It's safe to say most of us seen the movie 'Limitless' starring Bradly Cooper, a middle-aged man on the wrong path that suddenly finds a pill that changes his life.
One pill within 5 minutes provided full focus, clarity and enhanced cognitive effects. From that moment on I became genuinely intrigued and wondered if there was really a drug that could mimic these effects - I mean who doesn't want to be smarter? So I decided to jump down the rabbit hole and started researching every bit of information I could find on cognitive drugs; I ran across a few interesting communities.
Welcome to 'BioHacking 101' I finally stumbled on the two most popular BioHacking communities that focused on brain enhancing drugs called 'Nootropics'. Reddit Nootropics and Longecity
Nootropics Some of the most talked about Nootropics include Noopept, Piracetam and the magic pill Modafinil - it seemed apparent that Modafinil was the holy grail and most recommended nootropic out on the market, but what was it? I dug deeper and uncovered a lot about the seemingly magic drug.
Modafinil was the supposed pinnacle; a stimulate which promoted wakefulness without negative side effects of jitters and the terrible crash - The drug also claimed to have very few if no side effects.
To my surprise Modafinil had a great bit of evidence to back-up the claims:
- It was shown to improve memory, fatigue, motivation, improved decision making and reaction time.
The University of Cambridge also found Modafinil to be a potent drug: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23934211
The military was openly sponsoring the drug conducting experiments through the Air Force Research Laboratory, Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory and Watler Reed Army Institute of Research among others.
Public records reported studies with modafinil in both Fighter and Helicopter pilots along with French Paratroopers. The US begin giving Modafinil to Air Force personnel regularly in the 2003 Iraq war - By 2004 the British Ministry of Defense joined the train and bought over 24,000 tablets along with France which routinely supplies it to their military. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=modafinil+military
The drug was also starting to become popular within the tech industry. Programmers/developers regularly begun to take the drug for the cognitive enhancements. You might have heard Tim Ferriss author of 'The 4-hour work week', Dr. Rhonda Patrick and Dave Asprey talk about Modafinil.
Modafinil is a prescription drug primarily used for narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and shift work sleep disorder. But it was evident from the research it was being used for its other properties.
Generic versions of Modafinil include:
- Modalert
- Modivigl
- Wakalert
- Artvigil
- Provigil
After a few weeks of research, I decided to try Modafinil - 5 years later I'm still actively taking a generic version of Modafinil along with a nootropic stack... I can say that it truly lives up to the claims; the increased mental focus, clarity and motivation has been really apparent ever since.
My Nootropic stack includes:
- Modafinil
- Noopept
- L-Theanine
- Choline
Please note: I'm not a doctor and I highly recommend doing your own research if you want to indulge in the world of BioHacking - This is just my experience and journey to becoming Limitless.