The Guardian sings the praises of modafinil (Provigil):
A new review of 24 of the most recent modafinil studies suggests that the drug has many positive effects in healthy people, including enhancing attention, improving learning and memory and increasing something called “fluid intelligence” — essentially our capacity to solve problems and think creatively. One study also showed that modafinil made tasks seem more pleasurable. The longer and more complex the task tested, the more consistently modafinil conferred cognitive benefits, the authors of the review said.
The review points out that negative effects — including one study that showed that people already classed as creative saw a small drop in creativity — were reported in a small number of tasks, but never consistently. It added that the drug exerts minimal effects on mood, and only causes minor side effects such as nausea, headaches and anxiety, although these were also reported by people who took a placebo drug.
Other proposed smart drugs, such as Ritalin, prescribed for ADHD, have many negative side effects, said Anna-Katharine Brem, co-author of the review, published today in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology. “Modafinil seems to be the first ‘smart drug’ that is reasonably safe for healthy people.”
I’m pretty sure caffeine has it beat by a few centuries.
I’m pretty sure you have not tried provigil.
Caffeine merely keeps people awake, even when they should not be. Perhaps good for manual or routine labor. Not as good as tDCS, according to tests.
Provigil has been described as allowing one to concentrate much better.
Big difference, unless you are some sort of sperglord whose attention and focus cannot be improved short of divine blessing.
“I’m pretty sure caffeine has it beat by a few centuries.”
The problem with caffeine is that it tolerates so fast, and is so addictive, that it’s still unclear if you gain any benefits at all after a week or so. The first buzz may be useful, but after that…? Some smart drug.
Modafinil, on the other hand, is stronger and takes a lot longer to lose effectiveness (if it does, which is a longstanding difference between the academic community and the nootropics community).
I was going to demand some of this since I have trouble staying awake when driving the delivery van, but with all these smart drug articles I’m worried the doctor is going to think I’m a hipster.