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What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

(troof.blog)
126 points julianh65 | 1 comments | 02 Jul 25 13:29 UTC | HN request time: 1.06s | source
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Analemma_ ◴[02 Jul 25 15:02 UTC] No.44444612[source]▶
The tl;dr is:

1. Apart from ADHD medications, which are very powerful, most drugs and weird obscure supplements have little effect (there are some intriguing but noisy results about peptides).

2. Exercise— especially weightlifting and HIIT— is also very powerful. There's evidence of a dose-response curve where light exercise is good but intense is better.

Arguably this is pretty unsurprising, from an evolutionary perspective. It would be strange if our brains had "one weird trick" to perform a lot better with no downsides, since if it existed evolution should've found it. But being in good shape confers large benefits.

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1. phoronixrly ◴[02 Jul 25 20:13 UTC] No.44448287[source]▶
You need to add that all of this is self-reported/subjective. I've gone under doctor's supervision through L-Theanine+Caffeine, then Modafinil, and finally Ritalin, and to be brutally honest, while I subjectively feel the best when on Ritalin, I am far from certain I would be able to show it in a blind study with an objective problem-solving task.

Also a blind study with these would be hard, as Modafinil has a noticeable effect on heart rate and blood pressure, and general response to stress (at least in my case), and also causes a distinct chemical smell of one's urine.