Lift heavy weights. Not for strength or physique (though that's nice too), but because it increases independence and mobility into old age, decreases likelihood of falls, and increases bone density. Basically it prevents you from sitting in a recliner slowly dying for 10 years at the end of your life. Instead you get to live those years doing things. It also improves cognition and mental health in old age.
Edit: Do squats, deadlifts, bench press, and pullups.
There are a million programs to choose from on /r/fitness, but basically just start with something you can do and try to increase weight or reps every session/week/whatever.
Dan John is less dogmatic and a bit more of an essayist. He's got lot's of great advice and stories about staying in shape as you get older. http://danjohn.net/
Keep your blood sugar stable: don't eat anything sugary during the day. Simple sugars cause your blood sugar to fluctuate dramatically, which negatively impacts your brain's performance. The brain needs a steady supply of fuel to maintain focus for prolonged periods of time. Eat healthy fats, proteins, and lots of green leafy vegetables for breakfast and lunch and you'll avoid brain fog in the afternoon. Snack on nuts throughout the day.
Just to add to this - it sounds super trite, so your brain ignores it. But I've noticed, day after day, these are the things that make my life marginally better.
Not sure if it technically qualifies, but if your vision is fairly bad, get a pair of "computer glasses" made. These are designed to focus perfectly at the distance of your monitor. It's like getting a vision upgrade.
My eyes went to crap when I passed 40, and I had a hard time getting a prescription I was really comfortable with. I wound up using "eyejusters" adjustable-strength reading glasses. https://www.eyejusters.com (Not associated with the company, just a satisfied customer.)
There's a small knob by each lens which allows adjustment.
That way I can adjust them for reading a book up close, or adjust them for reading a whiteboard farther away, as needed.
It's funny that programmers (and their ilk) are constantly on the outlook for new ways to gain an edge by increasing focus, attention, and endurance, when two of the best substances for doing so have long been known: caffeine and nicotine. Consider – in both World Wars soldiers rations included coffee and cigarettes. There was a reason for that (and it wasn't just "comfort").
Now, you might say, what about the significant downsides for each of these? Well...yes. They are there, and they are fairly well understood.
There is a growing trend in pharmacology to try and get most of the benefits from some substance without most of the downsides. For example, the list of "new" antihistamines is long and growing every day. You know what the best antihistamine is? Benadryl! It just happens to come with a whole host of undesirable side-effects.
The problem, of course, is that for any "new" pharmaceutical, there's no way to be really sure of all the potential downsides until after they've been in use for some time. Take for example: Rofecoxib. Paracetemol (Tylenol) will destroy your liver, and aspirin and ibuprofen will tear up your stomach. Rofecoxib was supposed to bring all the benefits of these NSAIDs without the significant downsides...instead, it caused heart attacks!
So, not really a tip, but more of a caution/word of advice: if you want the best drugs to improve focus, attention, and endurance have a coffee and a cig. If you don't like the impact that has on your health, then keep in mind any alternatives you want to try could have less downsides...or more.
Maybe the best thing would be to get some rest and follow Michael Pollan's wonderful advice: "Eat food, mostly plants, not too much."
I abbhor cigarette smoke, so not gonna do that... but my mind can't function without Caffeine, but I find Xenadrine's thermo/caffeine blend works way better than coffee(gives me the runs) and soda(I still drink a shit ton...but probably shouldn't....)... Xenadrine also has l-theanine which I think also might aid in focus some..
Just saying, there's vaping and nicotine patches. I don't encourage it but I know a lot of people who use it as a nootropic. There's also a type of cigarette which heats it up instead of burning, so you get more flavor and less smoke/tar.
I don't smoke usually but when I do smoke (about a month in a year usually, when I have to solve a lot of problems quickly) it makes me more alive, awake (in many senses, incl needing much less sleep and making it much much easier to get up), productive, confident, reasonably vigorous and masculine in general behavior (my gf loves this part) by an order of magnitude if not more. In an instant! Sadly/curiously strong nicotine gum doesn't work this way (I haven't tried patches so far), only cigars (I inhale the cigar smoke the way people do with cigarettes although this is not the way cigars are meant to be smoked actually) do. This makes me think I should be smoking chronically to improve my whole life but I just don't want to develop a serious addiction (nor to spread odor around me :-)) so I don't.
Many programmers have Vitamin D deficiency. It's a really common issue most people are not aware about. Low Vitamin D has been associated with cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, and cancer. It is super easy to treat with a daily pill and you can buy a year's supply off Amazon for $15.
If you have health insurance you can ask your doctor for a free Vitamin D blood test.
Get the Headspace app or pick up a book on meditation and get going. Nothing will improve your concentration more. It takes consistent practice every day, but not as much time as you might think. Ten minutes five days a week treats me pretty well.
And get enough natural sunlight. It will help you sleep better. It will improve your mood. If you can't go natural, get a sun lamp.
For actual biohacking, stay in touch with your GP, an endocrinologist, and the folks on /r/transdiy.
Beyond that, I would say that most things that aren't melatonin are either not studied adequately enough (Including the problems with withholding negative results in the medicine industry), or too addictive to be of much use (See: nicotine).
Why not? It may happen to be curious. And every kind of DIY bio-hacking community site may happen to contain some potentially useful data. Surely it has serious chances to be dangerous but I believe the audience of HN is smart enough to separate curious from stupid, double-check the curious with relevant scientific publication and other sources and be reasonably skeptic and sufficiently careful about trying it on themselves. So... surely stuff like this should not be mentioned among kids but I can see nothing wrong in mentioning them among hackers.
I've never heard of it. What makes it so bad?
Edit: Ah, it seems to be people transitioning but doing so without the aid of a doctor. I mean, you shouldn't do it for obvious safety reasons but if you've decided you're doing it, a community of like-minded people is marginally better than nothing, at least you can learn some things that definitely don't work.
> Ah, it seems to be people transitioning but doing so without the aid of a doctor.
No. The number one piece of advice on the site is to see a GP and endo for monthy blood testing of certain specific markers to ensure that everything is fine.
The reason the community exists is because for many people the local (and usually arbitrary) rules put on transitioning are ridiculous, and even after fulfilling those points the health service makes them wait typically over three years for hormone replacement therapy. Given that HRT is a critical aspect of treatment, and almost completely safe, for many people on /r/transDIY it's a hopeful alternative to ending it early.
Intermittent fasting causes an increase of catecholamines in the blood. It increases mental clarity and energy. If you want to time it, the beginning of the most active catecholamine stage starts at 12 hours. So, if you stop eating at 8pm, you'll see the most benefit from 8am-noon.
Magnesium deficiency is becoming more and more common in the US. If you think you might be low, taking 2-3 ZMA 15 minutes before bed can have a dramatic effect on your daily energy levels. Don't eat anything with calcium within 2-3 hours of taking Magnesium.
If you can, put a weight lifting bar near your work station and do a few pullups every time you pass under it. Every time you go to the bathroom, do 10 pushups. Every time you get a cup of coffee or water, do 20. It doesn't seem like so few reps should have much of an effect, but they add up. Keep in mind this is intended to be an addition to, not a replacement for, a regular workout routine.
Pull-up bar is the best lifehack ever. Just doing a few every hour or two (even if it's just negative) gets your strength way up, balances out the regular gymrat chest/front-shoulder focus and makes you look way better in a short amount of time (lats and bi's).
I call it "fill the tank." Drink a big glass of water every time you use the restroom. You'll be hydrated, and you'll have a built-in reason to get up out of your chair once in a while.
Your habits define "you" more than your conscious self does.
When you don't take care of your needs (sleep, diet, exercise, hygiene), your habits take over. Sometimes it's circular - someone could have a habit of eating fast food, then feeling unhealthy, and not having the willpower to cook. Or watching porn until late at night, not getting rest, then not being able to stop.
If you can't take care of your needs, another hack would be to build good habits so that you'd be able to perform well even when you're on autopilot.
Microdosing LSD. I know some people who say it works wonders for them but it seems a relatively untested area. There is evidence that LSD increases cross-talk in the brain which would potentially help you with creative problem-solving. But there's not much hard evidence regarding anything about it.
Edit: Do squats, deadlifts, bench press, and pullups.
There are a million programs to choose from on /r/fitness, but basically just start with something you can do and try to increase weight or reps every session/week/whatever.