Cognitive Enhancement Thread

Any evidence of the long-term drawbacks of nootropics?

Intuition tells me "there's no free lunch" and the fallout will come sooner or later, but maybe I'm overly risk averse.

lmao implying anyone really understands anything before they're 30 these days

I'm in the same boat as you. However, I will say that I believe that nootropics (certain ones) have the anecdotal breadth that makes me feel that they are safe enough.

Having said that, there will more likely than not be irreversible changes to the brain on any long term nootropic dosing schedule, most people do x months on/ y months off type of schedules (more or less depending on nootropic)

Personally I've been dosing noopept at around 10 mg (after like six-seven times I just started eyeballing 10 mg which was somewhere around a year ago) I've checked my eyeballing every once in a while but I'm not convinced that being off a few mg will change anything THAT much

Much of the present evidence with regards to nootropic compounds is anecdotal, but I personally hold that distributed anecdotes by like-minded individuals can have some sway in deciding whether or not something works in general and whether or not something is safe enough

I don't think it's overly risk averse to think this way about nootropics, but much as in sporting and steroids, I think the benefits outweigh the risks.

We'll all die someday (probably) so might as well burn hotter and brighter while I got the ability to.

>Nootropics
Waste of money
>Microdosing LSD
Could work if you can handle it
But ots risky since you dont know whats sold to you untill you test it

Most everything in this realm has risks, but desu darknet markets are pretty reasonably trustworthy.

I've tested three separate samples of LSD and it's been perfect, I have friends who have done the same and it's been perfect to nearly perfect every time. Granted that's a very low sample size, and in no way representative of every persons experience but fwiw good LSD is easy to find.

Dosing is super untrustworthy though, if it says 200 ug it's probably distributed around 150 ug as the mean and you can make guesses from there, just dissolve that shit in a brown glass bottle with distilled water and try to go for 0.1ug/ml and go to town.

Nootropics are only a waste of money if they don't work. Noopept has been shown to work, BPC 157 a lot less, and NSI 189 is the most promising antidepressant I've seen in the nootropic world, can't wait till my income increases and I can get some.

Well what do you think abou shrooms
Shrooms vs LSD
>Shrooms hit the thinking process, your mind they change how you think on a spiritual level
Might not help with math but defrenetly if youre working on an philosophy essay

>caffeine
I don't like it. It makes it harder to concentrate and gives me headaches.
I just drink some green tea, it contains little caffeine.

>Time
iirc the morning, but it depends on the person.

Also making sure you get your sleep will benifit you more than the hours you "gain" from skipping.

I assume you're talking to me

Shrooms are by far my favorite psych, throwing my subjective experience with both in there I'll say this

Shrooms are more "natural" in the sense that when I take shrooms (meaning psilocybin and 4acodmt fwiw) I feel a greater connectedness with the natural world i.e earth etc and see my place in it, which does a lot to ground you in the fact that you're A B S O L U T E L Y meaningless.

LSD brings you out into the cosmos (bullshit it's all your conception of the cosmos) and you get this great cosmic sense of connectedness of everyone and how meaningful it is to be alive and a member of it all.

When you microdose shrooms it's fantastic in a fun sense, you get this boost to energy and feeling alive and you just want to do things that bring you into the world and experiencing it all.

Microdosing LSD does the same, but instead of doing things that you normally wouldn't you think about things in a completely different light than you would sober, and it has this intoxicating effect of making you confident as fuck in what you're thinking, and because you're microdosing and don't get thoughtloops and this babylike OMG EVERYTHING AND NOTHING IS TRUE AT THE SAME TIME like some fucking hippie, you can evaluate what you're thinking as you're thinking it. Granted because you're confident in it you're less likely to be fully rational in your examination but it's still pretty dank.

I'd recommend doing both, really I'd say if you like shrooms check out 4acodmt much easier to dose and you can be a lot more precise about what the amount is you're getting. Start with a trip dose of 20 mg and see how strong you like it and titrate from there, I usually go with 1-2 mg (dissolved in distilled water volumetric dosing you can't weigh that out without a scientific balance) when I microdose but that's just me.

Everything I've written here is subjective and I'd probably say something different on different day but this is what I got for you .

I would definitely be willing to take a chance if I thought the benefits were worth the risks. But how good are the benefits, exactly? Have you measured and compared your own productivity on a daily basis and seen solid gains, or are you working off your own intuition here? I strongly suspect there are real gains based on the anecdotes I've read as well, but I would love to see data.

I have never quantitatively measured anything sorry to say. I go by intuition and a lot of self-examination both before and after the fact.

I do a 1m on 1 wk off schedule for noopept and I feel like it's working, but at this point I'm no longer basing it off any sort of "improvement" over a baseline I haven't been at for a year, but rather the fact that I still feel good with it. Colors are more vibrant, words are more meaningful etc etc. It really isn't something, I think, that can be numerically measured. You can do those brain game things I suppose, but those measure how good you are at the game rather than anything else.

I'm very suspicious of people who do things like give numbers out because more often than not they're bullshit, but I'm very upfront that my feelings wrt noots are subjective and intution based rather than strict measurement.

There are a lot of guys out there who have attempted the kind of measurement I think you're looking for, /r/nootropics is a good research starting point, but specific forums tend to be a better bet.

If I had to throw some bullshit numbers out there I'd say that in terms of in general I feel 20-30% better, in terms of productivity it's more I can push myself into the working mode more easily than before, but also that could be me doing it more and then finding it easier and easier but who knows at this point. So like 10-20% more capable of being productive, but it's like 20% higher push up a hill gets the ball over the hump and a consistent 20% higher translates to a lot more productivity than just a 20% boost.

I am in undergrad physics if that changes the way you look at what I say at all, and while my classes have definitely been getting harder (rotating reference frames are great) I still feel like I'm able to not only keep up but also understand the material and draw connections well when solving problems.

Sorry I'm not really able to give you what you're looking for man, but give noots a shot.

>4.5
Fuck that I need 9 hours to stay at my peak.

Check out intermittent fasting

not the previous guy, but generally speaking, from my experience, caffeine, or simply said in this case, coffee, helps you stay awake. However, you have to consider the fact that if you drink it consistently, you'll gain tolerance for it, as you already probably know, meaning the effects will lessen in intensity. So, either drink more coffee and reach a point where you start vomiting it or it simply doesn't work anymore, or, what I prefer to do is drink coffee or some other caffeinated drink only when I need it, aka, something big is coming up and I need full undivided attention.

Now, I understand that people that have shit ton of work daily will say that they need coffee on daily basis and while that is true, it will aid them for a limited time, but then, after a little while, you're going back to the tolerance and intensity of caffeine.

I really don't know anything about other similar substances such as caffeine, but as I said before, I personally don't consume it every day and that's why it works for me each and every time. If you consume coffee daily and you notice the effects don't work as before, then try something else or fuck it, I don't know nigga

Sympathy/empathy provides a free lunch

What if Nikola Tesla drank a shit ton of Caffeine?

I drink a lot of instant coffee everyday but I don't know if it actually helps speed up anything besides my metabolism right now. I just enjoy having it. I find that after a hard exercise and some rest I'm able to think more clearly than pre exercise. I tried modafinil and ended up in a mental hospital because, for whatever, reason it caused me to be delusional and psychotic. I used to swear by ginkgo biloba but I don't know if it actually did help looking back at it. I also tried microdosing LSD for a few days but it just made me weird and manic, similar to the modafinil. Think I might be prone to that kind of stuff.

Stay the fuck away from adderall if you don't need it. It will fuck your executive function and working memory. I've recovered but it took me a year of abstaining from the garbage.

what do you mean by working memory?
Long-term or short-term memory?

I plan on spending 100$ on Nootropics, I made a list of the most positively notorious ones.

>CDP Choline
>Piracetam
>EPA+DHA fish oil
>Bacopa Monneri
>Lion's Mane

>Deprenyl (Dopamine re uptake inhibitor)

I plan to mix all of this with exercise, intermittent fasting and meditation. Has anyone tried this already? Is it worth it?

ROFL MICRO-DOSING DRUGS
I FEEL SO SMARTER I CAN SPELL MY THOUGHTS; COLORS AND SHIET

kys all of you niggers who think that glorifying brain damage and lack of insight are good. You only feel smarter because the necrotic effect of your drugs produced the impression of being smarter, not that you're noticeably more intelligent or '''''creative'''''. Shrooms and LSD are neurotoxic, and no, the dose won't change anything, you're deluding yourself

STOP. FUCKING. POLLUTING. THESE. THREADS.
YOU. WASTES. OF FUCKING MATTER
AND STOP YOUR PITIFUL PROLETIZING. YOU'RE A HIPPY PIECE OF SHIT WHO RUINED HIS OWN LIFE, DONT BRING REEDEMABLE FINE GENTLEMEN IN YOUR DEMISE. THATS NOT ENLIGHTMENT, NOR EGO DEATH: THAT'S LITTERALY THE MOST EGOISTICAL COURSE OF ACTION TO FOLLOW. POISON YOURSELVES ALONE, AND STOP DISSEMINATING YOUR RUBBISH ADVICES, YOU ORGANIC-EATING, THIRD PARTY-VOTING, FOUL-SMELLING SCUM

you know, periods were used instead of whitespace in Lorenz SZ42 encrypted messages during ww2, by the Nazis. I was wondering why your retarded wording looked so familiar.

It's meth. It burns holes in your brain.

Working memory is short therm memory

>I tried modafinil and ended up in a mental hospital because, for whatever, reason it caused me to be delusional and psychotic

this literally just happened to me.

took modafinil everyday for a week. By the end of it I was having borderline visual hallucinations. Felt like people were staring at me.

My best guess is that it fucks with your sleep so much that you are basically walking around sleep deprived, even though you don't feel tired.

How should we have done it? Why 20?

did it make your memory retention better or just made you not tired

>am currently taking adderall for add
What can I do about this?

Awwww did somebody get addicted to speed?

bump

...

Day 1, I can legitimately say it made me smarter.

Snappy memory. Unlimited focus. Faster reaction time.

Just able to effortlessly flow in conversations, with very precise detail.

By about day 3 or 4 though you are basically a zombie. You don't feel tired at all, but you are a shell of a human.

sleep, exercise, lots of vitamins in diet, get enough choline, K2, etc.

I'd recommend regularly eating organ meat which provides a lot of nutrients most westerners are now deficient in.

This meme has already been debunked, caffeine does improve performance compared to a baseline of no caffeine/withdrawal symptoms

I've been using Modafinil for years without any issue. You guys are actually sleeping and not staying awake for 3 days straight on the drug, right?

He's just trolling, trying to get anxious posters to feel bad about themselves.

>took modafinil everyday for a week
Are you mad?

I take Modafinil too.

Literally 50mg (1/4 of a pill) when I really need it - not more than 2-3 times a week and never on consecutive days - due to the dehydration I often experience.

Taking 200mg/day for 3 days straight is legit a narcoleptic level treatment dosage.

Well, brain structure seems to dictate most cognitive performance at the high end, not synaptic firing. Once your brain structure is set in place, you can only get your connections to fire so fast, so frequently, without hitting diminishing returns or even regressing. I would recommend meditation, fasting, and caffeine over anything experimental.

I've gone through probably 100 modafinil pills and never really seemed to get much benefit out of it, but have been prescribed Adderall since I was 18. Recently started taking Vyvanse instead and prefer that over anything else. Pretty much 14 hours of straight cruising and you can easily fall asleep and take a nap whenever. Btw anyone ever try noopept with Vyvanse? Just ordered some, pix related

I couldn't sleep even if I drank all night on Modafinil. I was prescribed Ritalin as a kid and could still go to sleep, this stuff is serious(to me). I applaud anyone who can handle it, because I imagine it would be a great tool for productivity. Btw there wasn't much info out there about safe practices of Modafinil at the time. I just ordered the stuff from china and took it everyday for a while. I treated it as if it was a methylphenidate type drug at the time
>Short answer: no I didn't sleep for several days, some forced naps on my break at work

>ordered from china

Bad move.
Order from India.

How much did you take?

I've microdosed with LSD loads of times. Didn't see a significant change. Most evidence out there is anecdotal. Do you have any study that suggests LSD microdosing has any positive effect on cognitive function other than leddit?

here's the magic word
P R A C T I C E

the fact that you're looking to increase your iq shows that you have no goal other than boosting your ego by showing off your "intelligence". and good luck trying to boost up your intellectual thought with no true purpose

Modafinil is great stuff, mate. I am someone who struggles a lot with executive functions despite eating healthy, exercising and meditating. Modafinil is basically, discipline in pill format. It's incredibly useful to get started on a project and build that initial momentum, afterwards you can cycle it 3 days on, 4 days off to keep tolerance at bay. You should take it right in the morning, after excising. The half life is around 12 to 16 hours, so this way it would wear off by the time you gotta go to sleep.

Forget about creativity though, this is not Adderall. This is a drug for going robot mode, I do not have as many random associations and ideas sparkling in my mind while on it.

Some of these Nootropics do not focus on increasing synapse transmission rates, but rather increase Growth factors or protecting structures. I am hoping I can reverse the damage caused by stress and sleep deprivation with them.

Stupid brainlets

The only nootropic that works is books

Cardiovascular exercise is the best way to keep your brain in shape. Your brain consumes a shit ton of oxygen and a strong cardiovascular system will help deal with all the waste products in your brain and it will work more efficiently. This is especially important when you get. Exercise helps you retain your IQ, it will start to decrease already in your 30's btw

I am not familiar with that one, sources? How did it benefit you?

Deprenyl is a MAO-B inhibitor not a DRI

you sound buttblasted

>DONT BRING REEDEMABLE FINE GENTLEMEN IN YOUR DEMISE

True, but the effects should be the same as one.

The thing that really kills me is the wasted potential. I always wonder if I had studied harder, been pushed further when I was younger, would I be a smarter person than I am today? I feel like I fucked myself over wasting my life on video games and shit when I was a teenager, like I threw away the opportunity to hone my developing brain in to something useful. Now I'm an adult and my brain has been wired around processing WoW and children's cartoons and it feels like I failed.

this is why you will always be a brainlet.

These are the purest dubs I have ever seen in my life.

Why would.it feel like you failed? Failed at what?

Veeky Forums evryday X-DDDD

What about energy supplements?

Failed at reaching my potential, failed at really doing anything of substance in my life. I didn't each the level of normies, I'm below even them.

same unfortunately
exercising more often allows me to not feel dead with only 7-8 hours though

Anyone know what is good to take for possible Olney's lesions? (Aka damage/holes in the brain caused by being a drug abusing degenerate brainlet) I know it's mostly a meme that DXM causes it but I got depressed in college and self medicated with moderate DXM doses multiple times a week for around 9 months and went on random weeklong binges a few times after that. That was years ago and I've since suffered through a period of intense anxiety/panic attacks and memory fog. I'm pretty much back to normal now but feel there could be some damage.

I read about anricetam?/piracetam/noopept etc and don't know what could help without triggering my anxiety. It seems some of them help repair the brain but can cause extreme anxiety. I've never taken adderall or anything like that either.. just coffee and my limit is 2 cups.

I eat only whole and fresh foods because I have so many allergies, and I do either cardio or strength training every day of the week. I also read books every day.

thanks if anyone has any advice

Anyone here can function with four hours of sleep?
I tired with five once but I was useless after midday.

6.5 is my limit.

I'm actually more productive on 6.5 than on 8 hours.

>tfw I found this out when I was 26
>all those wasted years

fug

Been on keto for the past 4 days.

I've heard that you are supposed to feel like shit for the first couple days, but I feel fucking amazing. It's probably my Irish potato famine genetics kicking in.

>What are some safe, well-tested means of boosting brainpower?
Studying

>I've heard that you are supposed to feel like shit for the first couple days, but I feel fucking amazing. It's probably my Irish potato famine genetics kicking in.
What's your main source of fat?
I'm doing it with clarified butter mostly but I don't feel any more energetic.
Just less tired.

What this guy said.
I went through a period of about 2 and a half months were I would have 400+ mg of caffeine daily.
I remember several times when I went out drinking and had some serious scares with my heart due to the alcohol + caffeine reaction.

I don't drink that much coffee anymore, but to feel any kind of effect from it, I have to consume at least three cups of barista coffee in an hour.

For now I'm using a shit ton of butter on everything until I figure out something more sustainable.

200mg/day

Cottage cheese?

>boosting IQ
???

How old are you?

user saying that caffeine has no positive effects is horseradish

if you're concerned about anxiety or withdrawal symptoms switch to green tea. You can drink the stuff all day and only get a slight uplift in mood and attention

>brain is a muscle
these are the people who are calling you a brainlet on Veeky Forums

it's all anecdotal and it's all placebo since everyone is dosing themselves.

there are rigorous studies showing no effect on academic performance in microdosing uni students

start weaning

talk about it with your doctor next time you see them

Everyone who ever accomplished anything had to struggle for it.

People who become great scientists only do so because they realize that not studying hard is a waste of the life they were given.

cardio is the GOAT prescription for brain damage
also sobriety

you can add in meditation if you're depressed

My roommate only sleeps for 5 hours a night and she graduated from her Masters program with A's.

She also sleeps by hanging upside down from the ceiling and refuses to eat my garlic bean dip.

I always thought the Wim Hoff method would increase brain function for the same reason cardio does.

>these days
Yeah, I'm sure young people were much more intelligent and knowledgeable and had much better access to information before the internet came long right?

Your brain gets better at solving tasks by repetition. So challenge yourself with puzzles everyday and practice your mathematics skills

Since I start to smoke pot frequently I saw an improvement of my creative thinking, not so much but I started to realize things more often. I don't know if this is an effect of pot or it's my mind trying to justify my addiction :/
>Also
what are the negative effects of pot?

>implying sleep deprevation doesn't literally fry your brain
livescience.com/40510-sleep-cleans-brain-harmful-toxins.html

T. the next school shooter.

There are some people (about 5% of the population) which can function with only about 5 hours of sleep.

But I remember reading some studies that what really was going on, was these people simply didn't feel tired when they were sleep deprived. But if you measured their reaction time, and other tests like that, they clearly showed the effects of sleep deprivation.

OMG
you are asian
asian fake page

>6.5h
>sleep deprivation

Sounds like you're the one with the fried brain famalam.

Okay what the hell is wrong with voting for a third party? Sometimes people don't agree with either the republicans or the democrats.

I used to love pot but I read some studies about thc intake correlating in reduced grey matter volume. There's no causal mechanic (yet) but it's pretty much scared me away from the stuff.

26 man

I understand that they aren't just innately talented, they also put in inhuman amounts of work to acheive their goals. I tried the hard work route, I even managed to get a Masters degree in biology but I never felt the sense of achievement I hoped to get from it, I still felt like a useless sack of shit who should have done much better. Bio? Anyone can do that.

>any opinion on mental exercises
memory palaces as chronicled in the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" where you think of a familiar interior to a building or house (fictional or that you know like the house you grew up in/ live in etc.,) and whatever you have to remember, you visualize it in the corner or some place of some room of the house and then youre basically walking around your mind from place to place in the memory palace recalling the large list or whatever you have to remember by entering each room and remembering the placement of each item.

people can memorize whole decks of shuffled cards or whatever else this way.