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valuable to look at nootropics on a case-by-case basis. Below are just a few of the nootropics I’ve had the most success with over the years.

       RACETAMS

      Perhaps the biggest supporter of the racetam family is Steve Fowkes, a biochemist who wrote and edited a newsletter called Smart Drug News starting in the 1980s. It was his early work that brought nootropics to my attention and inspired me to order that umarked brown package of smart drugs. Imagine my delight when he ended up becoming a guest on Bulletproof Radio twenty years later! Steve explains that the racetam family of pharmaceuticals contains dozens of related compounds, including a few well-known nootropics. The best studied one is piracetam, but the most effective racetam nootropics I’ve found are aniracetam and phenylpiracetam. I like aniracetam more than piracetam because it is fast acting, reduces stress, and increases your ability to get things into and out of your memory. Phenylpiracetam is highly energizing and stimulating, which helps with some tasks but hinders some others. It is also a banned substance in some sports.

      When I take 800 milligrams of aniracetam, I find I speak more fluently and don’t ever grasp for words. This effect is likely due to the fact that the racetam family improves mitochondrial function and sends extra oxygen to the brain. Most of the research has been done on people with neurological problems (with amazing results), but there is plenty of good evidence to support its use in healthy individuals. In studies, 400 milligrams of phenylpiracetam taken daily for a year significantly improved brain function and cognition in people recovering from a stroke;¹² 200 milligrams of phenylpiracetam taken for thirty days improved neurological function by 7 percent in people with brain damage¹³ and by 12 percent in people with epilepsy.¹⁴ In studies on rats, aniracitam improved memory and countered depression.¹⁵ A single small study of piracetam in healthy adults found that after fourteen days it significantly improved verbal learning.¹⁶

      The side effects are minor—mostly racetams can amplify the effects of caffeine or use up a nutrient called choline, which you can easily replenish by eating egg yolks or supplementing with CDP choline or sunflower lecithin. The risk/reward ratio of this family is very good. They’re legal in the United States and widely available online. Do not start with a “stack” of multiple racetams. Try each one separately and note how you feel; the effects of each are highly variable. You’re as likely to get angry, develop a headache, or feel nothing from a stack as you are to get what you’re looking for because of cross reactions.

       MODAFINIL (PROVIGIL)

      Have you ever seen the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper? It’s loosely based on modafinil. This stuff gives you superhuman mental processing powers with few to no downsides. Studies show that in healthy adults, modafinil improves fatigue levels, motivation, reaction time, and vigilance.

      I used modafinil for eight years—it helped me with everything from studying at Wharton to working on a start-up that sold for $600 million. I wouldn’t have an MBA without it. I’ve recommended it to countless friends with great results, and you may have seen me on ABC’s Nightline or CNN talking about using it for executive performance. Nightline sent a crew to my house for two days because I was the only executive they could find who would publicly admit I was using it to get ahead at work and school. I was public about it because I wanted to drive a national conversation about smart drugs and remove the stigma. It worked, and smart drugs are much better known now.

      Modafinil improves memory and mood, reduces impulsive decision making, increases your resistance to fatigue, and even improves your brain function when you are suffering from lack of sleep. A recent peer-reviewed analysis from Oxford and Harvard of twenty-four studies of modafinil since 1990 found the same things I’ve been writing about based on what it did for me: it significantly enhanced attention, executive function, and learning in healthy people who were not deprived of sleep while they were performing complex tasks—with just about zero side effects. The authors concluded that “modafinil may well deserve the title of the first well-validated pharmaceutical nootropic agent.”¹⁷ Bam!

      Unlike many other smart drugs, modafinil is not a stimulant; it is actually a eugeroic—a wakefulness-promoting agent. That means it doesn’t make you speedy or jittery like most classical stimulants do, and it doesn’t cause you to crash or go through withdrawal because it is not addictive.¹⁸ I found that I could actually decrease my dose as my health improved and I needed less of it to function optimally. At this point, it’s been four years since I’ve had a use for it. When I apply all the other hacks, there is no meaningful measurable difference between my brain on modafinil and off it. But I keep it in my travel bag in case I want to pull out all the stops in an emergency. I don’t think I’ll ever need it again because I have built energy reserves beyond my wildest expectations, but I’m glad it’s in my bag of tricks if I ever do.

      Actually, screw that. After rereading all the research that went into writing this section, I just decided to take 50 milligrams in case it makes the rest of the book better. I’m kind of excited to see what happens.

      If you deal with jet lag or intense fatigue or occasionally really want to get something done, this can be a powerful nootropic and a life changer. It’s not risk free—some people develop headaches when using it, and about five in 1 million people can develop a life-threatening autoimmune condition—a risk similar to that of taking ibuprofen. If you know your genetic sequence (from 23andMe or a similar service), you can check to see if you have the genes that put you at risk. They are listed on the Bulletproof blog. Modafinil does not mix well with alcohol.

      You can buy modafinil online from India without a prescription from a US doctor, and most of it is real. However, to get a prescription in the United States, it really helps if you can claim to have symptoms of shift worker sleep disorder, which most insurance companies will reimburse. Since this is a medical drug, it’s best to get a prescription. Your doctor may recommend a more expensive, sometimes more potent, form, called Nuvigil.

      Holy crap, the modafinil from two paragraphs ago just kicked in. Why have I been writing this book without it?

       NICOTINE

      I have never been a smoker, and smoking is gross and bad for you. But nicotine, separately from tobacco, is just one of the thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke. And when you use it orally at low doses in its pure form—without toxins and carcinogens wrapped around it and rolled into a cigarette—nicotine can be a formidable nootropic. It’s reportedly the most widely studied cognition-enhancing substance on Earth, even more than coffee.

      When you take the right amount, nicotine can do a lot for your performance. For starters, it gives you faster, more precise motor function. People show more controlled and fluent handwriting after taking nicotine, and they’re also able to tap their fingers faster without sacrificing accuracy.¹⁹ Nicotine makes you more vigilant and sharpens your short-term memory. In a study, people who were given nicotine via patches and gum better recalled a list of words they’d just read and also repeated a story word for word making fewer mistakes than people who took a placebo.²⁰ You can even speed up your reaction time with nicotine. Both smokers and nonsmokers reacted more quickly to visual cues after a nicotine injection,²¹ although I’ll save my injections for vitamins, thanks.

      Of course, there are some real downsides to nicotine, the most infamous of which is its addictive potential. Nicotine activates your mesolimbic dopamine system, which scientists have aptly nicknamed the brain’s “pleasure pathway.” The pleasure pathway is a double-edged sword. Food, sex, love, and rewarding drugs all cause this part of your brain to light up, sending a euphoric rush of dopamine

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