They’re called nootropics and they’re all the rage in productivity circles.
Nootropics, also called “smart drugs” and “cognitive enhancers” are supplements or drugs that have a positive effect on cognitive ability. And listen y’all, anything that I can find that will help me slay my days I will try.
Now, there are a number of different kinds of nootropics. I’m not recommending that you call your buddy with ADHD and ask for him to hook you up with the goods. There are a number of over-the-counter nootropics that can be used by people without a diagnosed illness, but who might have a mind like mine that operates like a pinball machine.
So, do nootropics work? Well, we don’t really know. But if you’re susceptible to the placebo effect, who the heck cares, right? Incidentally, if you want to read more about my experiment in self-healing via the placebo effect, click here to go to the article on Medium.
Scientists aren’t convinced that nootropics are the way to go if you want to sharpen your focus, but in my book, anything is worth a try. Doctor Barry Gordon who is the director of the cognitive neurology/neuropsychology division at Johns Hopkins Medicine says, “‘The circuits that are involved in human cognition are very complicated and not fully understood. You can't just 'turn up the dial' that easily.”
Gordon believes that nootropics work because of the placebo effect (you think it works, so you will it to work). But, placebo or not, these supplements are flying from the shelves like the partnership offers on Kanye West’s docket.
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