a brain that even coffee can’t wake up. Instead, I usually just do things as they come. No perfect start from Monday, no New Year’s resolutions, no 7 am early bird promises. Thought — action (no more than the first thought).

Action without analysis for micro-actions. For all everyday routine tasks — fears about making a call, writing a post, starting a workout — use the 5-second rule: once you have all the information, don’t spend more than 5 seconds before executing. I read somewhere that counting down actually breaks your brain’s habit loop — basically forces it to snap out of overthinking mode. Don’t overanalyze where the margin of error is zero: which toothbrush to buy, which checkout line to stand in — just follow your gut.

Create rituals — for example, when you wake up, immediately put an egg on to boil. While it’s cooking, stretch, listen to music, open the curtains and window for fresh air and natural light. Remember the 81% of people suffering from anxiety? If you’re overwhelmed with information and constantly worried, you need a brain detox. Rituals and pre-planned schedules can lighten your mental load. Retardmaxxing can become your protective mechanism against overload if you use it as a “turbo” mode for launching tasks — not as a lifestyle.

What This Actually Feels Like

It reminds me a little of when you’re meeting a new group of people. You get really nervous, and the more you analyze it, the harder it gets to actually start talking and opening up. But once you just dive into discussing something that interests you both, suddenly the anxiety melts away and you even forget you were shy in the first place.

The Main Takeaway

I’m still learning this myself. Last week I spent at least half of my evenings rethinking an awkward situation I had and how to fix it — or even whether to fix it at all. It’s only human to want to do your best, to show yourself in the best light, etc. The goal isn’t to become a machine that never thinks. It’s to stop wasting my best energy on decisions that don’t deserve it, so I have that energy left for the ones that actually matter.

References

1. Center Fresh & YouGov. (2025). Decoding the Emotional and Behavioural Triggers of Overthinking Across Different Aspects of Life. Nationwide survey of 2,010 respondents.

2. “The death of overthinking: How the ‘retardmaxxing’ trend is going viral.” (2026, April 22). The Indian Express.

3. Schwartz, B. (2004). The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. HarperCollins.

Ever wondered why the children who were once called geniuses suddenly seem to disappear as we get older? Of course, not all of them do. But I might have an answer.

From a young age, Giza was a very gifted girl. In first grade, she would start something new - painting, doing math, or playing an instrument , and the teachers would compliment her on her skills and how fast she learned. She did put in effort at first, but over time she started to believe that talent alone could keep getting her wins.

So, without noticing, she relaxed and became lazy.

She chose a passion: playing chess. As expected, she was winning four out of five games. That became the norm. Her friend Tanya, on the other hand, was losing four out of five games, the opposite of Giza.

After about a year, Giza lost to Tanya for the first time. It hurt her ego badly. She tried a rematch a few days later, but she was still losing. Giza was too crushed to feel happy for her friend, who had clearly made big improvements.

She got so sad that she stopped playing chess for a while. When she came back, the same story continued with even worse scores. Giza was so embarrassed that she didn’t want to share this with anyone. But she was missing an important lesson that Tanya could have taught her.

Behind Tanya’s increasing wins was persistence. No amount of losing would make her stop. She simply pushed through every hardship. And here’s the thing: even though we tend to celebrate prodigies, talent, and fast first steps, we forget that success is a marathon, not a sprint.

Parents should not over-compliment their children. And just because children don’t share their struggles (out of shame or fear) doesn’t mean they aren’t going through real hardship and pain.

So instead of shielding kids from every difficulty, parents can help them face a healthy amount of hardship. Struggles aren’t always things to avoid. You learn from them. Sometimes, you even start to enjoy them.

I remembered this when I heard figure skater Alysa Liu say in a 60 Minutes interview that she loves struggling because it makes her feel alive. Something clicked in me, because I had felt the same thing before.

There’s something similar to a runner’s high. Runners talk about that moment when, after pushing through the hardest part, they suddenly feel very good. I’ve felt that too, not while running, but when I played piano pieces composed by Bach. His music is notoriously difficult in rhythm. The right and left hands have different rythm, and it was incredibly hard to synchronize them. But then I did it. And I felt that same high.

With time, I also started learning to enjoy the toughness, the struggle, and the difficult moments. Each time a little more, until slowly, you become mentally stronger. And when you start to enjoy difficult moments, life turns into an amazing, never-ending game.

Giza was me.

I learned to persist through hardships only after moving abroad. When you have to use a foreign language every day, talent is often overlooked, it doesn’t shine as brightly compared to other people. That humbles you. But through all that pain, I learned to fight, to not back down even when my ego is hurt, and to build proper self-esteem.

I can’t say that success is easier now. It never really is. But I gained great habits.

There’s truth in what they say: water shapes the rock, patiently but ruthlessly, turning it into sand. And sometimes, you have to be the water, not the rock.

Reference:

Alysa Liu said this in her 60 Minutes interview with Sharyn Alfonsi, broadcast on January 4, 2026. In the transcript, Liu says: “I love struggling, actually… It makes me feel alive.” : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-retiring-at-16-figure-skater-alysa-liu-returns-for-the-olympics-60-minutes-transcript/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Prelude

Sometimes some of us think we are late in life, that the best day to start was yesterday, that everyone else is ahead in life, and that our lives are moving at turtle speed. And I feel like this too! Watching reels, seeing all these rich people at 18, genius mathematicians at 5, and the algorithm isn’t helping. It is impressive, and people want to see it, but what if I told you there was someone who knew only how to read and write when he began his elementary education at 19, and also founded the best university in Russia?

Here is a story of Mikhail Lomonosov.

A Fisherman’s Son with a Hunger for Books

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was born in 1711 in a remote fishing village near Arkhangelsk, in northern Russia. His father was a poor fisherman, and his mother died when he was still a small child. Life was hard, but young Mikhail displayed an insatiable curiosity. He taught himself to read and write with the help of a neighbor and valued two books above all else: a Slavic grammar book and an arithmetic textbook.
However, his father did not encourage his love of learning, and his stepmother treated him cruelly. There was no school in the village capable of providing him with the higher education he aspired to. Therefore, at the age of 19, he made a bold decision: to leave for Moscow, where, as he had heard, there were schools and academies.

The 1,200‑Kilometre Trek

One night in December 1730, Lomonosov ran away from his home with nothing but three rubles (borrowed from a neighbor) and his two favorite books. He knew that a caravan of fishermen was heading to Moscow with a cargo of frozen fish. He set off on foot in pursuit and caught up with the convoy on the third day, begging the fishermen to let him travel with them.

The journey was grueling: more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) through the harsh Russian winter. According to sources, it took him between three weeks and nearly a month and a half to reach the capital. He covered most of the distance on foot, braving the snow, hunger, and exhaustion. But his determination was never shaken.

A False Identity to Enter the Academy

When he finally arrived in Moscow in early 1731, he faced a new obstacle: the best educational institution was the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, but it admitted only the sons of nobles. The son of a poor peasant was not allowed to study there.

Refusing to give up, Lomonosov lied about his background: he claimed to be the son of a nobleman from Kholmogory. Thanks to this false identity, he was admitted to the Academy.

Hardship and Brilliance

At the academy, Lomonosov was older than most of his classmates — some by nearly ten years. He was even teased by his classmates because of his age and humble background. His daily allowance was only three kopecks, which was barely enough for bread and kvass. Nevertheless, he studied with incredible diligence. In just one year, he completed a three-year curriculum, easily mastering Latin and, later, Greek.

His talent did not go unnoticed. In 1735, he was selected as one of the top students to continue his studies at the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, and shortly thereafter was sent to Germany (to Marburg and Freiburg) to pursue further education.

The Legacy

Lomonosov returned to Russia as a true polymath — a physicist, chemist, astronomer, linguist, historian, and poet. He discovered Venus’s atmosphere, formulated the law of conservation of mass (before Lavoisier), founded Russia’s first chemistry laboratory, and in 1755 established Moscow University, which still bears his name today.

The Meaning of His Walk

Lomonosov’s walk to Moscow is not only a story of physical endurance, but it is also a symbol of how unyielding thirst for knowledge can break every barrier of class, age, poverty, and circumstance. He walked a thousand miles not because he could not read (he already could), but because he knew that real education would transform him — and it did, turning a fisherman’s son into one of Russia’s greatest minds.

His journey reminds us that the first step toward greatness is often the hardest — and he took it, literally, on foot.

I would lie if I didn’t say that this story actually made me feel both good and bad. I don’t think I have quite the same thirst for making my dreams come true, but it still motivates me, regardless of the circumstances; there’s always a way forward if your dream shines like the North Star and guides you on your path.

References:

• The Moscow Times — “On This Day in 1711 Mikhail Lomonosov Was Born” (themoscowtimes.com)

• APS Physics — “Mikhail Lomonosov: A Russian Giant” (aps.org)

• Wikipedia — “Mikhail Lomonosov” (en.wikipedia.org)

• Crease, R. P. & Shiltsev, V. — Fueling Peter’s Mill: Mikhail Lomonosov’s Educational Training in Russia and Germany, 1731–1741, arXiv:1901.03376 (2019)

Growing up as a sickly, shy child in Moscow, Irina Hakamada dreamt of nothing more than a normal, regular life. Her father - a Japanese communist who defected to the Soviet Union in 1939 - was rarely present. Her mother was chronically ill. Her classmates mocked her “foreign” looks. In a country obsessed with ethnicities, she felt like an outsider before she was old enough to understand why.

She felt so lost that, at times, she wished she could disappear.

Like many young people, at first Hakamada believed happiness meant following the conventional script: get a degree, marry, find a stable job, and do not ask for extra. She earned a PhD in economics. She married young. She tried to fit into the life expected by others.

But something inside her refused to stay small.

Too Japanese for Russia, Too Russian for Japan

For years, Hakamada carried the pain of not fully belonging anywhere.

In Moscow, people mocked her Japanese features and treated her as foreign. Russia was the place where she was born, but not always the place that accepted her.

Later, when she went to Japan, she discovered another kind of exile. There, she was not seen as Japanese enough. After all she was shaped by Moscow, by Soviet life, by the language and culture that had raised her. She felt too Russian.

The country connected to her father’s blood did not feel like home.

So she returned to Russia.

But not because Russia had always been kind to her. It had definitely not. But because it was the place that had formed her, wounded her, challenged her, and made her who she was.

At last, Hakamada stopped waiting for a country to fully claim her.

She claimed Russia.

At age 48, Irina Hakamada did what almost no one expected.

She decided to run for president of Russia against Vladimir Putin.

The Mocking That Backfired

When she told her husband about her political ambition, he laughed.

“Look at yourself in the mirror and say your last name out loud,” he told her. “What kind of Russian president are you?”

According to Hakamada, he did not simply doubt her. He even financed her opponent.

For many people, that kind of humiliation would have been enough to stop them. For Hakamada, it became fuel.

“I was offended,” she later recalled, explaining that she went out and borrowed money from men connected to the criminal world to fund her campaign.

She then found a poor, forgotten district on the edge of Moscow, a place where other politicians barely bothered to campaign. She went there, listened, fought, and won her seat.

The woman who had been told her name and face made her impossible to elect had entered Russian politics anyway.

Taking on the Kremlin — and the Gangsters

By the time Hakamada ran in the 2004 presidential election, the danger was no longer symbolic.

She was not merely challenging another politician. She was challenging Vladimir Putin at a moment when Russia’s political system was becoming harder, colder, and more dangerous for anyone who spoke too loudly.

Friends warned her that she could be killed if she went too far. She criticized Putin’s handling of the Moscow theater hostage crisis and called for an objective investigation into the apartment bombings that had helped shape Russia’s political climate at the beginning of his rule.

She understood the risk. But she refused to speak like someone asking permission.

“I am not afraid of the terrorists in power,” she said. “In Russia, nobody is ensured against anything.”

The intimidation, she later suggested, was not abstract. Men connected to the criminal-political world came to her door — a reminder that power in Russia did not always arrive in a government car or a formal letter. Sometimes it arrived as a knock. Sometimes it came through men whose purpose was not to debate, but to frighten.

Whether the pressure came through official channels or gangster intermediaries, the message was clear: stop speaking.

Hakamada did not stop.

Her Japanese-Russian features made her a target of prejudice. Her gender made her easy to dismiss. Her liberal politics made her dangerous to the system. But she refused to hide any part of herself.

In the 2004 election, she became the only liberal candidate on the ballot and the only woman running against Putin. She won nearly 4% of the vote.

But numbers do not tell the whole story.

She proved that a woman of Asian descent could stand on the same stage as the most powerful man in Russia and not blink.

A Daughter’s Search for Approval

Behind Hakamada’s iron will was a childhood spent craving the attention of a father who rarely gave it.

Mutsuo Hakamada was an almost mythical figure in her life: a stern, laconic former Japanese communist who had come to the Soviet Union before the war. He married Irina’s mother in part to obtain Soviet citizenship, but he remained emotionally distant inside the family he had created.

He spoke poor Russian. He rarely engaged with his daughter. He did not give her the warmth she needed.

As Hakamada grew into a successful economist, then a national politician, part of her still hoped for a sign of his pride. Perhaps she imagined that if she became important enough, brave enough, visible enough, he would finally see her.

And when she had made her name, her father finally let her see it. He didn’t offer effusive praise. The words, perhaps, were hard to find. But in that small, clear moment, he let her know: he was proud.

It was what she had been searching for all along.

A Mother’s Courage

Outside politics, Hakamada faced another test of strength.

At 42, she gave birth to her daughter, Maria, who was born with Down syndrome. In a society where children with disabilities were often hidden, pitied, or treated as shameful, Hakamada chose openness.

She did not hide her daughter. She raised her publicly and later spoke in support of children with special needs.

Maria survived childhood leukemia and grew up to become a model.

For Hakamada, courage was not only standing on a debate stage against Putin. It was also standing beside her child in a world that often looked away.

Life After Politics

After leaving frontline politics, Hakamada did not disappear. She became a writer, public speaker, business coach, and media personality. Since 2006, she has given masterclasses and leadership programs, and her official biography describes her as one of Russia’s top business speakers. Her lectures and masterclasses have reached hundreds of thousands of people.

That matters to me too. She did not need a presidential title to keep influencing people. She turned the same qualities that made her dangerous in politics — independence, clarity, courage and refusal to obey expectations — into another kind of public power.

Why She Inspires Me

Irina Hakamada never became president.

She won nearly 4% of the vote. She did not defeat Putin. She did not transform Russia overnight. History did not give her the victory that fairy tales usually demand.

But she showed something more important.

She showed that a person who was once a sickly, bullied child could become impossible to ignore. She showed that a woman told she looked “too Asian” for power could rise high enough to challenge the most authoritarian leader of her generation.

She endured her husband’s mockery. She borrowed money from dangerous men. She faced threats, intimidation, prejudice, and the lifelong wound of wanting recognition from a father who, after years of silence, finally let her know he was proud.

Yet she never bent.

She never bowed.

That is why Irina Hakamada is my role model.

She proves that true leadership is not only about winning an election. It is about refusing to be erased, even when your country doubts you, your enemies threaten you, and the people you love most take a long time to see you.

It is about choosing your own home and then standing your ground inside it.

Sources / Further Reading

Irina Khakamada, official biography.
https://hakamada.ru/biography/

“Dr. Irina M. Khakamada,” Speakers Academy biography.
https://www.speakersacademy.com/en/speaker/dr-irina-m-khakamada/

“Irina Khakamada,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, In Russia, It’s No Contest, January 12, 2004.
https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2004/01/in-russia-its-no-contest

“Russia before the Presidential Election,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, January 26, 2004.
https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/events/2004/01/russia-before-the-presidential-election

“Elections: Russian Presidency 2004 General,” ElectionGuide.
https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/1914/

Nick Paton Walsh, “A guide to the Kremlin: sex, booze, kidnap,” The Guardian, March 10, 2006.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/11/russia.nickpatonwalsh

“Я отцу простила все: интервью с Ириной Хакамадой,” Kommersant, April 11, 2000.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/16742

“Irina Khakamada: ‘Ничего личного. Мне система не мешала,’” Radio Svoboda, October 24, 2015.https://www.svoboda.org/a/27318897.html

I never set out to discover a language-learning hack. In fact, when I was learning English years ago, my teachers simply thought I was too emotional. I waved my hands, acted things out, and made strange little movements every time I learned a new word.

It turns out I was unconsciously using a scientifically proven technique - one that later helped me learn five languages.

Only recently did I realize:
Those “embarrassing” gestures were actually my superpower.

My Accidental Method - Learning Languages With My Body

Back then, none of my movements were intentional. They just… happened.

• For the word “apple”, I’d pretend to take a bite, squint, and wrinkle my nose as if tasting something sour.

• For “run”, my body naturally started swaying side to side, imagining myself sprinting.

• Even for the abstract connector “however”, I’d mark it with a little turn of my wrist - as if pivoting a thought.

Years later, those are still some of the clearest words in my memory.
Meanwhile, the words I neatly wrote down in my language study notebook? Well, many of them simply vanished…

But now I know why.

What Science Says: Gestures Boost Language Retention

A study from the University of Illinois confirms what my younger self discovered by accident:

1. Any gesture improves memorization by 8–10%.

2. Even meaningless movements work — as long as each word gets its own unique gesture.

3. The optimal batch size is 10–12 words at a time to avoid cognitive overload.

In other words ->
You don’t need the perfect gesture. You just need one that comes naturally as you think of the word.

How I Use This Method Today (Across All 5 Languages I Know)

Now I apply this technique intentionally, and it works even better.

1. Every new word receives a gesture.

It can be silly, exaggerated, or completely random.
The more personal, the better.

2. I repeat the word + gesture three times, with different intonations.

This blends movement, sound, and emotion - a powerful memory cocktail.

3. For abstract concepts, I create “stories in motion.”

For example, to remember contrast words, I physically “shift” from one side to another.

And here’s the magic:
When I forget a word, I don’t panic.

I simply recall the gesture, and the word follows naturally.

A Polyglot Superpower I Never Knew I Had

If someone had told me in school that my odd gestures were actually a scientifically validated learning strategy, I would’ve felt far less embarrassed.

But maybe you’re like me- already using movement intuitively without realizing its power.

Give it a try. Your hands might already know more languages than you think. 😉

Study link: University of Illinois — Gestures help students learn new words in different languages
(https://news.illinois.edu/study-gestures-help-students-learn-new-words-in-different-languages/)

Disclaimer: This article was originally posted on Medium by the author.

The other day, I caught myself treating my brain like a cheap hard drive: just a temporary storage space for passwords, meeting schedules, and shopping lists. As for actual thinking? I left that to Google and ChatGPT.

Need some information? I’ll Google it. Need a summary? I’ll ask an AI. Little by little, I began entrusting my intellectual tasks to machines. Until the day I realized my memory was starting to fail me. This ease made me feel like I had a superpower. In reality, I was letting my brain silently disappear.

We’re told worse memory is just a matter of age. And yes, that’s partly true. As we age, we absorb fewer nutrients: vitamin B12 becomes harder to absorb, and omega-3s are scarcer in the modern diet. The body changes, that’s for sure.

But that’s not all. The problem is, above all, the way we learn. Or rather, to be honest, the fact that we no longer learn. We’re taught to exercise our muscles: lifting weights, stretching, building muscle. But no one teaches us how to exercise our brains. As a result, we leave that task to our devices and wonder why our minds seem to be atrophying.

Here’s how to train your brain effectively.

Forget crash courses. Forget cramming. These methods don’t take into account how memory actually works.

Here are five methods that really work. No apps needed—though some can help. No dietary supplements needed.

1. Active Recall: Stop Rereading, Start Struggling

Rereading your notes feels productive. It’s not. It gives you the illusion of knowing without any real depth. It’s the same trap as Googling something and thinking you’ve learned it.

Try this instead:

• Close your book. Write down everything you remember on a blank page.

• After a lecture or chapter, come up with 10 questions and answer them an hour later—without looking.

• Imagine you need to give a presentation. Start mentally filling in the slides from scratch.

It’s harder than rereading. It’s harder than asking AI to summarize. That’s exactly why it works.

2. The Feynman Trick: Explain It to a Kid

Richard Feynman, the famous physicist, had a simple rule. If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t really understand it.

Here’s what you do:

1. Pick a concept you want to learn.

2. Explain it out loud or on paper like you’re talking to a smart 10-year-old. Use plain words. Use analogies. Use everyday stuff.

3. Notice where you get stuck. Those are your weak spots.

4. Go back, clear up the confusion, and try again.

This kills the “I read it, so I know it” lie. It forces your brain to do the heavy lifting—something AI can’t do for you.

3. Spaced Repetition: Time It Right

True learning comes through repetition, and as the Russian proverb says, repetition is the mother of learning. But not just any kind of repetition.

Reviewing something right when you’re about to forget it is like the perfect workout for your brain. It strengthens those neural pathways, making each connection stronger than before.

This is based on the forgetting curve. You review things at longer and longer intervals, right when your brain is about to drop them.

What that looks like in practice:

• Day 1: Learn something new.

• Day 2: Recall it without peeking. Explain it to someone—or to yourself—or write a quick summary.

• Day 5: Test yourself again.

• Day 12: Actually use it in a real task.

• Day 26 and beyond: Come back to it every few weeks.

Pro tip: Apps like Anki or Quizlet do the scheduling for you. They’re great for vocabulary, definitions, or anything fact-based.

4. Build a Memory Palace—and Make It Weird

Here’s why this works. Your brain evolved for navigating spaces and sensing the world, not for memorizing abstract lists.

When you tie information to a physical place and load it up with vivid, silly details, you’re basically creating a deliberate mashup of your senses. It’s like a form of synesthesia. You’re mixing sight, sound, touch, and emotion into one unforgettable sensory bomb.

The weirder and more ridiculous the image, the better it sticks.

Forget the usual apartment tour. Let’s use just one room: your kitchen.

Say you need to remember a project pipeline:

Research, design, prototype, test, launch.

Stand in your kitchen. Scan it from left to right. Attach each step to a specific appliance with a crazy mental image:

Cupboard — Research

You open it, and a flood of messy files and sticky notes tumbles out onto your head. You’re frantically digging through the chaos.

Toaster — Design

Two slices pop up with blueprints burned into them. You grab a knife and start sketching corrections on the steaming toast.

Sink — Prototype

A half-built robot is doing the dishes, but bubbles are exploding everywhere as it tries to wash its own gears. You’re yelling at it to focus.

Fridge — Test

Inside, instead of food, there are tiny scientists in hazmat suits poking a glowing sample. It sizzles and changes color as they take notes.

Stove — Launch

A rocket engine fires up on the burner, blasting flames and launching the pot straight into the ceiling with a roar.

Walk through your kitchen in your head a few times: cupboard, toaster, sink, fridge, stove.

Because you’ve attached emotion and physical space to each image, your brain will pull them back effortlessly. No search bar needed.

5. Are We Learning Like Kids?

Kids are known to be great at memorizing. Adults? Not so much.

Watch a child learning a new language. He babbles words that don’t make any sense, makes hilarious mistakes, and no one criticizes him for it. Everyone understands that this is a natural process: children make mistakes when they’re learning.

A few months later, they’re talking nonstop.

Now, watch an adult. Just one language class is enough. They try to say “hello” with a terrible accent, and then some native speakers might even snicker—or, even if they don’t say anything, they might give that adult a critical look.

And what happens next?

The next time that same adult thinks about practicing, they’re overwhelmed by a wave of burning shame and give up for years.

The difference doesn’t always lie in brain plasticity. It stems from the fact that we set invisible limits for ourselves.

As adults, we all have these unspoken rules running through our heads:

“Don’t look like a fool.”

“Don’t make a mistake.”

“Don’t speak up if you’re not sure.”

It’s not a memory problem. It’s a fear problem.

And what happens when you add Google and AI to the mix? Why risk looking like a fool when you can just look up the answer?

These techniques won’t just train your memory. They’ll help you overcome that fear of making mistakes. They give you the freedom to stumble, correct yourself, and improve—without a screen holding your hand.

The solution?

Find a safe friend who will practice the language with you. Find a safe space where you feel comfortable making mistakes.

For example, if you’re learning a new skill, it’s better to find an instructor who will support you on your journey, not discourage you. You can interview the instructor and take a couple of lessons to see whether you feel comfortable enough to make mistakes.

Don’t Forget Sleep

None of this works well without good rest.

Studies show that reviewing tough material right before bed boosts retention by 20–30%. Your brain doesn’t shut down when you sleep—it processes and integrates everything you learned.

Skipping sleep to cram is like skipping the cool-down after a workout. You’re wasting your own effort.

A Reality Check: This Takes Work

I won’t lie to you. None of these methods are easy.

They require you to sit down, ignore distractions, and actually wrestle with the material. It’s much easier to type a question into a chat box.

There’s no shortcut.

But the payoff is real.

Every uncomfortable recall session, every weird mental image, and every time you force yourself to explain something to an imaginary kid—it all rewires your brain a little more.

You’re not just memorizing facts.

You’re rebuilding the mental muscle that technology quietly weakened.

References

1. Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011). “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips.” Science, 333(6043), 776–778.

2. Grinschgl, S., et al. (2023). “A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study on the Prefrontal Correlates of Cognitive Offloading via a Personal Knowledge Assistant.” Scientific Reports, 13, 13938.

3. Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). “The Power of Testing Memory: Basic Research and Implications for Educational Practice.” Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(3), 181–210.

4. Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.

5. Yates, F. A. (1966). The Art of Memory. University of Chicago Press.

6. Solano, A., Lerner, G., Griffa, G., et al. (2023). “Sleep Consolidation Potentiates Skill Maintenance.” bioRxiv.

Image source: https://wallpapercave.com/anime-study-wallpapers

You know that feeling when your mind feels tangled in a web? Concentration drops to zero, and laziness hugs you like an old friend.

Hi there, nice to meet you, I’m Nargiza. I’m currently studying for my master’s degree at Northwestern University.

For a long time, I was juggling work, studies, and exercising with no time to spare. I didn’t enjoy that period; having so little freedom was draining. But it forced me to learn how to manage my time in the most efficient way possible. That’s when I started reading about what actually helps people to concentrate.

What I want to share here are a few small, practical adjustments I still rely on whenever I cannot contentrate.

1. Prime Your Physiology

Before I start working, I reset my body first.

I stand or sit for 60 seconds in a “power pose” - hands on hips, chest open, shoulders back. Research made by Cuddy et al. (2015) shows that expansive postures can prepare the mind for performance by influencing stress and confidence-related physiology.

Then I take five slow, deliberate breaths, making sure my exhale is longer than my inhale.

This is not just calming. Slow breathing with an extended exhale stimulates the vagus nerve, activating the parasympathetic nervous system — the body’s “rest and digest” mode. This mechanism is documented in the work of Zaccaro et al. (2018), showing measurable reductions in physiological stress and improved emotional regulation.

Now I understand why our teachers in high school always emphasized good posture. It really does calm you down and helps you concentrate.

2. Clear the Environment

Next, I spend merely five minutes tidying my workspace.

I gather scattered papers, clear unnecessary items from my desk, and wipe down my keyboard. Nothing more.

Why does it work? The brain loves and craves structure. Visual clutter creates what neuroscientists call “cognitive noise”, subtly but continuously draining attentional resources. McMains & Kastner (2011) demonstrated that competing visual stimuli reduce the brain’s capacity to focus selectively

Clearing your desk frees up mental bandwidth, like closing dozens of irrelevant browser tabs, but in your head.

3. Offload Mental Clutter

Once my space is clear, I deal with what’s happening internally.

I write down everything that’s on my mind: tasks, worries, reminders, unfinished ideas. Then I dramatically close the notebook and put it away.

This works because working memory is limited. Cowan (2001) showed that the brain can actively hold only a small number of items at once. When thoughts remain internal, they keep cycling and competing for attention. Writing them down is a form of cognitive offloading, reducing mental load and preventing constant interruption.

The closed notebook signals that it can be let go. Nothing is forgotten - it’s simply postponed until the right time.

4. Use a Clear Start Rule

I don’t just tell myself, “I should work now.”

Instead, I use a very specific if–then plan:

If I sit down now, then I will work only on this one task for the next 25 minutes.

This approach is based on implementation intentions, a concept invented by Gollwitzer (1999). If–then rules automates action initiation, reducing the need for motivation or willpower at the moment of starting.

The 25-minute focus sprint also respects the brain’s natural attention cycles. Research on ultradian rhythms by Rossi (1991) shows that focus operates best in defined intervals rather than prolonged, unbroken effort, which is also why techniques like the Pomodoro method work so well.

Pomodoro (classic version) :

• Work for 25 minutes (one “Pomodoro”)

• Take a 5-minute break

• Repeat 4 times

• Then take a longer break of 15–30 minutes

Image source: https://studywithme.io/aesthetic-pomodoro-timer/

I don’t follow it perfectly every day, but the principle is the same: make focus a short, clear sprint, not an endless marathon.

5. Reset With Peripheral Vision

If I notice overwhelm creeping back in, then I pause for a moment.

I shift my gaze away from the screen and spend about 60 seconds noticing my peripheral vision - light, movement, and spatial awareness around me.

This works through nervous system. According to Porges’ Polyvagal Theory (2011), peripheral awareness signals safety, shifting the body out of threat mode and activating parasympathetic regulation. This reduces physiological arousal and restores cognitive flexibility without the need for a full break.

Conclusion

The tangled web in your mind isn’t undone only by willpower.

It’s dismantled by knowing and working with your biology:

• calming the nervous system

• reducing sensory noise

• offloading mental clutter

• and directing attention with clear, precise rules

These are small adjustments, but together they shift you from scattered reactivity to structured readiness. In that state, concentration stops being something you force and becomes something your system naturally supports.

References

• Cuddy, A. J., et al. (2015). Postural feedback and performance preparation.

• Zaccaro, A., et al. (2018). How slow breathing affects the vagus nerve.

• McMains, S. A., & Kastner, S. (2011). Interactions of attention and visual clutter.

• Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number in working memory.

• Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions.

• Rossi, E. L. (1991). Ultradian rhythms in cognition.

• Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory.

This article was originally posted on Medium by the author.

Burgers have a bad reputation.

When people picture an unhealthy meal, the burger is at the top of the list. Meat, grease, melted cheese, fries, soda, that familiar whisper of guilt afterward. It’s almost too easy to point a finger at the meat patty and say, There. That’s the villain.

But I think we’ve done something a little lazy. We blamed the most visible part of the plate and completely ignored the architecture around it.

Disclaimer: To be clear, I’m not making an argument for cheap industrial meat. A low-quality fast-food patty has its own problems. I just don’t think removing the meat fixes the meal.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth we don’t like to sit with: removing the meat doesn’t automatically make the meal healthy.

You can swap that patty for a vegan alternative, and it still comes inside a refined white bun. It’s still covered in ketchup, sweet sauces, preservatives, cheap vegetable oils and enough sodium to maximize your blood pressure. It still comes with a side of fries. It’s still soft, fast-digesting, hyper-palatable, and engineered to make you crave the next burger before you’ve even finished the first one.

That’s the paradox, isn’t it?

We remove the animal product but keep the industrial structure of the meal perfectly intact. We put a “plant-based” label on the wrapper, and suddenly we assume it must be virtuous. But “plant-based” doesn’t mean whole, natural or nourishing. In fact many people forget that sugar is plant-based. White flour, baking soda, palm oil are all plant-based. Most preservatives and additives aren’t animal products either. A food can be entirely vegan and still be highly processed junk.

This is where our labels fail us. Vegan can be a beautiful ethical choice -about animals, the environment, or personal values. But vegan does not automatically mean healthy. In the same way, meat doesn’t automatically mean unhealthy. A piece of quality grass-fed beef with a pile of roasted vegetables is a completely different animal — pun intended — than a cheap fast-food patty wrapped in foam-like bread and chased with fries.

We need to stop asking: Is this meat or vegan?

The better, harder question is: How far is this from raw, unprocessed food?

A comprehensive 2024 umbrella review pulled together decades of data and found that ultra-processed food (UPF) exposure is consistently linked to 32 adverse health outcomes, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and mental health disorders. Critically, that risk doesn’t really discriminate between a beef patty and a soy one. In fact, a 2024 UK report found that new-generation plant-based meats pack about 18% more salt than their conventional meat counterparts and three times as much salt as traditional options like tofu. The classic 2019 Cell Metabolism study proved this point too: even when calories and macronutrients were matched, participants on an ultra-processed diet gained about 2.2 pounds of fat mass in just two weeks, simply because of how the food was manufactured.

So what are we actually doing?

We swap the cow for the soy, but we keep the refined bun. And that bun isn’t innocent. According to the internationally recognized glycemic index tables, your standard white hamburger bun clocks in with a GI around 61 — not far off straight white bread. Contrast that with a sourdough, which sits closer to 54. That small numerical gap translates to a slower blood sugar rise and longer satiety. Fermentation actually breaks down carbohydrates in a way that respects your metabolism. But fast-food buns aren’t fermented; they’re industrialized, aerated, and designed to dissolve in your mouth so you eat faster.

And then we wonder why we’re hungry again in the next hour…

I’m not saying this to scare you off plant-based eating. I eat plant-based meals myself. But we’ve fallen for the “health halo” effect — where a vegan label tricks our brains into ignoring every other red flag on the ingredients list. Vegan cookies are still cookies. Vegan cheese is still emulsified oil — harmful for your heart health.

A traditional homemade burger, on the other hand, can be genuinely healthy. You can use high-quality meat or a simple homemade bean or lentil patty. You can add real vegetables, fermented pickles, fresh herbs, a homemade sauce, maybe a sourdough bun — or skip the bun entirely. You can make something deeply satisfying without turning it into a processed food science project.

The burger is not the problem.

The problem is what modern food companies stuff in that burger. Refined white bread that spikes your glucose. Sweet sauces that add more sugar than you’d ever knowingly spoon into your tea. Fries that turn a humble potato into a salty, oily, addictive side dish. Preservatives that help products survive on shelves for months but destroy your gut microbiome. Cheap oils that are profitable, convenient, and have an endless expiry date, but inflammatory.

And then we look at the whole tray and blame only the meat.

That’s just too simple and maybe a bit unfair.

Maybe burgers aren’t unhealthy because of one ingredient. Maybe they’re unhealthy because they represent the perfect storm of everything modern food does best: fast carbs, processed fats, refined sugar, excess salt, soft texture, convenience, and emotional comfort. They’re engineered to hit that “bliss point” of salt, fat, and sugar, whether that fat comes from a cow or a coconut doesn’t change the metabolic confusion it creates.

This isn’t about turning health into another religion of fear. I refuse to do that. Food is so much more than that — it is pleasure, culture, memory, and comfort. I eat burgers. I’ll probably eat one this weekend.

But I think we owe it to ourselves to be more honest.

If we want healthier food, we can’t just change the label from “beef” to “plant-based” and call it a day. We have to look at the processing. We have to ask what the food is actually made from. How refined is it? Does it still resemble something my great-grandmother would recognize as food?

Maybe the healthiest direction isn’t meat or vegan —

Just less processed. More actual vegetables, fresh meat without harmful additives. Better ingredients. Fewer foods are engineered to hack our hunger and override our satiety.

In the end, we didn’t just blame the meat.

We completely missed the bun.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

References

Lane, M. M., Gamage, E., Du, S., et al. (2024). Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ, 384, e077310.

Dicken, S. J., & Batterham, R. L. (2024). The healthiness of plant-based meat alternatives compared with meat products in the UK. Nutrition & Diabetes, 14(1), 1–8.

Hall, K. D., Ayuketah, A., Brychta, R., et al. (2019). Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake. Cell Metabolism, 30(1), 67–77.e3.

Atkinson, F. S., Brand-Miller, J. C., & Foster-Powell, K. (2021). International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 114(5), 1625–1632.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). When a vegan label promotes a health halo. Appetite, 156, 104865.

I grew up believing my body was a liability. I was the kid with the perpetual tiredness, the one who arrived last in every race, whose hands stung from missed volleyballs. My school’s PE curriculum was a testament to a particular kind of cruelty, preaching a Russian saying we all knew was hollow: “Главное — не победа, а участие.” — The important thing is not victory, but participation. Yet, my report card, a row of C’s in every sports discipline, told the real story: participation was nothing without victory. It whispered a more cynical question: was the proverb just a consolation prize for losers?

I wasn’t fat; I was just… unathletic. My body and I had a quiet understanding: we would get through life without throwing or catching anything. My only joy was a long walk, a solitary habit where no one was keeping score. Besides, the walks didn’t tire me out the way other activities did, perhaps because I was already low on energy.

Years passed. By my mid-twenties, a more powerful, dull, gray fatigue had settled in. A constant, low-grade dizziness hummed in the background of my days. My anxiety, once a rare visitor, became a permanent tenant. I was always sleepy, yet I never felt truly rested. I was conserving energy, yet I had none to spend.

I remember watching a friend finish a workout, her face flushed with life, and she grinned, inviting me to join her next time. I shook my head, telling her: “It will just make me tired.” The thought of voluntarily using my precious, scarce energy reserves was absurd.

She looked at me, not with pity, but with empathy. “I know it feels that way,” she said. “The first few times, it absolutely drains you. But your body adapts. Soon, you finish feeling more awake and alive than when you started. The exhaustion is temporary, but the energy it gives you lasts.”

I didn’t believe her. It sounded like saying that spending money was the secret to getting rich. It defied all logic.

Then a few years later, my friend invited me to a climbing gym. Being naturally a curious person, I gave it a try. The moment my hands touched the textured holds, something shifted. This wasn’t the repetitive, painful exercise movements I anticipated. It was a puzzle. My mind, so often buzzing with noise, went quiet, focused only on the path upward. Stretching for a distant hold was a personal dare, not a public test. The strain in my muscles felt productive, not forced. There was no coach, no clock, no failing grade, only the quiet thrill of my own little challenges. I was having fun.

A month passed. I noticed the changes not in the mirror, but in my life. The background hum of dizziness was gone. I climbed up the subway stairs without getting winded. That heavy blanket of fatigue had been lifted, and in its place was a sustainable, vibrant energy. My mind felt sharp, clear. I even started enjoying normal exercises like running and weight training, since they brought me peace of mind and directly improved my climbing and other aspects of my life. The simple acts of moving and existing became infused with a joy I hadn’t known was possible.

And then, one afternoon, standing at the base of a difficult climbing route I’d once thought impossible, it all clicked. The profound simplicity of my friend’s words finally landed. She wasn’t talking about exercise as a punishment for the body, but as a gift to it.

And in that moment, I finally understood the old proverb. For my entire childhood I thought “participation” was a consolation prize for losers. Now, I saw its true meaning. The victory wasn’t in a grade or a finish line; it was in the act of showing up for yourself, in finding joy in the movement itself. It was in the participation. By finally participating for me, and not for a score, I had won. I had won my energy back, my clarity, my joy. I had, in the only way that truly matters, won at life.

My journey taught me that “exercise” isn’t a universal chore or a burden. It’s a personal language of movement waiting to be discovered.

So, this is my wish for you: I hope you find your climb. Your run, your swim, your dance. The sport where you flourish, where movement feels not like a duty, but a natural and joyful expression of being alive. We were never meant to be the fastest or the strongest for someone else. We were simply, wonderfully, meant to move our bodies.

Disclaimer: This article was originally posted on Medium by the author.

I know creatine is usually viewed as a gym supplement.

Most people hear “creatine” and think of bodybuilders, protein shakes, or gym bros/sis.

Honestly, that is how I thought of it too.

I didn’t start taking it for my mental health. And I didn’t start taking it because I thought it would help depression. I didn’t even know it could do anything for the brain.

I started taking it for stronger muscles.

That was it.

I wanted better workouts — climb better, run faster, lift heavier. More strength. More energy. Faster recovery. Nothing more.

But then something happened that I did not expect.

My brain changed.

But it was not a sudden change. I did not wake up one morning and suddenly become a whole new person. It happened more invisibly, in the background. I just started noticing that I had more clarity. More mental energy. More ability to deal with stress and life.

After a while I realized… wait, I have not felt this mentally clear in a long time.

Thinking back, the only big thing I had changed was creatine.

Before That, My Depression Was Horrible

I want to be honest about how bad it was before.

Depression for me was not just “feeling sad here and there.”

It was not wanting to leave the house for days.

It was having no motivation to clean or do anything, not even to look at my phone.

It was looking at normal things — dishes, laundry, messages, basic errands — and feeling like my life had no meaning or joy.

It was being tired before the day even started.

Sometimes even taking care of myself felt like too much. My brain felt heavy. My body felt heavy. Everything felt like effort.

People talk about motivation like it is just about changing your mindset, but when you are really depressed motivation is not something you can just “choose.” It feels like the engine is off. You can know what you need to do and still not be able to move.

That was how I felt.

So when I say creatine helped me, I do not mean it made me a little more productive.

I mean it helped me get some of my life back.

I Was Just Trying to Train Better

Creatine is one of the most researched sports supplements, and studies show it can help with high-intensity exercise, strength, and muscle performance [1]. And that was the primary reason I bought it.

I expected better lifts. I expected better workouts.

But I did not expect better thoughts.

After taking it consistently, I started feeling different. My workouts improved, yes, but the bigger surprise was my mind.

I felt less foggy. I could think more clearly. Stress did not destroy me as fast.

I had more energy to do basic things. Even cleaning, dealing with bureaucracy, answering messages — things that used to feel like too much — became more possible. Still not easy, but much easier.

And that was already a big change.

The First Thing I Noticed Was Mental Clarity

The best way I can describe it is that my brain felt like it had more curiosity and more energy.

I was not “high.” I was not stimulated like with caffeine. It was not fake motivation.

It was more like the world gained a bit more colors.

Before creatine, my brain felt like it was running on low battery all the time. I could function, but everything took so much effort. Thinking took effort. Moving took effort. Merely existing took effort.

After creatine, I felt like I had more capacity.

That word is important to me: capacity.

More capacity to think. More capacity to move. More capacity to handle stress. More capacity to not collapse from normal life.

That might not sound big to some people, but when you have been deeply depressed, even a little more capacity can change everything.

Maybe It Was Not Some Mysterious Cause

One thing I keep thinking about is how often we treat depression like it is always some unknown, mysterious thing.

Sometimes it is complicated. Sometimes it is trauma. Sometimes it is life circumstances. Sometimes it is brain chemistry. Sometimes it is many things at once.

But sometimes the body is also missing something.

People already understand this with vitamin D, B12, iron, thyroid issues, hormones, sleep, and food. If someone is exhausted and depressed because their body is missing something, we usually do not just tell them to think positive. We try to understand what is going on.

For me, I wonder if creatine was one of those missing pieces.

Creatine is not technically a vitamin, but it is a compound the body uses for energy. Most people know it for muscle energy, but the brain uses energy too. Creatine is found mostly in muscle, but smaller amounts are also found in the brain [2].

When I learned that, my experience made more sense.

Maybe my brain was not broken. Maybe it was simply deficient. Maybe I did not need another motivational speech. Maybe I needed more energy at the cellular level.

It Helped My Depression Through My Body

The interesting thing is that creatine did not only help me mentally. It helped me physically, and that helped my mood too.

My workouts got better. Because my workouts got better, I started feeling stronger. Because I felt stronger, I started trusting myself more. Because I trusted myself more, depression had less power over me.

It became a loop, but for once, a good loop.

Before, depression created a bad loop: no energy, no movement, no motivation, more shame, more depression. Creatine helped me enter a better loop: more energy, better workouts, more confidence, more clarity, better stress resilience.

That is why I say it helped me so much. It was not just one thing. It supported the whole system.

The Stress Resilience Was One of the Biggest Changes

This part surprised me almost as much as the clarity.

Before, stress could take over my whole body. Something small could ruin my day. I would get overwhelmed fast, and then I would shut down.

After taking creatine, I noticed I had more space. I could pause. I could think. I could respond instead of just collapsing inside.

This was not perfect. I still had stress. I still had bad days. I still had emotions.

But I had more resilience.

And when you have been depressed, resilience is everything. It is the difference between “this is hard” and “I cannot survive this.”

We Might Be Getting Less Creatine Than We Think

Creatine naturally exists in animal foods, especially meat and fish [2]. But I also think modern food is not always as nourishing as we imagine.

Animals raised in poor conditions do not have the same nutritional value animals living healthy lives. Meat gets processed, stored, cooked, reheated, and handled in different ways. Cooking can reduce creatine levels because some of it converts to creatinine or is lost in cooking juices [4].

I am not saying everyone is deficient. I am not saying meat is bad. I am not saying creatine is the answer for every person.

But I do think it is possible that many people are not getting as much as they think. And maybe some people do not know what they are missing until they try it.

That was me.

The Brain Research Made Me Take It More Seriously

The more I read, the more I realized creatine is not just a muscle supplement.

Researchers are studying creatine for brain energy, cognition, mood, aging, and even Alzheimer’s disease [3][5]. That does not mean creatine is proven to prevent Alzheimer’s. It does not mean it is a cure. I want to be careful with that.

But it does mean creatine deserves more respect.

A 2024 review discussed research on creatine and depression, including possible effects on brain energy metabolism and depressive symptoms, especially when used alongside other treatments [3]. A 2025 pilot study in people with Alzheimer’s disease found that creatine supplementation was feasible, increased brain total creatine, and was linked with improvements in some cognitive measures, although bigger studies are still needed [5].

So no, the science is not finished. But it is interesting.

And honestly, after my own experience, I am not surprised researchers are looking at it.

I Am Not Saying Creatine Is a Miracle Cure

And I know I have to say this clearly.

This is my personal experience.

Depression is serious. If you are struggling, you should get real support. Therapy, medication, bloodwork, nutrition, sleep, sunlight, exercise, community- all of these things can matter.

I am not saying stop medication, skip therapy, or that creatine will work for everyone.

And if you have kidney disease, bipolar disorder, or any serious health condition, or you take medication, you should consult with a healthcare professional before trying it [3].

But I also think people should be allowed to say what helped them.

Creatine helped me.

I did not expect it. I did not take it for that reason. But it helped.

I Wish I Had Known Earlier

I wish I had known earlier that depression is not always just a mindset problem.

Sometimes your body is missing something. Sometimes your brain does not need another lecture about discipline. Sometimes it needs fuel.

For me, creatine gave me clarity. It gave me better workouts. It gave me better stress resilience. It gave me enough energy to start doing basic things again.

Leaving the house. Cleaning. Training. Thinking. Trying. Living.

These things sound simple when you are healthy. When you are depressed, they are not simple at all.

So when something helps you do them again, it matters.

Sometimes Healing Comes Through the Side Door

The strangest part is that I was not searching for a mental health solution.

I was just trying to get stronger.

But maybe that is the lesson. Sometimes healing does not come in the way you expect. Other time it could come through lifting weights. It could come through better nutrition. Sometimes it comes through fixing something your body was missing. Sometimes it comes through a supplement you thought was only for muscles.

Creatine reminded me that the body and mind are not separate.

When my body had more energy, my mind had more hope.

I took it for muscle. By accident, it helped me come back to myself.

References

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8949037/

[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6093191/

[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11567172/

[4] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51776409_Cooking_temperature_effects_on_the_forms_of_iron_and_levels_of_several_other_compounds_in_beef_semitendinosus_muscle

[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40395689/

I’ve accomplished a few things in my life, but one of my proudest achievements isn’t a degree or a job title. It’s something more personal: I’ve been completely sugar-free for nine years.

If you imagine this required massive willpower, let me stop you right there. I am not that person. My journey was a chaotic rollercoaster, starting with a joke and fueled by a teenager’s “all-or-nothing” mentality. It took about three months, and it completely rewired my life.

This is my story.

The Sweet-Toothed Prologue

For as long as I can remember, I was a sugar fiend. I’d skip proper meals for cake and direct every bit of my pocket money into candy. My parents, caring and health-conscious, laid down the law: sweets were for birthdays and holidays only.

They never discovered my secret stash. As strict Asian parents, their rules created a tense environment where my deepest desire was simple: to grow up,…

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I woke up at 5 a.m. to the sound of my alarm. The moment my eyes opened, I was filled with deep regret. Why had I signed up for a 6 a.m. yoga class? Who trades precious, cozy bed time and pays a membership fee for this?

I dragged myself up, ate breakfast, and headed out into the dark morning. The sky was just beginning to turn a soft purple. I spent the entire walk yawning, telling myself, “This is it. This is how I become one of those high performers. They’re done with their whole day by 11 a.m., a time I’m usually just waking up comfortably.”

I entered the studio. The instructor guided us into a simple forward fold, a stretch as classic as touching your toes. But for me, a lifelong member of Team Stiff-as-a-Board, I couldn’t even get past my knees. I’ve always been inflexible.

“Nargiza, push. You should touch your toes,” the instructor said, hovering …

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Sugary, oily, and absolutely delightful!

Like everywhere in the world, people in the Middle East face significant challenges with obesity and low fitness levels across parts of the population.

Despite a high prevalence of obesity and frequent consumption of sugary foods, scientific observations show an interesting pattern: for certain cancers, reported incidence rates in parts of the Middle East have been notably different from those in high-income Western countries (Egyptian National Cancer Institute).

So, why is that difference observed?

The answer might surprise you…
It is not sports, not meditation, not some special all-curing herb — it is a cultural and religious practice: fasting (this refers to food fasting, not water fasting).

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I naturally did not believe it. I started arguing with my Estonian friends, but they proved me wrong with information on their phones. They showed me that fruit and vegetable peels are often the most nutrient-rich part (BBC). For example, a boiled potato with skin can contain up to 175% more vitamin C and 115% more potassium than a peeled one (Healthline). I was so confused, and I truly believed that my grandmother could not share bad advice. I had to cross-check with my dad since he is a food scientist, and he confirmed that potato peels—and many others—are indeed packed with fiber, vit…

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I grew up knowing margarine was a bad swap for butter. My dad, a food scientist, would point at the tub in the grocery store and explain hydrogenation and trans fats in simple terms. It was kitchen-table common sense in our home.

My real education came years later, over dinner with friends. As one proudly swapped butter for a “heart-healthy” margarine to cook our steak, I realized the public relations campaign had worked perfectly. My friends - smart, health-conscious people - truly believed they were making the better choice. They were shocked to learn that for frying, margarine was likely the worst option in the kitchen.

That moment captured the entire myth: a well-marketed, plant-based product had convinced a generation it was healthy, while the science said the opposite.

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