I loved the movie Limitless starring Bradley Cooper. In the movie, Cooper's character (Eddie Morra) is given a pill that unlocks the use of 100% of his brain power allowing him to write a novel overnight, learn day trading in days, and eventually run for the US Senate. The thought of taking a pill that could give you "limitless" energy and focus is appealing to industry leaders and Biohackers alike. Some people have resorted to taking amphetamine's which have serious health issues associated with long term use. Nootropics are the safer alternative.
Nootropics 102
Nootropics are commonly referred to as "smart drugs". The truth is they only enhance your existing memory and focus. They do so through several mechanisms. One such mechanism is the increase of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), a second messenger derived from adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
CILTEP
The second Nootropic that I have ever tried was CILTEP by Natural Stacks. CILTEP is a simple stack of Artichoke Extract, Forskolin, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, Vitamin B6, and L-Phenylalanine. The Forskolin increases cAMP levels, which is supported by the Acetyl-L-Carnitine. The Artichoke Extract reduces inflammation associated with the degradation of cAMP. While the Vitamin B6 and L-Phenylalanine support the production of dopamine. I have noted better than normal focus on CILTEP, with energy and motivation also improved to a lesser extent.
Fix Your Diet First
No supplement or drug is going to overcome a month of bad decisions, with the exception, perhaps, of amphetamine's. If you have brain fog, weight gain or are not sleeping well, you need to straighten out your diet first. As I said before Nootropics only enhance your existing memory and focus, do yourself a favor and optimize what you have with real food, moderate exercise and good sleep. Lastly, most Nootropics are not super cheap, so why waste a dose if you are hung over and going to sleep in?
Give Your Brain a Rest
As with all Nootropics, I will introduce breaks between courses. I will typically go with a one to two weeks on, and one week off of any particular Nootropic. I do this for two reasons. As Tim Ferris says, "there is no biological free lunch". Life is about balance. Periods of more focus should be followed by periods of less focus. Secondly, I want to return to baseline before trying another Nootropic.
Stay well engineered,
Devon
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These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
If you found this information helpful, I would appreciate it if you clicked my Referral Link and checkout all the great Bulletproof products for yourself.
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Excellent Nootropics article. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteJust to be helpful for people interested in Nootropics especially Modafinil, I found another site that has some helpful articles and information.
There is also a discount code (that works) if you want to buy Modafinil online (aka Modalert). Don’t worry this is not something spammy. It’s also more for the US and UK market. Hope it helps. See website below. Thanks all.
https://www.modafinilonline.org.uk
Whether we use 10 or 100 percent of our brains, it's clear that we don't know enough about nootropics to say with any degree of certainty how effective they might be. Generic Provigil Scientific research on drugs in these groups range from comprehensive to non-existent.
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