Residual Victory Blog

Narcolepsy and insomnia are as dangerous for health and safety as lack of food and water.  Modafinil, an FDA approved prescription stimulant sold under the name Provigil, can be the guardian angel for those suffering from the inability to sleep or suffer from irregular sleep cycles; including shift workers or emergency workers experiencing shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), patients suffering from sleep apnea, or obstructive sleep apnea with hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), and narcoleptics.  Although only approved by the FDA for narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder and obstructive sleep apnea (with or without hypopnea), Modafinil has also been used to treat depression, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, cocaine addiction, multiple sclerosis and other disorders where fatigue is a common side effect, such as cancer. It is not safe for use in children and adolescents.
 
Sleep is probably the biggest desire next to love and sex and is one of life’s necessities.  Sleep deprivation can lead to injury, a lower immunity system, depression, and even death.  The U.S. National Commission on Sleep Disorders found accidents due to lack of sleep have a yearly cost of over $56 billion and cause over 25,000 deaths and 250,000 disabling injuries.  A 2000 study by a University Hospital in Sweden demonstrated that men who suffer from sleep apnea have a 50% higher chance of being involved in an occupational accident, and for women, the results were discouragingly higher.  Lack of sleep significantly effects cognitive functioning, emotional health and physical health, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, headaches and depression. Modafinil’s ability to balance irregular sleeping cycles are clearly a benefit for life, health, safety and economics.

Unlike other stimulants, Modafinil has the advantage of being void of addictive characteristics and is without the side effects of delusion and euphoria.  With Modafinil, it is actually possible to be alert and coherent, which leads to productivity, a mainstay of our capitalistic society.

What are the side effects?  Trouble sleeping of course.  Side effects also include headaches, nausea, irritability, feeling anxious and anxiety.  Headaches are the most common.  As with any medication, the side effects will vary with the individual, and you must review all medications with your doctor.  Modafinil is not recommended to individuals with a history of heart problems, mental illness or liver problems.  It will reduce the effectiveness of birth control, and according to the FDA, there are currently no adequate and controlled studies relative to use in pregnant women.

Modafinil is manufactured by Cephalon, Inc. and prescribed in tablet form to be taken once or twice a day.  Drug tests will show positive results if you are taking Modafinil.  Unlike energy bars, energy drinks, coffee and ginseng, Modafinil regulates sleep and wake cycles, promoting the balance between sleeping too much or sleeping too little rather than simply stimulating the brain.  Scientists are still discovering how Modafinil works.  Until then, Modafinil is being touted as the Viagra for the brain - stay awake, stay healthy and enjoy life.
 

Nootropics could be the stimulator that drives business success.  Our economy is based on business, and stimulating new business.  Nootropics are in a new class of drugs which carries nicknames such as “brain food,” “smart pills,” “botox for the brain,” or “viagra for the brain.”   Nootropics stimulate cognitive abilities, such as learning, thinking, being mentally alert and concentration abilities by increasing neurotransmitters.  Using your brain is always good for business.

The topic of Nootropics is on the top shelf of ethical debates.  The President’s Council did a comprehensive report in 2003 entitled “Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  This report contains chapters on “Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness,” “Better Children,” “Superior Performance,” and “Ageless Bodies.”  It lists aspiration as the heart of what we do.  Aspiration is at the heart of all business endeavors.

Enhancing the brain has always been a goal of society.  Learning has taken place since the earliest days, and occurs in both animals and humans.  Learning is part of who we are.  Society has millions of media and methods in place for learning.  Typically, these learning methods revolve around providing resources for learning.  Then along came Ritalin.  Ritalin is prescribed in startling amounts to “help” children learn in the classroom, and could be described as the start of the trend of accepting the value that learning-enhancement drugs provide.  However, arguments are ongoing in the most intellectual hemispheres on whether the brain should be left to the body, or to drugs.  

Ironically, humans have been enhancing their bodies for years.  The market is saturated with diet pills, vitamins, age-reducers, skin enhancers, hair enhancers, make-up, jewelry and clothes that are made specifically for body enhancement.  Now the naysayers are claiming what’s good for the body isn’t good for the brain.  Increasing the line of bodily enhancements over the last several thousand years has been largely driven by politics, money and media.  These factors will be the driving force to bring Nootropics to the business world. 

The theory is simple. Capitalism is based on making money.  The sales of Nootropics support the economy.  Making brains smarter make businesses smarter.   More business.  Better economy. Trying to improve oneself by using your brain was never a crime and nor should it ever be.  Our country is based on the freedom to improve who we are and what we do.  Without that freedom, we are not free.

The concentration and clarity that Nootropics provide will make businesses smarter and safer.  This ability to think more clearly has the potential to result in rapid advancements in technology, science and health, and the potential to result in speeding up most ideal goals, such as providing a cure for cancer.  Creative solutions to social problems would evolve into a healthier society.  As long as the aspirations of our heart are good, Nootropics will be a blessing to our brains, our business, and our society.

Nootropics are a relative new class of drugs, often equated with “brain food.”  Just as the diet gurus argue over an increase in calories, so too does the medical community debate an increase in neurotransmitters.  A neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that carries a message through the brain. Nootropics feed the brain neurotransmitters and oxygen to increase cognitive ability, improve concentration, memory, creativity and moods, just as vitamins provide the nutrition needed for an energetic healthy body. Nootropics’ ability to enhance the brain has earned this class of drugs the nicknames “smart drugs” and “smart vitamins.”

There are Nootropic drugs, and there are Nootropic substances.  Nootropic drugs are often available by prescription, and Nootropic substances are available at health food and grocery stores.  Nootropic substances are vitamins and herbs. The term “Nootropics” refers to those drugs and substances that have a reputation to increase mental functions, such as memory and concentration, or those drugs or substances that can prevent damage to brain cells.

So what’s all the fuss about? Good food, good brains, good life - sounds good.  But is everyone good?  Just as not all food is good, neither is all thinking - or all drugs. Welcome bioethics. Brain enhancement can be for good or evil, just as cosmetic surgery can give hope to an accident victim or give a new identity to a serial killer.  Will physicians be the sole determinant of learning potential, or will individuals be left to decide for themselves?  By firing up your neurons, Nootropics might be able to help you decide.

How does Nootropics help with decision making?  Thinking and stress depletes neurotransmitters which reduces mental performance, concentration levels, learning efficiency and recall abilitites.  Nootropics keep the neurotransmitters at optimal levels, thereby increasing the brain’s capabilities for decision making. With the overwhelming choices of Nootropics available on the market, the hardest decision is going to be deciding what type is best for you.

For millions of Alzheimer and Cancer sufferers, Piracetam is available over the counter.  Vincopetine is available for stroke patients. Mayo clinic research showed that certain “smart drugs” slowed brain cancer tumors by as much as one-third.  For those afflicted with depression and other mood disorders, Indian Ginseng, Lemon Balm, Rhodeolia Rosea, St. John’s Wort, and Deprenyl are available. Amnesia might get a little boost from Brahmi, and for someone looking for improvement with memory and recall, simple Rosemary might be the answer, which has a longstanding reputation for improving memory, albeit unverified.  There are many types of Cholinergics, Dopaminergics and Serotonergics available for a variety of conditions, however an oversupply of any of these might have the opposite of the desired effect, a decrease rather than an increase in brain power. Nootropics are on the market for athletes promoting the focus-building properties; but be careful, the unethical get-rich-quick schemers might market a powder form of caffeine claiming it to have “nootropic effects” and charge an unreasonable price. Goodbye physicians, hello lawyers.  Fire up your neurons and do your research.