eit612017 18 Nootropes (Smart Drags) o Unlock Your True Bain ‘SS pueerPROOF amrictss —povcast mucins «corres, «= 2 13 Nootropics to Unlock Your True Brain @ Ww w KS ~ %. Nootropics ~ sometimes called smart drugs = are compounds that enhance brain function, They're becoming a popular way to give your mind an extra boost, According to one Telegraph report, up to 25% of students at leading UK universit have taken the prescription smart drug modafinil "), and California tech startup employees are trying everything from Adderall to LSD to push their brains into a higher gear?) I've been actively benefitting from nootropies since 1997, when | was struggling with cognitive performance and ordered almost $1000 worth of smart drugs from Europe (the only place where you could get them at the time). | remember opening the unmarked brown package and wondering whether the pharmaceuticals and natural substances would really enhance my brain. hips:olng bulletproof. com 3-neolopicete-unlock your as.ait6r2017 419 Nootropes (Smart Drugs) to Unlock Your True Bain They did, and I've been a big fan of certain cognitive enhancers ever since. I'm wary of others, though. The trouble with using a blanket term like “nootropics is that you lump all kinds of substances in together. Technically, you could argue that caffeine and cocaine are both nootropics, but they're hardly equal. With so many ways to enhance your brain function, many of which have significant risks, it’s most valuable to look at nootropics on a case-by-case basis. Here's a list of 13 nootropics, along with my thoughts on each. 1) Modafinil (Provigil), armodafinil (Nuvigil), and adrafinil — focus, motivation, clarity, memory | started taking modafinil while getting my MBA at Wharton. At the same time, | was also working at a start-up that later sold for $600 million in value, so you can imagine how busy | was. | wanted a way to keep my brain running. When | first started taking modafinil, | felt more like myself than | had in years. | took it just about every day in varying doses for 8 years (with a physician's prescription). It gave me energy and changed my life. | would not be the biohacker | am today without modafinil When | worked on the Bulletproof Diet book, | wanted to verify that the effects | was getting from Bulletproof Coffee were not coming from modafinil, so | stopped using it and measured my cogni tive performance while | was off of it. What I found was that on Bulletproof Coffee and the Bulletproof Diet, my mental performance was almost identical to my performance on modafinil. | still travel with modafinil and I'l take it on occasion, but while living a Bulletproof lifestyle | rarely feel the need, hipsfolng bulletproof. com 3-noolopicete-unlock your 215.eit612017 ps:iolog bulletproof convt3-noatropicsto-unlock yo 18 Nootropes (Smart Drugs) to Unlock Your True Brain There's a slight risk (about § in a million people) of having a life-threatening Immune reaction to modafinil. It's the same reaction that happens with Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), so if you know you don’t react well to NSAIDs, talk to your doctor before taking modafinil One reason | like modafinil is that it enhances dopamine release, but it binds to your dopamine receptors differently than addictive substances like cocaine and amphetamines do, which may be part of the reason modafinil shares many of the benefits of other stimulants but doesn’t cause addiction or withdrawal symptoms. (31 [41 It does increase focus, problem-solving abilities, and wakefulness, but it is not in the same class of drugs as Adderall, and it is not a classical stimulant. Modafinil is off of patent, so you can get it generically, or order it from India. It’s a prescription drug, so you need to talk to a physician. You can also try armodafinil, which is a more purified form of modafinil with only biologically identical molecules in it. It has nearly identical and sometimes stronger effects. It’s very expensive without insurance. If you don't want to get a prescription, there's adrafinil, which your liver converts to modafinil in about 45-60 minutes. You can buy adrafinil without a prescription, and in my experience it feels very similar to modafinil, but | wouldn't recommend taking it regularly because it stresses your liver a lot Normally prescribed modafi |0-200 mg, taken in the morning (unless you want to be awake all Normally prescribed armodafinil dose: 100-200 mg, taken in the morning Adrafinil dose: 300 mg, taken in the morning 2) Racetams — mental turnover, public speaking, learning, memory The racetam family contains dozens of related compounds, including a few well- known nootropics. The best studied one is piracetam, but the most effective hootropics are aniracetam and phenylpiracetam, so you'll read about those here. There was an explosion of racetam research between 1968 and 1972, but many of the racetams are off patents, so pharmaceutical companies are studying racetam analogs that they can patent and sell. We still don’t fully understand how racetams work, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that they're excellent nootropics. The best studied racetam is piracetam, and its analogs work well too. + 400 mg phenylpiracetam taken daily for a year significantly improved brain function and cognition in people recovering froma stroke. '*) trve-brain! ans.