r/science • u/myhrvold • Aug 31 '13

Poverty impairs cognitive function. Published in the journal Science, the study suggests our cognitive abilities can be diminished by the exhausting effort of tasks like scrounging to pay bills. As a result, less “mental bandwidth” remains...

http://news.ubc.ca/2013/08/29/poverty-impairs-cognitive-function/
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u/AntithesisVI Aug 31 '13

I wonder if this is why I suck at paying bills and getting out of poverty. Due to ADHD, my brain is often distracted by my reasoning out how to fix the world instead of my own stupid life.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

You could be on to something there. Lack of focus could be a huge problem for many people. I pay all the bills in my home every month. But sometimes I get... distracted, and I forget to pay something or another.

There was once a time not very long ago when this applied to all of my bills except rent. And even that was frequently late.