I tried magnesium, protein and electrolytes for the crash — 3-week n=1 experiment
The internet has forty cures for the stimulant crash so I tested three of them properly. One variable per week, dose and schedule locked, scored my 5-8pm mood out of 10 every evening. n=1, zero science, fight me.
Week 1, magnesium glycinate (evenings): crash unchanged (avg 4.9 vs 4.8 baseline). Did fall asleep faster though, keeping it.
Week 2, 30g protein snack at 3pm: clear winner. Avg 6.9. Evenings went from write-off to usable.
Week 3, electrolytes all afternoon: 5.6, maybe marginal, possibly just hydration placebo.
So: the protein thing is cheap and it worked, on me, once. Clinicians — is there a real mechanism there, or did I just run a three-week study proving that being hungry makes me cranky? 33M, BC.
2026-07-20 06:03429 views
2 Comments
half_finished_hobby
The 'discovered being hungry makes me cranky' ending killed me. But also: your protein result matches mine almost exactly (I logged 6.7 avg vs your 6.9, different scoring, same shape). Two n=1s is still not science but it's a suspicious coincidence.
2026-07-21 08:39 339 views
spreadsheet_gremlin
Methodology note from a fellow insufferable spreadsheet person: your week 3 electrolyte result might be contaminated — by week 3 you'd had a protein-week to compare against, and expectation effects run downhill. Randomizing the week order would've cost nothing. Says the guy who once ran a 6-week experiment with no control condition.
2026-07-21 09:10 363 views
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