Doping your Brain to take More Mental tasks
Afterschool
October 29, 2012
- One in five people had used drugs for non-medical reasons to stimulate their concentration or memory
- One-third of the drugs being used for non-medical purposes were purchased over the Internet
Reel life can be real life.
Remember the movie Limitless? The story is about a writer with writer's block with a deadline looming. He takes a pill and all of a sudden he can access 100% of his brain's capacity instead of the usual 20%. The truth is, there is such a pill that instantly makes your brain work harder than usual.
Generically called "smart drugs" or nootropics, these drugs enhance mental functions such as intelligence, memory and attention span. They come in many forms including extracts, herbs, foods and pharmaceuticals.
In Asia, little is known of the long-term use of such drugs. In an informal online survey, the scientific publisher, Nature Publishing Group, found that one in five respondents had used drugs for non-medical reasons to stimulate their concentration or money.
Dubbed as a "study aid' drug, Modafinil is selling like hotcakes online. It is a prescription drug to treat narcolepsy but used instead for work enhancement. It has been shown to improve alertness and attention span and enhance some aspects of working memory. The effects however are subtle.
A student described his experience with the pills, “It messes with your mental reward system. It makes you desperate to do what you know you actually need to do. You just don’t want anything else. I wanted to revise all the time, non-stop.” Besides that, there are side effects such as depression, feeling anxious, aggression and other mental or heart problems.
Another student started swearing at people who interrupted his work and walk away from conversations mid-sentence. Their behaviour changed when something affected their work. So are these drugs worth the risk? Perhaps so for some students who puts their grades higher than anything else. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Students
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