I used to have something like this problem, and it turned out to be very simple: hunger.
I had a bad habit of not eating when I was deeply into something (or deeply stressed), and my body would simply run out of fuel. I think there is something weird about my physiology that causes me to not notice hunger as much as others. So I wouldn't feel super hungry, but I'd get this spacey, apathetic, faded feeling and have trouble focusing.
The longer I waited, the worse it got. But I'd already wasted so much time, I'd feel bad 'wasting' more by taking a break and getting something to eat. So it would go on like this, sometimes for a couple days at a time.
After a few years of this I happened to meet a beautiful, loving girl who also liked to cook. She made sure I ate at least one good meal a day, and lo and behold, the focus problems largely went away. I put two and two together and nowadays when I feel the fadey feeling kick in, I know what it is and get up and get a string cheese or something.
I imagine this probably sounds ridiculous, and I think I may be the only person on earth to have this specific issue. But I just wanted to reinforce the _practices_ bit. It could be something simple. Maybe find a trusted friend or coworker to watch your work practices for a few days and tell you if anything seems odd?
Also, I once worked in an office that I had trouble focusing in. I couldn't figure it out for like months and ended up doing all my work at home after hours.
It turned out my office had bad ventilation. Working with the door open fixed that problem. Simple :)
I have a very similar problem, especially where you said "my body would simply run out of fuel ... I'd get this spacey, apathetic, faded feeling and have trouble focusing".
Somehow a doctor figured out I was mildly hypoglycemic, basically you have to eat consistently and everything, but if you haven't eaten in too long you get that long crash where you end up just being almost exhausted for no reason. I always make sure I eat at least something for breakfast lunch and dinner and grab a small snack in the afternoon, an it helps a lot.
Same thing with me. My mind just cannot pin point that it is hunger that is bothering me. Other than that, simple things like bad ventilation,or inadequate sleep can also be the cause. I think just some simple health neglects add up and you end up being like this. There might be no deeper cause to what you are facing.
This thing looked like it was written by me minus the beautiful, loving girl! :-) I was so energetic once but for past 1 year i feel not so. I believe it's the hunger. I don't feel it and I'm too shameful to tell I forgot to eat. I'm writing this with only a small meal in the past 24 hrs. I have to change.
I'm the same as you with respect to not noticing or responding to hunger.
I just worked for 16 hours on nothing but a hot dog, a candy bar, and a granola bar. Even though I feel almost dead right now, I'm still not very hungry.
I had a bad habit of not eating when I was deeply into something (or deeply stressed), and my body would simply run out of fuel. I think there is something weird about my physiology that causes me to not notice hunger as much as others. So I wouldn't feel super hungry, but I'd get this spacey, apathetic, faded feeling and have trouble focusing.
The longer I waited, the worse it got. But I'd already wasted so much time, I'd feel bad 'wasting' more by taking a break and getting something to eat. So it would go on like this, sometimes for a couple days at a time.
After a few years of this I happened to meet a beautiful, loving girl who also liked to cook. She made sure I ate at least one good meal a day, and lo and behold, the focus problems largely went away. I put two and two together and nowadays when I feel the fadey feeling kick in, I know what it is and get up and get a string cheese or something.
I imagine this probably sounds ridiculous, and I think I may be the only person on earth to have this specific issue. But I just wanted to reinforce the _practices_ bit. It could be something simple. Maybe find a trusted friend or coworker to watch your work practices for a few days and tell you if anything seems odd?