Brain Health: How Smart Can You Get by Using Nootropics (Smart Drugs)?
Elevate Your Potential Magazine
Smart drugs (e.g., nootropics and cognitive enhancers) are defined as substances that improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals. The last bit is important: there are many drugs that were specifically developed to enhance brain functions in people with various cognitive disorders or deficits.
Such drugs won’t necessarily smarten up healthy people, and when they do, they are not necessarily safe. Nootropics may come in many forms, from classical pharmaceutics in the form of pills to herbal supplements and “functional foods”. Although thousand of publications on “smart drugs” can be found online, the overwhelming majority of claims are unsubstantiated or unashamedly commercialized.
Nootropics and The Smart Drug Trend
This means that the info you come across mostly consists of descriptions of personal opinions or experiences, or compilations of facts published elsewhere, or just articles from popular media where people can write whatever they want. The use of smart drugs is becoming “trendy”. Lots of people are taking various substances regularly, many others try them from time to time.
The idea of enhancing the brain’s ability, or tapping into its unused reservoir is intriguing, and many people are actively looking for information on this subject. When it comes to nutraceuticals and herbal supplements, recent studies appear to be contradictory. Some data do support the memory-enhancing effects of such plants as Gingko biloba, Asian ginseng, and Bacopa monnieri, but systematic reviews do not find convincing evidence of their effectiveness. Read the full story…. brainblogger.com
Smart Drugs (Nootropics) with Tim Ferriss
Best-Selling author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss discusses smart drugs (nootropics) and other healthy alternatives that he uses. Tim is often asked which “smart drugs” I use to improve mental performance and productivity. He’s tried everything imaginable, whether over-the-counter, prescription, or otherwise.
For 90% of the options, the short-term benefits are not worth the long-term side-effects. This video describes a few options that he’s found to be sustainable and reliably effective. Note: Tim will still “cycle” off of these at least one week out of every eight weeks.
More resources:
The Real Limitless Drug Isn’t Just for Lifehackers Anymore – New York Magazine Modafinil, which is marketed as Provigil in the United States, was first approved by the FDA in 1998 for the treatment of narcolepsy, but since then it’s become better known as a nootropic, a “smart drug,” especially among entrepreneurs. More recently …
Raiding the Medicine Cabinet to Become Superhuman – Wired If you’ve read Tim Ferriss’ books, you know he’ll do almost anything to himself in the name of self-improvement. And if you thought he … Turns out Ferriss has tried nearly every legal (and not) smart drug imaginable, so we invited him to share what …
Smart Drugs: Secret of the World’s Tech Billionaires? – Huffington Post For example, investor and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss has been experimenting with multiple nootropic stacks, and he indicated that he believes taking supplements is worth it, “even if it shortens your life by five years.” Ferriss’ statement might seem …
Images courtesy: nymag.com, wired.com, huffingtonpost.com
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