Comment · Mon, February 2, 2015 · Ceretropic
Discrepancy of study outcomes and anecdotal evidence - how much of nootropic effect is placebo?
Original post in this thread
Aretus · 20 points
This has bugged me for a while. I have experimented with a lot of different substances in my time - mostly recreative drugs, prescription medications and some - few - nootropics.
What I have found out by reading studies is that the actual scientific evidence for a profound impact of nootropics concerning cognitive enhancement. For the effects of many nootropics there is no valid scientific evidence anyway. But even in the cases where there is a good foundation of studies, the amplitude of the effects is extremely minor. In many cases very promising animal studies are followed up by extremely disappointing results in human testing. I'd like to illustrate what I mean using two nootropics with strong scientific evidence backing them up, piracetam and bacopa monnieri.
Piracetam has shown extremely promising results in animal testing using rats. There are some studies suggesting it has a memory-enhancing effect in healthy people, although the better and more intricately designed the studies are, the less pronounced these effects become, up to a point where many studies suggest that piracetam has no memory-enhancing effects in healthy people at all. On the other hand, its neuroprotecti…
What they were answering
Aretus · 1 points
Thanks for the suggestions. I would, however, disagree with your statement that cannabis and xanax have no place in a study regimen. As SurfaceThought has pointed out, they are supposed to provide a "counterweight" to the heavy workload on weekends, and the xanax is - like you suggested - part of a psychological emergency kit. Some of my colleagues will employ a psychiatrist's service, I plan to do without one. My current study plan provides for a goodly amount of recovery on weekends (Saturday, studying stops at 14°°, Sunday is total study-free) and a complete week of non-studying every 3 months. The optimization of my eating and hygiene habits will leave me with (almost) 5 hours of leisure time per day, not counting the studying breaks. The week-long breaks will be used for vacation with my gf in Italy and Spain, the weekends will be dominated by moderate cannabis consumption, video games and sports. After doing a little research I figured that cannabis (and maybe GHB) makes for a better leisure time drug in a study regimen than alcohol, as the negative short-term impact of alcohol on memory is much more pronounced than that of cannabis. Also I am usually unable to drink moderately in a party setting. But alternatives would either be benzodiazepines (not good for memory either), opiates (gf would disapprove) or stimulants like MDMA (useless for leisure as they would add to t…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Then let's just say they would have no place in my study regimen. Marijuana ruins my cognition for days, and makes me moody after use. Xanax is great for every so often use, for panic attacks or long plane rides. However, I get zero recreational effects from it. It's not something I find pleasurable.