Brain Boost for Academics
Your brain is a big deal for your Academics Activities. As it’s the control center of your body and in charge of keeping your heart beating and lungs breathing and allowing you to move, feel, and think.
That’s why it’s a good idea to keep your brain in peak working condition. And for the better performance of your mind, Smart Drug could be very helpful.
When the time comes to cope with exam stress or meet that looming a bit deadline, the prospect of a “smart drug” that could help you to more focus, learn and think faster is a very seductive manner. At least, this is what current trends on university campuses suggest to most of their Students.
Just as you might drink a coffee cup to help yourself stay alert, an increasing number of students and academics are turning to the prescription of drugs to boost their academic performance.
So “smart drugs” are being used off-label for their apparent cognitive enhancing effects. Cognition is what it is how we acquire, process and store information, so drugs promise better memorization and attention in ordinary, healthy people.
Do Smart Drugs make smarter?
Some studies have suggested that it could provide other cognitive benefits, but the results were uneven. To clear the confusion, researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed 24 studies published between 1990 and 2014 that specifically looked at how Smart Drugs affect cognition.
Their review, which was published in 2015 in European Neuropsychopharmacology, found that the methods used to evaluate Smart Drugs strongly affected the outcomes. Research that looked at the drug’s effects on the performance of complex tasks.
Yet studies that asked participants to do complex and difficult tasks after taking Smart Drugs found that those who took the drug were more accurate, suggesting that it may affect “higher cognitive functions.
Mainly executive functions and attention and learning,” explains study co-author Ruairidh Battleday, now a medical doctor and PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley.
Which are the best Smart Drugs for Brain Boost?
Popular smart drugs are methylphenidate (commonly known as Ritalin) and amphetamine (Adderall). It is usually used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.
But In recent years, other drugs called “Modafinil” and “Armodafinil” have emerged as the new favourite amongst college students. These are Primarily used to treat excessive sleepiness associated with the sleep disorder and narcolepsy. Modafinil and armodafinil increase alertness and energy.
What is Modafinil?
Modafinil is not considered a classical psychostimulant but is classified as a eugeroic (awareness-promoting drug) and is primarily used to treat excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea and also used to treat sleeplessness.
For obstructive sleep apnea, it is recommended that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) be used appropriately before considering starting Modafinil to help with daytime sleepiness.
Modafinil is contraindicated in people with a known hypersensitivity to Modafinil or Armodafinil. Modafinil is not approved for use in children for any medical condition at high risk of rare but dermatological severe toxicity.
Available forms of Modafinil:-
Modafinil is available in 100 and 200mg oral tablets under the brand name Modalert and Modvigil.
Side- Effects of Modafinil:-
The incidence of adverse effects reported in less than 10% of users is:
- Headache,
- Nausea,
- Decreased appetite,
And 5% to 10% of users may be affected by this
- Worry,
- Insomnia,
- Dizzy,
- Diarrhoea, and
- Rhinitis,
Psychotic reactions associated with Modafinil have occurred in people with or without a psychiatric history.
No clinically significant changes in body weight have been observed with Modafinil in clinical trials. However, appetite and weight loss have been reported in children and adolescents, probably based on body weight. In individuals, due to very high Modafinil exposure.
Note: The United States FDA classifies Modafinil as a Schedule IV controlled substance, a drug category with legitimate medical uses and low addiction potential.
The International Narcotics Control Board does not consider Modafinil a narcotic or a psychotropic substance.
Indeed, Modafinil may increase abstinence rates in a subgroup of cocaine addicts, whereas modafinil-related discontinuation adverse effects are no different from placebo.
What is Armodafinil?
Armodafinil is used for narcolepsy (a condition that causes excessive daytime sleepiness) or shift work sleep disorder (sleep during scheduled waking hours and scheduled sleep hours in people who work or move during the night), or to treat excessive sleepiness due to difficulty staying (shift).
Armodafinil is also used with breathing devices or other treatments to prevent excessive sleepiness caused by obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS; a sleep disorder). The patient breathes several times during sleep.
It Stops fast breathing or helps to take shallow breaths and therefore does not get enough sleep.
Armodafinil is in a class of medications called wakefulness-promoting agents. It works by changing the amount of certain natural substances in the brain area that controls sleep and wakefulness.
How should this medicine be used?
Armodafinil comes as a tablet, Which is taken by mouth. It is usually taken once a day. If you take armodafinil to treat narcolepsy or OSAHS, you will probably take it in the morning. Armodafinil is available in the market by the brand name Artvigil and Waklert.
If you take armodafinil to treat shift work sleep disorder, you may take it 1 hour before your shift starts. Take armodafinil at around the exact times every day. Do not change the time of day that you take armodafinil without talking to your doctor.
Talk to your doctor if your work shift doesn’t start at the same time every day. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask our doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Take armodafinil precisely as directed by your doctor.
Is Armodafinil habit forming?
Armodafinil can be habit forming for you. That’s why, Do not take a higher dose of it, Don’t take it more often or for the longer than prescribed by your doctor.
Armodafinil may decrease your sleep, but it will not cure your sleep disorder. Continue to take armodafinil even if you feel comfortable. Do not stop taking armodafinil without talking to your doctor.
Armodafinil should not be used in place of getting enough sleep. Follow your doctor’s advice about good sleep habits. Continue to use any breathing devices or other treatments that your doctor has prescribed to treat your condition, especially if you have OSAHS.
