Nootropics Thread: Focus, Clarity, Energy and more

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Araysar

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I do nootropics occasionally to boost mental alertness and focus to grind through tedious work projects. I wanted to see if anyone is doing the same and what nootropic/supplement stacks work well for you.

Think of it as the opposite to the Fast Food Thread

Currently Im doing 200 mg of L-Theanine and 750 mg of Aniracetam with a cup of espresso to grind through work projects. The aniracetam and caffeine boost mental alertness, focus and clarity. Makes me less distracted and less likely to procrastinate.

The L-theanine is there to smooth out the jitters from both to make it a less stressful, less anxious experience.

Lasts about 4-5 hours, I have typically done one dose per day when I take them. I dont do it every day, maybe once every 2 weeks when I need to grind through some shitpile of work.

Outside of work, I take 250 mg of Phenibut occasionally when I go to the beach, or bike, or ride my motorcycle. Its supposed to reduce stress and anxiety and just gives you a nice pleasant calm feeling that improves your mood.

I get my shit from here: Top Nootropics | Buy the Most Popular Nootropics
I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever, just where Ive bought my stuff before.

Anyone else is experimenting with nootropic stacks to get more energy and focus during the day? Or just to manage stress and anxiety?

Izo said:
www.cochrane.org

Tryptophan and 5-Hydroxytryptophan for depression

www.cochrane.org www.cochrane.org

5-HTP efficacy and contraindications - PMC

L-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is the immediate precursor of serotonin. It is readily synthesized into serotonin without biochemical feedback. This nutrient has a large and strong following who advocate exaggerated and inaccurate claims relating to ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Seems to be en par with placebo at best. Talk to a doctor first before dabbling in regulating precursers to neurotransmitters. Especially with the possible side effects. There are easier, safer, controlled and regulated drugs to enhance serotonin (5-HT) levels. Personally I’d stay clear of 5-HTP.
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mewkus said:
a lot of nootropic blends include tyrosine and cholate as well as the 5-htp. plus 2000mg of caffeine for the coffee twitch.
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Lumi said:
Try Lion's mane mushrooms from the company real mushrooms. Very powerful stuff and very beneficial for anxiety/depression and also dramatically improves cognitive function especially in regards to memory.
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What else have you guys tried?
 
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sleevedraw

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I'm pretty minimalist. 200 mg of L-theanine in the morning with my coffee and 300 mg of ashwagandha once I get off work.

For those starting out, I recommend caffeine and L-theanine only; ashwa has caused elevated LFTs in certain case studies, so you do need to establish a baseline, avoid alcohol, and get periodic draws if you want to be safe.

Also: the supplement industry is very unregulated, so caveat emptor applies very intensely here. At the minimum, be looking for suppliers with GMP. Some of the generally trusted big name brands are Now Foods and Jarrow.
 
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Araysar

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sleevedraw said:
I'm pretty minimalist. 200 mg of L-theanine in the morning with my coffee and 300 mg of ashwagandha once I get off work.
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Can you tell a noticeable difference when taking either of them, especially the ashwagandha?
 
Izo

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Interesting thread. I do coffee. And chocolate. That’s about it.

This VICE article was kinda fun to read. Not that it’s anything but anecdoctal / trash / non-scientific.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/qvvg8q/i-tested-the-internets-five-favourite-nootropics said:
From this experiment, all I can really say I took is that nootropics are fucked. The combination of mania, anxiety, overstimulation, loss of appetite, and sleep deprivation really took their toll. And frankly, I didn't gain much. My IQ hovered around the same area and when I took my second MENSA test at the end of the week, I scored 22/30, which was an improvement of only one point. To my thinking, neither of those gains made the side effects worth it.
Nootropics do work, but their side effects are insufficiently addressed. Because their side effects are intense. And with this in mind, I'd probably just stick to coffee.
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Brings us to the thing that bugs me the most. People tend to say it works, they feel a difference. But is that the same as a positive effect, on say, intelligence, productivity etc? The problem is, that they’re not objectivly measured. Same arguments from drug abusers in my experience. I donno, I tend to stay clear of mind altering drugs, that we have no evidence of adverse effects, thrombogenicity etc. I see too many OD in my line of work, that combined with med school, makes me suspicious and foremost cautious with these drugs. Also, they’re prescription over here in eurocuckistan, and locally only for anti seizure medication. Careful.
 
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Foler

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Genuine Argentine Yerba Mate, loose leaf.

/Thread.
 
sleevedraw

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Araysar said:
Can you tell a noticeable difference when taking either of them, especially the ashwagandha?
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I struggle mostly with anxiety/racing thoughts, and both of them help me tap the brakes on those.

Theanine is subtle; it's hard to describe exactly, but if caffeine provides the energy or stimulation to do something, theanine allows one to more easily focus/direct/funnel that energy or stimulation in one direction. If someone doesn't have difficulties focusing, it can also be used later in the evening with or without melatonin as a sleep aid.

Ashwa is more sedating than theanine; it's thought to be GABA-ergic like alcohol or benzos, so I personally would not recommend it when you're trying to get work done (or driving/operating heavy machinery, etc.) until you know how it affects you. It is said to reduce cortisol levels over time, so may help to counteract chronic stress. In traditional Ayurvedic medicine, it's typically used later in the evening along with milk tea.

The issue with ashwa is the variance; there are a number of chemicals that are at play (unlike theanine, which is a single amino acid) because it is a plant extract. "Ashwaganda" supplements can be made of the root, the leaves, or both; traditional Ayurveda only uses the root. The leaves tend to be more potent, but they are also higher in a chemical called Withaferin A which has both good and bad properties (it appears to have anti-carcinogenic properties because it is mildly cytotoxic and anti-angiogenic, but also causes liver enzyme elevation). If you do decide to try it out, I recommend going with a root-only product. KSM-66 is a proprietary, standardized version of the roots.

Also, like Izo Izo says, caution is advised. Like an exercise program, always talk with your doctor and preferably establish a baseline with blood tests and the like before making any dramatic life changes. And always let your doc know what supplements you are on. I stick with theanine and ashwa because the safety profiles on both are reasonably well established. Risk goes up exponentially the more supplements one decides to take.
 
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Lumi

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Araysar said:
What else have you guys tried?
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The ultimate nootropic is prolonged water fasting. If you've ever seen the movie Limitless I can tell you with absolute certainty that fasting is the closest you can ever possibly get to that sort of level of mental clarity.
 
Araysar

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Lumi said:
The ultimate nootropic is prolonged water fasting. If you've ever seen the movie Limitless I can tell you with absolute certainty that fasting is the closest you can ever possibly get to that sort of level of mental clarity.
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What does your fasting schedule look like?
 
Lumi

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Araysar said:
What does your fasting schedule look like?
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I go 6 days drinking only mineral water. I don't consume anything else whatsoever. Then I break the fast on the 7th day usually with a very small bowl of salad and drink a tea with lions mane mushroom and a very small amount of honey. I basically do the same thing twice that day and then each day progressively increase the portions/add more things until I'm back to normal but I don't eat any meat for a week until after the fast ends. The effects are actually pretty insane, see for yourself.
 
Araysar

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Lumi said:
I go 6 days drinking only mineral water. I don't consume anything else whatsoever. Then I break the fast on the 7th day usually with a very small bowl of salad and drink a tea with lions mane mushroom and a very small amount of honey. I basically do the same thing twice that day and then each day progressively increase the portions/add more things until I'm back to normal but I don't eat any meat for a week until after the fast ends. The effects are actually pretty insane, see for yourself.
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So 0 calories for 6 days? Only mineral water?
 
Izo

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giphy.gif
 
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Araysar

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Dr Izo Izo what are the medical drawbacks to starving yourself for 144 hours, 4x a month?
 
Izo

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Araysar said:
Dr Izo Izo what are the medical drawbacks to starving yourself for 144 hours, 4x a month?
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Given normal water uptake at the same time, well, the body adjust running on the backup program, quickly exhausting essential components for homeostasis. The biggest medical drawback, given one survives, is refeeding syndrome.

Severe enough, electrolye derarangement, insulin burst and glucose-glucagon imbalance, causes severe cns, muscle, pulmonary and cardiac symptoms. We see this in the ICU, carefully refeed those intubated after 3days, slowly easing them in, monitoring the indirect biomarkers, phosphate, magnesium, as well as the extracellular electrolytes, diuresis etc.

It would seem to me, that trying to avoid cancer/illness by avoiding some carcinogenic food by eliminating it altogether for prolonged periods, thus inducing an extreme ketogenic and katabolic state, fasting + water, deprives one self of essential electrolytes and vitamins that protects us, messes with glucohomeostasis, risk damaging organs or ultimately dying, is the definition of ignorance if not insanity. Case in point.

I’d say the risks far outweigh the benefits.
 
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Araysar

Loser Araysar

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Izo said:
Given normal water uptake at the same time, well, the body adjust running on the backup program, quickly exhausting essential components for homeostasis. The biggest medical drawback, given one survives, is refeeding syndrome.

Severe enough, electrolye derarangement, insulin burst and glucose-glucagon imbalance, causes severe cns, muscle, pulmonary and cardiac symptoms. We see this in the ICU, carefully refeed those intubated after 3days, slowly easing them in, monitoring the indirect biomarkers, phosphate, magnesium, as well as the extracellular electrolytes, diuresis etc.

It would seem to me, that trying to avoid cancer/illness by avoiding some carcinogenic food by eliminating it altogether for prolonged periods, thus inducing an extreme ketogenic and katabolic state, fasting + water, deprives one self of essential electrolytes and vitamins that protects us, messes with glucohomeostasis, risk damaging organs or ultimately dying, is the definition of ignorance if not insanity. Case in point.

I’d say the risks far outweigh the benefits.
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Hold up there. Are you saying that living day in and day out on a North Korean prison camp diet can be detrimental to your health in the long run?
 
Izo

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Araysar said:
Hold up there. Are you saying that living day in and day out on a North Korean prison camp diet can be detrimental to your health in the long run?
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Even more so with the binges after the fast, yes. Known symptoms include increaingly delusional and insane post. Do we know anyone that needs a good plus sized burger menu atm?
 
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