LongeCity - Huperzine A; benchmarks

I tried the nootropic bacopa because ashwagandha had worked so well for me. I generalized that there might be something to the Indian ayurvedic tradition. Now I'm trying to make the generalization in a different direction. One of the many possible modes of action of ashwagandha is that it prevents acetylcholinesterase from breaking down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Huperzine A, a synthetic chemical related to a traditional Chinese remedy derived from a kind of moss, is also supposed to do that very effectively. So I'm trying some Huperzine A, based on the thinking that if it does what ashwagandha does it may be good for me.

How do you measure if a nootropic is doing good things for you? Many of the ways of testing intelligence seem superficial to me. I don't want to just increase my score on some test. At 40, I hope my days of taking tests are behind me. I would like to increase the quality of my work and my motivation, although sometimes true creativity doesn't produce quick results. Sometimes the smart and creative person won't have his or her smarts verified quickly because he or she is ahead of the curve. (Being stupid one can learn about pretty quick though!)

But I'm not just looking for accomplishments. Those should flow from what's going on inside one. Often what holds me back is motivation. Clearly the bipolar disorder has held me back, and I'm looking for improvements in mental functioning in the broadest sense, including mood. I think it's revealing that bipolar disorder and depression are considered "affective" disorders, "affect" being primarily the outward display of one's emotions. Of course that's easier to measure! But I think that speaks to some behaviorist influence still in psychiatry. Although American culture promotes the individual, the way we talk about our interior lives is often without nuance. When we speak of personal development, often we just mean being happy, busy, and thin. A country like India, from which arose the ayurvedic tradition that led to the promotion of ashwagandha and bacopa, had a much richer language for exploring mental states. When I think about improving my mental functioning, I think about building a richer interior life, not just being able to recall sequences of numbers with perfect precision, and not just the display of outward "affect". After all, recent work shows that chimpanzees can memorize sequences of numbers better than people!

I hope I win the Immortality Institute blog contest--the $50 would help pay for experimentation with supplements. And then I could research all the other foundations addressing nanotechnology, life extension, and the possible "singularity" in technology for where to donate the other $50.

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