when I am tired my game is better

[Olaf]

I have this interesting thing happening where when I am tired, my game is better. For example yesterday I slept 3 hours, but had a really long good conversation, closed someone and I knew she was gonna text back and she did. Then the week before, I slept 5 hours and closed a few and went really well. I think when I am tired, I might just be less try hard as I have no energy for that or no energy to pretend, just being more myself I guess without a mask, there is just less things going on in my brain and honestly I couldn't give any shit, which helps. When I am full of energy, I care too much and my brain works almost too well. Do you guys have the same experience? I am curious. 

[LordFall]

That tells me that your main bottleneck is overthinking. How consistently do you meditate if at all? 

I don't have a similar issue, when I get tired I stop socializing entirely and just answering a question feels like a drag so I resort to one word answers and recharge my energy through my inner world and mostly want others to leave me alone. 

[Olaf]

@LordFall yes overthinking could be a big thing, I haven't meditated too much lately.

[Schizophonia]

Lack of sleep can make you more uninhibited

[LordFall]

3 hours ago, Olaf said:

@LordFall yes overthinking could be a big thing, I haven't meditated too much lately.

You should ideally meditate 20 mins each time you game. Gaming without meditation is a road straight to neuroticism my friend.

[PenguinPablo]

Yeah there was a time when I had like 3 jobs and was jet lagged and tired all the time and I just didn't have enough energy to care about overthinking all the little things anymore.

Edited 6 hours ago by PenguinPablo

[Emotionalmosquito]

It’s probably your amygdala not having enough energy to make you your usual anxiety ridden little pussy ass self. But unfortunately in my case it also slows down everything else, sort of like being drunk in a sense. 
 

Here’s some good news. Before long we may be getting access to technologies to isolate and temporarily deactivate the amygdala. 
 

From grok:

Several approaches can temporarily reduce or interfere with amygdala activity, ranging from experimental non-invasive methods to invasive clinical tools. None produce a clean, complete, on/off “removal” like the permanent lesions in cases such as Patient SM, but they can blunt fear-related signaling for minutes to hours (or longer with repeated use).

Non-invasive options (most relevant currently)

•  Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS / low-intensity focused ultrasound / TUS)
This is the clearest emerging technology. Low-intensity ultrasound beams are focused through the skull onto the amygdala. Human studies (multiple papers from ~2023–2026) show it can:

    •  Reduce amygdala BOLD signal and local excitability.

    •  Slow initial fear/threat learning.

    •  Speed subsequent fear extinction.

    •  Alter emotional reactivity and resting-state connectivity (e.g., reduced amygdala–insula or amygdala–hippocampus coupling; sometimes increased amygdala–prefrontal coupling).

    •  Produce measurable changes in approach/avoidance behavior toward ambiguous or threat-related stimuli.
Effects are temporary (tied to the stimulation period and a short window afterward). It is still research-stage, not a routine clinical tool, but it is non-invasive, relatively precise for a deep structure, and being tested for anxiety/PTSD applications.

•  Indirect behavioral/cognitive methods that reliably downregulate amygdala activity in real time:

    •  Goal-directed eye movements or working-memory load (both activate frontoparietal networks and suppress amygdala responses).

    •  Affect labeling (simply naming the emotion).

    •  Cognitive reappraisal and certain breathing techniques (e.g., physiological sigh or extended exhales).
These are transient and mild compared with direct neuromodulation.

•  Real-time fMRI neurofeedback: People can be trained to voluntarily lower amygdala activity while viewing emotional stimuli. Effects build with practice but remain temporary without ongoing training.

Invasive options

•  Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the amygdala (or nearby targets that influence it). Electrodes are surgically implanted. High-frequency stimulation can suppress hyperactivity and has been tested in treatment-resistant PTSD, with reversible effects when the device is turned off or parameters changed. This is highly experimental, carries surgical risks, and is reserved for severe, refractory cases.

[Olaf]

@LordFall thanks, you do it right before you game?

@PenguinPablo so I am not the only one I guess

@Emotionalmosquito this is getting scientific lol, amygdala, never heard of it, but thanks for sharing I will look into it