Comment · Thu, October 31, 2013
How and why I take modafinil. A neuroscience grad and trainee doctor's guide.
Original post in this thread
[deleted] · 10 points
The average human sleeps 8 hours a night and lives to around 70 years old – that is 203,840 hours spent asleep! Obviously sleep has many benefits to the self-optimiser such as memory consolidation and learning… But just imagine what you could achieve with just 1-2 hours less a night from your normal routine?
Background:
Modafinil is often described in the literature as a ‘wakefulness-promoting agent’,not as a stimulant (e.g caffeine, amphetamines and Ritalin), this means it shouldn’t produce a high or a buzz like stimulants do. The key difference here is that stimulants typically increase various excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain, such as dopamine, serotonin and glutamate to create the feeling of being wide awake and full of energy. Modafinil on the other hand, although undoubtedly affecting these systems in some way, is more related to turning down the inhibitory pathways, such as GABA transmission. A simple way to think of this is that stimulants are like putting your foot down on the accelerator on a car, whereas modafinil is more like taking the hand-break off that you had forgotten about! It’s for this reason that Mod is prescribed for ‘disorders of consciousness’ su…
What they were answering
[deleted] · 2 points
[deleted]
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
The both bind to the DAT at the same site. How is that like comparing a rock to a planet? Caffeine increases dopamine through an entirely different indirect mechanism.
I get what you are saying. Modafinil is not like traditional stimulants because it is not a sympathomimetic. However, caffeine is. If you were trying to make the distinction between modafinil and traditional dopaminergic stimulants, then its DAT affinities counter that.
And yes, the mechanism in which is affects GABA levels is very much significant, because it is not acting directly on the GABA system. It is an indirect mechanism. Much like caffeine's dopamine increases are an indirect mechanism.
Listen, I just don't think you should be espousing the things you are, while constantly mentioning you are becoming a doctor. People see that and take it for face value. Then they go off and start doing the things you are mentioning without research. Things in your blog like taking beta blockers with caffeine and Ritalin are not smart, and certainly have no place in a nootropics discussion. I think you are advocating the use of stimulants too lightly, and without enough factual evidence to give the readers both sides of the story. That's all.