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"Optimized" learning for females | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tricoteuse Pentaglot Senior Member Norway littlang.blogspot.co Joined 6467 days ago 745 posts - 845 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian | Message 33 of 46 02 March 2012 at 5:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I feel that this could very well explain some of my problems with my studies. In the last couple of years in particular I have noticed that during certain periods, I have problems being around people, even answering questions politely, I get exceedingly depressed and wouldn't mind dying etc. (typical PMS I guess), and I tend to stay indoors as much as possible. I also have periods when I can get absolutely nothing done unless it's very concrete (vacuum, do laundry, etc: where I'm presently at, with more or less constant nausea and fatigue), whereas sometimes I can sit for several days with my books and be happy. It would be very interesting to find out if it was possible to anticipate these periods, but unfortunately I haven't had a regular monthly cycle for as long as I've had one, so I guess it would be difficult to keep track of.
Hmm... the clumsy thing also feels very familiar. I once smashed two lamps within two days a couple of months ago, and a couple of weeks ago I was hopeless during a couple of days, among other thing tipping over a glass of water on my boyfriend's new phone. But thinking that such things may have something to do with hormones is more or less forbidden in Scandinavia. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6228 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 34 of 46 02 March 2012 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
That sounds like textbook depression, not PMS. Consider having a physical (including getting some bloodwork done to check for things like your vitamin levels), making sure seasonal affective disorder isn't an issue (you're in Scandinavia, where it's a big problem), and if physical causes don't seem to be the problem, looking into cognitive behavioural therapy and/or antidepressants. (This is not medical advice; I am not a doctor, just a forum member who finds your symptoms concerning).
Classical confirmation bias. Who hasn't been clumsier than they usually are at some point? No one - regardless of gender. Women have won Olympic gold metals at every stage of their cycles.
At least partially because any correlations are pretty weak, and are more commonly linked with sexist nonsense than reality, much less anything helpful to women.
If you can't do what you did a few days ago as effortlessly, it's probably a classical example of regression to the mean. You can't always perform at your peak - regardless of gender. Attributing this to menstrual cycles looks a lot like classical regression fallacy. There's value in not feeling like you're failing at everything - even if ones' explanation for what is going on is entirely false. A bad reason for adding useful balance to your life still adds useful balance to your life. If tracking makes you reach for the sky at a more useful rate than you would otherwise (never doing it, or doing it so often it upsets you), all the more power to you. If it gives you a feeling of power, understanding, or control, that can be helpful - even if it would not be correlated to real phenomenon after controlling for things like confirmation bias. If you choose not to reach for the sky when you could, or makes you avoid activities you could be doing perfectly well, it's harmful.
It's not particularly taboo: like many areas, it's not exhaustively researched, but there is a body of research, and these experiments are not particularly expensive to run. I'm not saying there are no effects (there are)... but I find the way this is being presented to be highly overstated and grating. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4460 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 35 of 46 02 March 2012 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I think I have to agree with Serpent. If you feel bad, and you don't learn well when you feel bad, and you know
when in your cycle you feel bad, then you should be able to predict when your cycle is going to have a negative impact on your studies. On the other hand, if I were female, I probably wouldn't try to optimize for it. That's because in general I believe it's better to study all the time, regardless of other potentially negative factors. There are so many potentially negative factors out there, I feel it's not worth it to try to optimize or control them. For example, if I'm in a bad mood, I study instead of trying to cheer up or wait until I'm happy. If a I have a movie in L2 that I don't like, I watch it instead of waiting a few days to get one I prefer. If I have a cold, I study instead of waiting to eat raw garlic. Etc, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6386 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 36 of 46 02 March 2012 at 11:47pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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As for clumsiness, I said 34579 times that it correlates perfectly with the time when I can do a lot, have this desire to "do something do something do something". And this is something I've not seen mentioned in the optimization guides - I just noticed it myself.
@Wulfgar - I agree that it's better to study all the time. That's where it actually comes in handy - you can understand why you no longer want to do what you enjoyed yesterday, and for example do something passive like read or watch a movie, and then a week later you won't feel guilty when you suddenly again don't wanna read... Volte, same question as I've already asked Sprachprofi - are you always satisfied with your study sessions? If not, are you always able to tell why? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6228 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 37 of 46 03 March 2012 at 2:03am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
The main reasons why I'm not satisfied with study sessions are: a) Not doing them - for instance, if I'm travelling or get absolutely absorbed in a book. b) Being sleepy; my sleep cycle has a significant impact on my studies. c) Having my allergies act up. d) Being ill: I have relatively frequent colds, flus, and headaches, as well as occasional migraines. e) Having gone into the study session with unrealistic expectations - for instance, if I find out halfway through the study session that there's something important to what I'm trying to learn that my material doesn't adequately cover. Any cyclical effects are utterly buried under the noise of these things (which in turn are uncorrelated with them. I have long lists of the things my migraines aren't correlated with; I haven't found a positive correlation with anything). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| tricoteuse Pentaglot Senior Member Norway littlang.blogspot.co Joined 6467 days ago 745 posts - 845 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian | Message 38 of 46 03 March 2012 at 9:55am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Oh, I wouldn't like to be that dramatic, Volte (you're right about the vitamins though, and I take those whenever I can remember to do so). Since I know that the moody and depressive periods are purely hormonal, it doesn't take that much to convince me that other periods of some behavior or other are also influenced by hormones. Obviously some women experience more variation than other, and I think contraception helps for very many (and not only with the pain). I'm going to try to keep better track of these recurring things and see if I can discover a pattern! I'd like to be able to do as Wulfgar and just override my moods, but unfortunately that only works with illness. In all of my life I don't know if I've ever been sick like other people seem to be, I only get a cold once or twice a year and that doesn't bother me that much, so I keep doing whatever I do. But when I can't focus on whatever thing I'm reading that demands focus (anything except easy going fiction) I simply can't make myself focus. It's impossible. But - then it's good to think about other activities that I can get out of the way while I'm like that, like ANKI reps (which take up a lot of my time anyway).
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| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6386 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 39 of 46 03 March 2012 at 10:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Good luck with tracking! I hope it's indeed just about not being in harmony with yourself.
Hbc just makes it worse, really. I'm so relieved to be off it now. Check the first post of this thread for info and PMS advice (that's indeed the most noticeable phase - but there are others too!) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5555 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 40 of 46 03 March 2012 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Isn't that an oxymoron? Premenstrual syndrome means that a number of symptoms correlate with a certain stage in the menstrual cycle, which strongly indicates that the menstrual cycle plays a role in causing or augmenting the symptoms. PMS as a diagnosis also means that the quality of life and/or performance during this time is significantly reduced. I still get mastodynia and mood swings during my premenstrual days, but I don't end up depressed to the point of suicidality any more. And I still hold with what I said before, my own behaviour and my environment have a much greater impact on how I feel and perform than my hormones do. For reference, I lived with recurring depression that was augmented by PMS for years, before I finally found out that my hypothyreosis was a major contributor to that condition. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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