The Ultimate Resource for Nootropics

Nootropics, also known as “smart drugs” are compounds that provide a performance enhancing impact on our minds, including focus, attention span, memory, and creativity. 

We live in a world where you can find a medication to cure pretty much anything you classify as a bodily or mental malfunction. Too hyper? Too sleepy? Not thin enough? Too thick? There’s a pill for that, and it’s probably synthetic.

We’ve become so accustomed to these prescribed treatments that natural remedies seem far from viable and cannot be trusted. This is primarily because research into natural remedies is not supported monetarily by most pharmaceutical companies looking to make dime.

Fortunately, Cornelius Giurgea changed everything in the 1960s with a new term still unfamiliar to most: Nootropics.

Though it may be hard to pronounce, nootropics are the answer to most people’s inability to stay focused and in control of their mental and physical capabilities.

Sure, medications like Adderall assist those who have severe attention disorders, but what about those of us who just need a little push to get the job done?

We’ve created an ultimate resource for all of your nootropics questions and concerns. If you’ve found an interest in reaching optimal performance in every aspect of your life, look no further.

Here is an overview of everything included in your nootropics guide.

Start here and work your way through the endless possibilities of how your performance can improve immensely.

You’ll discover topics like benefits, current research, legal status, history, and many more.

How It All Began: A Nootropics History Lesson

Dr. Giurgea began the thought process of natural mind enhancers when he discovered Piracetam, a synthetic drug to combat medical disabilities like dementia and schizophrenia.

How can one thing conquer both a decaying and overactive mind at once?

Think of it as a stabilizer.

If your mind is underperforming, you want to take something to bring it to it’s full potential. Apply the same situation to an overactive, uncontrollable state.

Nootropics bring full focus to and control over memory, attention and cognitive potential. Even creativity is optimized when nootropics are taken in the correct dose.

Nootropics have come a long way from being studied on animals as a possible pharmaceutical cure, to a natural, optimizing drug that common people willingly use to enhance their cognitive performance without fear of intense and long lasting side effects.

What are Nootropics?

Nootropics is a blanket term for many different different types of natural enhancers that create different effects on our abilities.

For example, studies found L-theanine in combination with caffeine improves both speed and accuracy of performance when switching between tasks and reduced susceptibility to distractions during a memory task.

In a nutshell, multi-tasking becomes a breeze and performance is always at optimal levels.

As natural supplements, nootropics improve memory, creativity, motivation, learning ability, increased attention span, and overall cognitive potential (to say the least).

Seen as holistic as opposed to a pharmaceutical cure, nootropics strive to create stronger bonds between neurons in the brain that allow you to reach a higher level of understanding and effectiveness in any situation.

The Benefits of Nootropics

At this point you’re probably thinking, what can nootropics do for me?

Here’s a short list of the most impactful effects nootropics can have on you and your daily performance needs.

Activate Natural Energy

One of the most well-known ways to keep up a natural energy throughout the day is to spend at least an hour working out. Those of us who work 8-12 hours per day wonder how anyone has the time to get out and be active after spending our whole lives sitting in front of a computer. Nootropics naturally enhance your energy flow no matter what your daily routine may be.

Optimize Focus

Taking cognitive enhancers allows an elongated and increased ability to focus on the task at hand without the side effects of most prescription drugs. No sweaty palms or inability to eat and sleep, just a way to optimize your able mind to its capacity.

Increase Motivation

With an increase in motivation, nootropics can further enhance your focus and help you reach new levels of strength and endurance unimaginable before. And the best part? Nootropics strengthen connections between neurotransmitters to ingrain a new height of mental and physical ability.

Long-term memory

When a nootropic stimulates the brain, it allows multiple neurotransmitters to set off at once causing them to work in tandem. This is how long-term potentiation is maximized. In plain terms, there is a better chance of long-term memories forming because your brain is enhanced to gather more data than otherwise.

Short-term memory

Nootropic stacks contain multiple vitamins and amino acids to trigger your body to work at an optimal level. Some amino acids used to stimulate the brain to increase energy and motivation also increase chemicals that activate short-term memory gain and retention. When your brain is enhanced to reach new levels of optimization, all areas are affected.

Creative Thinking

Nootropics function as an enhancement to all brain power, including creativity. When your brain is working at a higher power, it increases your ability to think deeper into new possibilities. Innovation is a key factor in everyone’s lifestyle, and keeping a fresh perspective of everything is necessary for success.

Brain Fog

Do you ever find yourself staring at the computer screen and realize you haven’t accomplished anything? After a long day of work or at the gym, it’s hard to keep your mind focused on the task at hand. Nootropics reduce brain fog so you can push through that midday mental break.

Natural Nootropics vs Synthetic Nootropics

When talking about nootropics, the topic of natural vs. synthetic is consistently questioned. Considering immediate functionality, synthetic and natural nootropics give the same effect.

The difference is in the way your body processes and reacts to the two different types.

A common misconception is that natural nootropics are not as strong as synthetic forms of cognitive enhancers, which is not the case. People looking to consistently increase brain flow through nootropics are usually instructed to take consistent doses over time to increase neurotransmitters and connections.

The long term effects of natural nootropics are heightened when taken with other, complementary supplements - called stacking. The purpose of natural nootropics goes beyond immediate gratification to provide optimal performance over time.

On the contrary, synthetic nootropics are usually used for an immediate effect needed in the moment. Unfortunately, the long-term effects of synthetics are quite the opposite of natural nootropics.

Using synthetic versions consistently for long periods of time, can be linked to a number of critical health issues.

One major drawback most synthetic users allude to is the “crash” that comes when they are leaving your body. Irregular heartbeats, headaches, nausea and insomnia are also paired with the use of synthetic over natural nootropics.

Natural nootropics should be thought of just as it is: natural.

They infuse with what is already available and bring cognitive function to a higher level by activating otherwise stagnant chemicals that are already stored.

If you’re looking for that unnatural, shaky, irritable feeling that keeps you awake for hours and leaves you with no social abilities - check out synthetics.

Natural nootropics are a solution for people who are looking for long-term results to enhance cognitive function and truly reach new levels of achievement.

Caffeine: A Nootropic?

How many cups of coffee does it take to make it through the day?

About 60% of Americans drink at least one cup of coffee, if not more, every single day. That means most of us are probably reaching for seconds and thirds as the day drags.

If you're reaching for a third or fourth, chances are the caffeine intake from coffee is not properly energizing your body and mind, leaving you wanting more with no actual results.

The need for a more effective form of caffeine intake makes caffeine one of the most popular and desirable nootropics on the market.

Believe it or not, there is a way to optimize levels of caffeine through nootropics that will ACTUALLY raise alertness, focus and overall energy levels all day. 

Natural Nootropics

CILTEP

CILTEP is an all natural cognitive enhancer built to increase motivation, focus, memory and overall wellness. Using artichoke extract and forskolin, long term potentiation is maximized to reach higher levels of concentration. CILTEP is used to combat the urge to walk away from a long term project or workout. Going that extra mile to get the job completed can seem impossible, but CILTEP gives you the extra boost you need to finish on top.

Dopamine

If you’ve ever taken a psychology or biology class, you’re probably aware of the term “dopamine” as a neurotransmitter essential to the central nervous system. It controls the brain’s reward and pleasure centers which directly correlates to your motivation, or lack thereof. Dopamine Brain Food controls your dopamine levels to have the most consistent moods, which motivates you to work at your optimal performance levels.

Serotonin

Serotonin is they key to “finding your happy place.” Like Dopamine Brain Food, Serotonin Brain Food maintains optimal levels of the serotonin neurotransmitters in your brain. Serotonin is present to improve mood which in turn relieves stress and anxiety. Having elevated moods increases your ability to reach new levels of success without inhibitions. On a physical level, serotonin directly impacts your digestive system, helping to regulate your appetite.

Magnesium

The presence of magnesium assists protein synthesis, controls glucose in the bloodstream, transports potassium and calcium to muscles, strengthens bones, regulates nerve impulses and heart rhythm, and even helps with energy production. Some nootropic stacks combine different forms of magnesium like L-Threonate, Taurate and Glycinate to increase stamina, improve sleep quality, and elongate your youthful presence.

Krill Oil

Krill Oil comes from krill, a crustacean found in cold waters similar to shrimp. It is suggested to improve inflammation and decrease joint pain. Although it is similar to fish oil, krill oil has much higher absorbency rates and significantly improves the cardiovascular system by moderating heart rate and cholesterol.

Vitamin D3

As the most bioavailable form of Vitamin D, Vitamin D3 is known to regulate the immune systems and support the formation of new cells. Much like the more common form of Vitamin D, sunlight, D3 has been shown to boost your mood which can also allow for better sleep patterns and an overall increase in stability.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant used to improve overall health. From stimulating tissue growth and repair to neutralizing free radicals, Vitamin C is a neuroprotective compound that ensures that your body is able to protect itself from age related health problems.

These are a few of the most popular natural nootropics available. There are several more high functioning nootropics that enhance cognitive function without the unfortunate side effects of synthetic drug use.

Synthetic Nootropics

Listed below are a few synthetic nootropics that are well-known and can be damaging to the body and our long-term cognitive abilities.

If faced with the option to take these or other synthetic nootropics, remember the possible side effects and that there is a healthy alternative to boosting cognitive function without causing injury to your brain.

Modafinil

Prescribed by doctors for sleeping disorders, modafinil is used to increase energy levels and focus in those suffering from narcolepsy and feelings of excessive sleepiness. As an alternative to supplements like caffeine, this synthetic drug keeps you awake, but is also known to cause feelings of nausea, anxiety and high blood pressure. There are no solid studies to prove that Modafinil works to keep your body functioning properly.

Adderall

As one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in modern America, Adderall is used to combat attention disorders like ADD and ADHD. As a combination of amphetamines and dextroamphetamines, Adderall directly affects the central nervous system to directly impact the chemicals related to hyperactivity. The most common side effects include loss of appetite, inability to function in social events, and intense ability to focus for long periods of time.

Racetams

Known as the “original nootropic” founded in the 1960s, racetams are thought to enhance cognitive function by improving ability to sleep and relieving anxiety driven stress. Potential benefits of racetams are increased memory and focus in order to complete tasks. Piracetam is part of the racetam family and is the original nootropic discovered by Dr. Giurgea (as previously mentioned). Initially used to help induce sleep, piracetam still is used in many people’s daily routine despite the synthetic side effects.

NZT-48: The Drug That Got Everyone Asking About Nootropics

As made popular by the movie Limitless, NZT is a fictional drug used to enhance cognitive function in unimaginable ways. The main character develops unnatural abilities to learn whatever he wants whenever, with 100% retention. Unfortunately, his downfall is the crash, like most synthetic nootropics. Although the idea to boost your memory and abilities to an incredibly high level is tempting, there are more natural, healthy ways to increase your health.

Nootropics are a new tool, in man’s age-old quest to finding a deeper level of mental and physical motivation in order to achieve greater results in any aspect of your life.

Just like drinking your morning coffee gives you just the right buzz to get out of a sleepy Monday morning haze, nootropics have the ability to kickstart your mind and body towards a greater goal.

If nootropics spark your interest, Natural Stacks is waiting for you to dive into a new lifestyle. We want to help you reach your highest potential and have just the right natural supplement to rewrite your definition of your greatest self.

Contact us to find out what supplement your body craves to be the best version of itself.