Nootropics.pdf

A Publication of thebestnootropicsguide.com
increase
Your cognitive performance
A GUIDE TO improving your brain

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) Introduction
2) Step 1: Sleep
3) Step 2: Nutrition
4) Step 3: Exercise
5) Step 4: Brain Training
6) Step 5: Nootropics
7) Conclusion

Introduction
Brain power
Simply put, you can improve your brain – and your life.
Have you ever wondered how certain people are able to seemingly
access 100% of their brain?
Deductive powers, clarity and motivation that exceeds your wildest
dreams.
In scientific terminology its called Cognition. For the purpose of this
guide we’ll call it Cognitive Performance.
In 2005 my situation was bleak. I was in my first semester of university
and really struggling with my first essay - ready to drop out. At the
time, I had a friend who was already completing his second degree. He
seemed to be getting great results without too much work or stress. I
asked if he could read a draft essay that took all my willpower to
complete. His face told the story. “Maybe a pass?” I asked
optimistically.
Increasing your cognitive performance

Introduction
Thankfully I ended up passing – and eventually graduating. You see,
awesome cognitive performance isn’t something you have to be born
with. Neuroscientists agree that cognitive and neuropsychological
functioning (like memory and focus) is not static and in fact can be
improved.
Throughout history we’ve consistently gotten smarter. Over the last 80
years, IQ has risen three points per decade – this is known as “The
Flynn effect.”
I’ve studied cognitive performance for years. It can be analyzed within
many different contexts, including psychology, neurology and
philosophy. These fields are no doubt essential for informing my
research. However, my focus is how I can hack the processes and
functions to achieve maximum output from my brain.
Over the course of my degree I spent more time studying the best
ways increase cognitive performance than I did studying for my exams.
So, what’s the secret?
I aim to keep this guide as short and concise as possible.
1.Sleep
2.Nutrition
3.Physical Activity
4.Brain training – languages, lumosity, crosswords, reading
5.Nootropics
There are numerous and varied ‘solutions’ available to help improve
intelligence. Several studies have shown that these activities are
related to positive outcomes in socio-economic status, morbidity and
mortality.

Step One: Sleep
Sleep has traditionally come to play a significant role in the recovery of
patients who have suffered brain injuries, such as strokes. Studies have
found that sleep improves memory, which somewhat explains why
sleep is so important in the rehabilitation of brain trauma patients. If
sleep can repair a temporarily disjointed memory, think what benefits it
can reap to a healthy, still developing one.
Some people might seem more gifted at remembering things than
others; for example, some may be untroubled by having to learn a piece
of music, whilst other’s find it difficult. There can be a trick to this, and
the trick could be more sleep. As memories are weak and likely to be
lost completely when they’re formed, getting them to immediately stick
may not be easy.
Memory consolidation can be stronger during time spent asleep than
during a passage of time spent awake. For a memory to be
consolidated, there has to be connections between brain cells - and this
happens during sleep. So if you want to memorize a piece of music, I
suggest taking a good rest after a session.
Sleep
How sleep can improve your memory

INSERT IMAGES
Photo by: Eternalta
“
“It is a common experience that a problem
difficult at night is resolved in the morning after
the committee of sleep has worked on it. ”
-John Steinbeck

Step One: Sleep
There are two types of memory; declarative memory, which is the
memory for facts and information, and procedural memory, which is
the memory for skills.
Sleep can aid both types of memory. Being constantly awake for the
few hours after you have learned a new skill, and engaging in different
activities as the day goes along, can actually damage your chances or
preserving the memories of the skill; it may become lost amid the
exhaustion and mental exertion of the days activities.
Sleep enhances the ability to remember the skill, turning it into a
habit. If you learn a new skill in the evening, and sleep almost
immediately afterwards, your memory of it will be retained in the
morning, strong and alive.
In our contemporary society, as busy and hectic as it is, a lot of
people, particularly, professional’s, do not put as much onus on sleep
as they used to. People will catch a few hours here and there, severely
reducing the amount of sleep they get a week. The traditional ‘eight
hour sleep’ rule has become redundant and irrelevant.
People who nap often may be called lazy, but sleep improves learning
and memory, therefore making it an important aspect of our lives. The
role sleep plays in our contemporary society should be growing in
importance simply because of how busy and hectic it is.

Step One: Sleep
As you sleep, your brain remains active - it continues to work, binding
cells together, strengthening different brain regions. In short, it is
working to preserve and consolidate your memory
Sleep can reactivate memories you have recently learned –
for example, a mathematical proposition, or a guitar scale. For a lot of
people, getting eight hours or more sleep each night may be difficult,
but that is not to say that catching a nap a few times a week should be
impossible. Naps can be as short as six minutes, or they can stretch out
for up to two hours. Most people may find it difficult to make time in
their daily schedules for a two-hour nap, but studies have shown that
six minute naps can aid, and boost memories.
Longer naps would allow a person to enter a deep sleep (REM), which
would give the brain even more time to work on preserving memories.
Moreover, the most vital memory-consolidation activity occurs during
REM.
The amount of sleep a person gets in a week is typically dependent on
their lifestyle. We all need our memory to be sharp, strong and
functioning, but some may require stronger ones than others. There is
no easier solution than to sleep more.

Step Two: Nutrition
The human brain eats up 20 percent of your daily calories. If you subsist
on a wretched diet of junk food, it means your brain is absorbing 20
percent of it each day. 20 percent of a hot dog, 20 percent of a greasy
burger - and so on. If, however, you have a healthy diet, your brain is
reaping 20 percent of the rewards, which can only be a good thing.
But it gets better. The right kind of food can aid and boost your
memory. Our memories rely on our brain cells; the more brain cells we
have, the better our memory is.
Because our memory is found in our brain, it is important to keep a
good supply of oxygen running to it. Oxygen and nutrients channel
through our bloodstream, which means that too much fat and
cholesterol in our blood can only hamper the oxygen and nutrients
getting to our brain - and our memory. I suggest cutting down on fatty
foods that contain a lot of cholesterol as they will continue to have a
negative effect on your memory.
Nutrition
How nutrition can help memory

INSERT IMAGES
Photo by: Academia Humanas Oficial
“
“A strong body makes the mind strong”
- Thomas jefferson

Step Two: Nutrition
A healthy diet bodes well for our entire body, but a significant amount
of people are probably unaware of the long-term, and short-term effect
it has on our memories. As well as improving our physique, a healthy
diet can preserve our ability to learn and remember.
Think of it like this - your memory will reflect your physique. If you’re
overweight and out of shape, your memory, too, will be out of shape. If
you live on a diet of fatty foods that are drenched in cholesterol, your
memory will live on a diet shaped by cholesterol. Naturally, that will not
be a good thing.
It has been found that antioxidants can significantly preserve and
strengthen our brain cells, and I know that antioxidants are found in
tasty fruit and vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, and
oranges. There are many others too; berries are well-known to contain
some of the highest amounts of antioxidants, as well as flavonols and
anthocynanins.
Black soybeans contain the most amount of anthocynanins, which are
speculated to contain neuroprotective properties, which preserve our
neuronal structure, thereby preserving and consolidating our memory.
Sea food is full of fatty acids (omega-3’s), and studies have shown they
are good for memory preservation.

Step two: Nutrition
Research has demonstrated that people with high levels of omega-3’s
are much less likely to develop dementia than people with low levels.
Studies on the effects of omega-3’s on the brain are fairly recent, but
they hold that a fatty acid called Docosahexaenoic produces the
membrane that causes the elasticity of ion channels in our brain cell
membranes. These ion channels change shape so as to increase, or
decrease the flow of electric signals into the cell.
You can eat food such as tuna, salmon, and mackerel and be sure that
you’re giving your memory a boost.
Nutritionists often say that we should eat breakfast like a king, and
lunch like a pauper.
I feel that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and one
high in protein and high-fiber can boost and improve memory, as well
as increasing alertness. It is, of course, important to be attentive and
alert before work, and so by keeping up a diet that helps you start the
day in a positive mood, you’re enhancing your mental functions. Eggs,
rich in protein, also include choline, which has been found to aid the
production of acetylcholine. People with low levels of acetylcholine
were more susceptible to dementia than those with high levels. A
good diet means a good memory.

Step Three: Exercise
Physical exercise, as well as benefiting us physically, can also enhance
our memories, which means that it is useful for the development of
children; students who are in academia; older people who require
extra help in preserving the sharpness of their memories; and anyone
who may be susceptible to dementia.
Physical exercise can be strenuous - but it doesn’t have to be. In fact,
research shows that moderate physical exercise, such as walking, is
more beneficial to the improvement and consolidation of our
memory than extreme physical exercise.
Oxygen needs to get to our brain, where our memory is located.
Physical exercise, such as jogging, increases the flow of oxygen that
channels through our bloodstream to the brain.
The oxygen finds its way to the parts of the brain that preserve our
cognitive functioning. Part of the problem with extreme physical
exercise, such as boxing, is that our muscles will take up a lot of the
oxygen we are using, which therefore means the brain will only be
picking up the scraps. For this reason, I’ve always found it more
useful to indulge in moderate physical exercises and activities, such
as sprinting and walking.
Exercise
Exercise can help memory

INSERT IMAGES
Photo by: Elvert Barnes
“
“All truly great thoughts are conceived while
walking.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

If physical exercise is to preserve, improve, and consolidate our memories,
it is therefore much more useful if we are in a position to use our cognitive
functions immediately after exercise.
I find it is possible to focus and concentrate after a good walk, but
tiredness can creep in after too much physical exercise, such as aerobics or
weight training. Your legs may ache, and your muscles may burn, which
means you may need to rest for a while afterwards. Physical exercise can
improve our memories and learning, but it is practical to find the right kind
of exercise that is conducive to our own physical strengths.
When we engage in physical exercise, endorphins are released to the brain.
Endorphins contain thirty amino acids units, which are known to act as
natural nootropics.
Studies have shown that those of us with high levels of endorphins are
capable of retaining more memories than those with low levels. Those with
higher levels are also able to retain the memories for long periods of time.
Research into the relationship between endorphins and memory are at a
relatively early stage, but there is enough to determine the power they
have on our memory.


Neurons are important assets of our brain. Without them, brain
plasticity would falter, and their survival and renewal is vital for the
consolidation of our memories. Exercise is known to aid production of
neurotrophic factors, which are essential for the preservation of
neurons. Exercise can also contribute to the birth and development of
new neurons, with the collective growth known to correlate with
exercise.

Exercise is also known to increase the levels of dopamine in our brain.
Often related to pleasure and pleasurable activities, dopamine release
agents such as amphetamine, which can help people focus and regain
concentration. Dementia is associated with people who have low-levels
of dopamine, which therefore makes exercise a possible antagonist of
such an incurable mental disease.

Overall, the more you exercise, the better your memory will be. But
always remember to not overdo it - there is only so much oxygen, and
you don’t want your muscles to gobble it all up.

Step Four: Brain Training
The purpose of brain training exercises is to improve the cognitive
behavior of our brain, and to preserve and consolidate our memory.
Rigorous brain exercises are found to stave off the effects of dementia, or
at least keep them at bay for those already suffering from the mental
disease.

Brain training enhances the following:
attention
flexibility
alertness
speed
memory
problem solving facets of your brain through the memorizing
and problem-solving processes that are involved, particularly with
puzzles.
A jigsaw puzzle, for example, requires you to memorize the pieces you are
looking for, their images, as well as the shape you need. The kind of
constant repetition required in playing a jigsaw puzzle aids short-term
memory, and encourages as well as requires strict discipline, focus and
concentration.

Brain training
languages, crosswords and reading

INSERT IMAGES
Photo by: educarjeanpiaget
“
“The mind is everything. What you think you
become.”
- Buddha

The human brain isn’t an organ that has to stay still until it begins to fade
and die in old age.
This should not be its destiny. It isn’t an organ that is immutable - with the
right means and the correct harnessing, it can change, adapt and
regenerate; in short, it can evolve. This is known as brain plasticity, or
neuroplasticity.
In short, this means that, with the right kind of care, exercise and
stimulation, neurons are regenerated, with old ones surviving the test of
time. This regrowth is important for your brains long-term health; it
prolongs the lifespan and ability of our memory.
As your brain grows, it develops the ability to process information rapidly,
solve problems, and carry out tasks. But the problem for the brain is it will
eventually become reliant on familiarity if it isn’t given new stimulation
and encouragement to keep growing and improving. If you’re content and
comfortable with what you have in life, from your job to the knowledge
you possess, your brain will mimic you. If you aren’t prepared to enlarge
your life, excel yourself, and try new things, neither will your brain.
By the time you reach middle-age, you may find yourself living out the
lazy lifestyle of a couch potato - and your brain will do the same. It will
become old before its time, under-used - and ready to give up.
There is no better way to defamiliarize your brain, surprise it, and
encourage it to keep developing than to carry out brain training exercises -
such as puzzles.

Sudoku is a challenging puzzle that will stimulate your brain, and enhance
your memory. I find crosswords can work for this too, but only difficult
crosswords.
Simple crosswords will have little to no effect on your memory, because
they will demand practically nothing from your mental efforts. Difficult
word searches can be good for detecting and memorizing word patterns, as
well as unscrambling letters, all of which will help the cognitive behavior of
your brain.
Learning a new language is good for your brain and memory. Research has
also concluded that there is a link between speaking more than one
language and the forestalling, or complete prevention of dementia.
Bilinguals have been found to have a better ability for switching attention,
a talent that decreases with age, whilst other studies have shown that the
quicker a person learns a new language, the more other parts of the brain
are able to grow.

It may sound obvious to mention, but bilinguals are also able to focus
better on two tasks being carried out at the same time than monolinguals.
Of course, I understand that learning a new language can be challenging -
but that is exactly the point. It gives your brain a workout, and naturally
gives more attention to your memory. It enhances creativity and
awareness. Language triggers reactions from the four regions of the brain
which are assigned to language comprehension

- for bilinguals, the reactions are twofold, threefold - or possibly a lot
more. Think of the positive effects this kind of thing will have on the
health and preservation of your brain and memory.
A lot of people may be put off by learning a new language, insisting that
their memory is not as great as others who know up to five or six
languages; but it is the learning method that helps to improve our
memories.
A tired, lazy attitude to learning a new language will be mimicked by
your memory; it will become tired, lazy, and possibly redundant. If you
don’t put the effort in, you can be sure that your memory won’t.

In our modern world of television, film adaptations and audio books,
reading has become an almost fossilized ideal for many.
Why should we read when we can watch a cinematic adaptation of a
novel?
The answer is that reading, besides deluging you with new knowledge,
can also improve your memory. Reading demands more of your brain
than watching television, and therefore acts as a good mental workout.
You may be reading about the economy, and believe that all that is
happening is that you are learning what effect capitalism is having on us
all; but the reality, on a neurobiological level, is that functions in your
brain are hard at work, such as language production, associative learning
- and they are contributing to the growth, consolidation and overall
improved health of your brain and memory.

INSERT IMAGES
Photo by: Ozyman
“
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the
body.”
- Joseph Addison

Step Five: Nootropics
Nootropics
How nootropics can enhance your
memory
Studies have shown that nootropics act as cognitive enhancers; they
sharpen our mental abilities, particularly our concentration and focus - and
they also improve and aid our memories. In some cases, such as Noopept,
they even work to restore our memories.
Nootropics taken by themselves (unstacked) can boost your brain power,
but when they are combined with other supplements, their effect can be
much more effective.
Piracetam, a member of the racetam family, is widely known to be a
particularly potent nootropic. In a report dating back to 1976, it was
concluded that Piracetam improves verbal memory. Unstacked, it is
effective; but when it is used in combination with Alpha-GPC, a natural
choline compound that improves memory and sharpens cognition, its
effects are even greater.
The actual methods and mechanisms of racetams, and how they improve
our memories, are unknown, but research has suggested that they
accelerate the effects of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is known to
play a key role in the enhancement of memory.

INSERT IMAGES
Photo by: veo_
“
“Your health is what you make of it. Everything
you do and think either adds to the vitality,
energy and spirit you possess or takes away
from it.”
- Ann Wigmore

Step Five: Nootropics
The ultimate effect of acetylcholine is ‘suppression of adaptation’ in
neurons, and this suppression improves memory functions. Along with using
racetams, you can further boost your memory by combining the racetams
with food that is known to increase the amount of choline in your body.
It is important to note that acetylcholine is not found in nootropics or
food. Rather, you need to maintain a steady diet of choline rich foods, such
as eggs, liver, salmon, and yogurt, in order to boost the production of
acetylcholine.
Combining nootropics with food (stacking), will increase the boost on your
memory.
Nootropic stacks can enhance your memory, but it is important to know
what you are doing. The benefits will barely be felt if you misjudge your
stacks by combining the wrong supplements. It is worth doing enough
research before you begin combining supplements and making your own
nootropic stacks.
Personally conducting a few trial and error tests will be worthless because
the long-term effects of an improved memory may be hard to define. What
you are aiming for is not a short-term fix. Therefore, you should find out
which stacks are particularly potent for boosting memory by researching
what has been proven to be effective. It will save time and will prove more
fruitful. Once you know what you are doing, and what works best, you will
then be able to create your own stacks.

Step FiveStep Five: Nootropics
The ultimate aim of stacking is synergy; that is, you want a combination of
nootropics and supplements to work together harmoniously in order for
them to achieve the best results.
A well-known combination that has been found to enhance memory is
caffeine and L-theanine.
Caffeine is a stimulant, whilst L-theanine is an amino acid that is found in
green tea. As our memories work better when our minds are calm and
relaxed, drinking green tea can increase our relaxation. Supplementing it
with caffeine tablets means there will be an interesting trade-off; as the L-
theanine works to relax you, the caffeine will work to help you focus, and
sharpen your alertness, concentration and memory.
By drinking this combination, the green tea will help to ward off any anxiety
or ‘crash’ that is often felt from drinking too much caffeine. You will feel
better, and research has shown that they work together synergistically to
improve memory.

INSERT IMAGES
Photo: Ozyman
“
“this is a quick quote goodbye”
- Thomas jefferson

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