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modafinil
Posted by
nootrope
,
04 May 2009
·
4,002 views
So I'm trying modafinil, a very popular "nootropic", mentioned left and right in articles (The New Yorker, the Nature article on scientists who use mental performance enhancers). This is a bit of a departure for me and I feel a little strange about it. A friend of mine, who knows I am interested in nootropics, and who is also bipolar, gave me a few pills from her prescription. From what I read, this is standard practice among stressed out college students.
But I'd entered this "hobby" with more of a humanistic and holistic mind-set. My idea was that instead of just trying to get ahead or develop myself in ways to impress people, that I'd pay more attention to the subtle enhancing effects of good diet and exercise, focusing on legal and over the counter supplements that had been developed by trial and error by traditional cultures.
On the other hand, modafinil IS hyped a lot--and as someone who has chosen to review "nootropics" on this forum, for the sake of completeness (and curiosity!) I couldn't pass up the offer. Furthermore, my genetic testing from 23andme.com says that my version of the COMT gene that codes for the breakdown of dopamine means that I am of the class of people most likely to benefit from modafinil (even if by suffering from bipolar disorder there may be some risk of a stimulant sending me into mania.) Link to abstract of research paper.
Well, I don't feel hyped up or manic at all. I think the effect is like being anti-drunk. If you imagine having a couple of drinks, and then somehow undoing that, becoming sober, and then overcompensating and becoming extra sober, that's a little like my subjective impression of modafinil. I have mixed feelings about it, and my observations of my mental state on modafinil are mixed. I actually lost my keys (some nootropic!) and spent 30 minutes cleaning my room, looking for them, when it turned out I'd left them in the laundry room! (D'oh! Homer Simpsonized!) I think I had some creative intelligent abstract ideas, although they had holes in them. My piano playing on modafinil has been par for the course, with perhaps a little extra sharpening of my attention. Surfing the internet on modafinil seems if anything even more addictive, as the effect seems to be to help one continue to pay attention to the same thing for a long time... I think maybe having a modafinil trial over the weekend was a mistake, and I should have tried it during the work week!
In my last entry I was a little too caught up in the hype of personal genomics. So far, taking methylated B12 and folic acid doesn't seem to have had any noticeable effects. Maybe I need to take methylated B6 also? Or TMG? Or maybe this will only have long-term preventative effects that I will never notice.
I've been a little too tired to work out at the gym at my regular schedule. I think a week off was probably what my body needed. I'm squatting 300 pounds now, and have "maxed out" the leg press machine (I press more than 400 pounds for 20 repetitions, although I guess one could use the leg press machine with only one leg at a time?) I may start to focus more on aerobic exercise again though, as all the muscle building (while retaining visceral fat) may just make me look squat myself... At some point the weight-training becomes an end in itself and a hobby instead of a means for overall health and longevity, it seems.
Kurzweil and Grossman have a new book out, on Transcending biology. The first 3 chapters are available for free download on the internet. Some of it seems a good introduction, but the discussion with the fictionalized authors from the future seemed a little cheesy.
But I'd entered this "hobby" with more of a humanistic and holistic mind-set. My idea was that instead of just trying to get ahead or develop myself in ways to impress people, that I'd pay more attention to the subtle enhancing effects of good diet and exercise, focusing on legal and over the counter supplements that had been developed by trial and error by traditional cultures.
On the other hand, modafinil IS hyped a lot--and as someone who has chosen to review "nootropics" on this forum, for the sake of completeness (and curiosity!) I couldn't pass up the offer. Furthermore, my genetic testing from 23andme.com says that my version of the COMT gene that codes for the breakdown of dopamine means that I am of the class of people most likely to benefit from modafinil (even if by suffering from bipolar disorder there may be some risk of a stimulant sending me into mania.) Link to abstract of research paper.
Well, I don't feel hyped up or manic at all. I think the effect is like being anti-drunk. If you imagine having a couple of drinks, and then somehow undoing that, becoming sober, and then overcompensating and becoming extra sober, that's a little like my subjective impression of modafinil. I have mixed feelings about it, and my observations of my mental state on modafinil are mixed. I actually lost my keys (some nootropic!) and spent 30 minutes cleaning my room, looking for them, when it turned out I'd left them in the laundry room! (D'oh! Homer Simpsonized!) I think I had some creative intelligent abstract ideas, although they had holes in them. My piano playing on modafinil has been par for the course, with perhaps a little extra sharpening of my attention. Surfing the internet on modafinil seems if anything even more addictive, as the effect seems to be to help one continue to pay attention to the same thing for a long time... I think maybe having a modafinil trial over the weekend was a mistake, and I should have tried it during the work week!
In my last entry I was a little too caught up in the hype of personal genomics. So far, taking methylated B12 and folic acid doesn't seem to have had any noticeable effects. Maybe I need to take methylated B6 also? Or TMG? Or maybe this will only have long-term preventative effects that I will never notice.
I've been a little too tired to work out at the gym at my regular schedule. I think a week off was probably what my body needed. I'm squatting 300 pounds now, and have "maxed out" the leg press machine (I press more than 400 pounds for 20 repetitions, although I guess one could use the leg press machine with only one leg at a time?) I may start to focus more on aerobic exercise again though, as all the muscle building (while retaining visceral fat) may just make me look squat myself... At some point the weight-training becomes an end in itself and a hobby instead of a means for overall health and longevity, it seems.
Kurzweil and Grossman have a new book out, on Transcending biology. The first 3 chapters are available for free download on the internet. Some of it seems a good introduction, but the discussion with the fictionalized authors from the future seemed a little cheesy.
