That’s probably true some of the time, but I think there’s a mode of mental health issues that I’ve experienced personally and seen in others who approach life with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. Basically, my hypothesis is that some people have contradictory impulses of desire and fear of stimulation and calm at the same time. You don’t have two groups of people (novelty-seeking HN crew vs vanilla soccer moms), but one type of person who is both and in conflict with themselves.
That's me. Easily overstimulated, yet drive myself to exhaustion because everything is too damn exciting. If you ask me it's a combination of high dopamine and high neural excitability/high connectivity. I think many programmers are like this and exist in a semi-permanent state of exhaustion.
