Mind Performance Hacks

Hack #73. Learn the Facts About Cognitive Enhancers

"Smart drugs" are supposed to make you smart, but it's not always smart to take them. Until smart drugs are safer and more effective, there are some alternative mental-performance enhancers to try that are both interesting and legal.

Mind-altering substances have been used for millennia to alter how we perceive and understand the world. Some of these substances have been taken because they are thought to enhance specific aspects of our thought and behavior to enable us to become more productive—caffeine is a popular example.

More recently, advances in drug testing and development and a better understanding of how the brain works have resulted in drugs that are intended to boost intelligence or cognition in specific ways. Often, these drugs have been developed to help with specific illnesses or conditions, but they are now gaining notoriety, as they are being used illegally by people hoping to improve performance during intense work or study periods. Others are still in development and are currently only in the experimental stages:

Pharmaceutical amphetamines (such as Adderall and Ritalin)

These drugs have been used without a prescription, for their tiredness-reducing and concentration-enhancing effects, by about 5% of students in U.S. colleges, according to a recent study, with some colleges reporting rates as high as 25%.¹

Modafinil

Modafinil is a nonamphetamine stimulant, marketed to help people with narcolepsy stay awake. It has ...