Cumulative Nootropics

[Slims]

Which nootropics/brain supplements have build up effects and get better with continuous daily usage?

 

[Slims]

I think this is a great, although maybe complicated topic. I’m on mobile so I’ll have to be brief (compared to my usual).

I think this is one of the reasons people miss out or think nootropics aren’t effective. Lots tend to be gradual and build long term effects, they aren’t just caffeine substitutes as far as effects.

It also helps to determine what benefits you may need or where you are deficient to find the best means of attack.

Not comprehensive, but things that help manage stress (both physical, mental, oxidative, etc), boost receptor activity in possibly deficient areas (may be dependent on the individual), improved mitochondrial health (and energy production) and things that help with neuron growth and repair (NGF and BDNF levels).

Particular “longer” term nootropics I like (again not fully comprehensive list):

Bacopa: actually adaptogenic and can be sedating or stimulating in some. Helps by reducing stress and anxiety, additional effects on memory and cognition, etc. Look for extracts high enough in Bacosides, with 300mg daily (50% Bacoside content) being shown beneficial.

Phospatidylserine: cell phospholipid, so in short all sorts of benefits with healthy cell membranes. Also, potentially ergogenic in regards to cortisol effects (particularly in regards to training), but at higher doses. 100mg daily is probably the minimum for brain health benefits, although 100mgx3 daily doses has shown ability to prevent cognitive decline too. Serinaid by Chemi Nutra is PS if familiar with that.

Lions Mane: boosts NGF (boosts memory and learning). This mushroom has tons of other benefits and I’m a huge fan for all it’s benefits. Needs decently high doses, I’d look for a minimum of 500mg and also mushroom quality is important so I wouldn’t just go with cheapest (just find a reputable brand not just cheapest option of random brand on amazon).

Neurofactor: increase BDNF. 100mg is typically recommended.

Again not comprehensive and these may provide immediate benefits, but tend to provide some long term benefits more so.

Thank you for such an incredible response!

I think choline donors are a worthy mention in here too, Alpha GPC, Congnizin etc. Also ALCAR, which is probably the most well known.

 

[mavup]

Racetams, if you’re in to them. Some people don’t like them, but they’re my favorite class of nootropics. You will feel acute effects from most of them, but the long term/cumulative effects aren’t actually reached for a couple weeks, if not a month for others (pramiracetam). Pramiracetam has had the most profound effect on my long term memory. Only one I wouldn’t include is phenyl, since it has characteristics of traditional stimulants (tolerance). I’m pretty well versed on these so if you’d like more info on any, let me know.

Others I would add: 7,8-DHF/4-DMA-7,8-DHF, Berberine (sigma-1 activation, causing NDMA and BDNF activity), ashwaganda (long term cortisol and stress reduction), nac, noopept (ngf and bdnf, so has to be long term, but can positively affect short term memory), lions mane as another learned moment we mentioned (I advocate for the 10:1 extract from nootropics depot; it’s expensive but powerful for me), uridine monophosphate. I’ll try to think of others, but those are what I have used that demonstrated maximum and/or different effects with cumulative dosing compared to singular.

I also want to make the distinction that probably every one of these listed has acute effects, but that the desired effects will be maximized or only attained from a long term/therapeutic dose.

Edit: I will also add polygala tenuifolia and gotu kola. And it’s 8:1, not 10:1 for LM

 

[thebigt]

look into endoamp max by iconic formulations...i've been on it every day for well over a year.

it is the one supp i won't be without.

 

[Slims]

I am a fan of Lion's Mane, I'm especially interested in it's ability to increase BDNF from longer term use. However, finding a real standardized version is hard/rare to come by.

 

[muscleupcrohn]

I am a fan of Lion's Mane, I'm especially interested in it's ability to increase BDNF from longer term use. However, finding a real standardized version is hard/rare to come by.

Luckily you don't need a standardized extract. Both of the most promising human studies on lion's mane have simply used 2-3 grams/day of powdered fruiting body. You can find powdered fruiting body if you look, although mycelium is more common. There's debate as to which is superior, and there's arguments in favor of both, but given that the studies used fruiting body, and showed it worked well, I'd replicate that as closely as possible.

As to the original question, lion's mane is a good one, as is bacopa, which takes a few/handful of weeks to really manifest benefits.

Racetams are another, with at least one human study noting that piracetam took I think a week or two to have benefits on memory? That said, there are some studies that show decent acute doses of piracetam still have benefits in humans. That said too, rodent research has found that while a combination of piracetam and choline had acute benefits, continued/repeated use was superior to acute use, so I'd throw racetams (often paired with a choline source) here too. So it's entirely possible that piracetam does still have acute benefits, but has even more benefits with regular use.

 

[muscleupcrohn]

Thank you for such an incredible response!

I think choline donors are a worthy mention in here too, Alpha GPC, Congnizin etc. Also ALCAR, which is probably the most well known.

Yes, see my response regarding racetams and choline, but, that said, there is research showing that AChE-Is like huperzine and galantamine have pretty potent acute effects in terms of inhibiting AChE, so even if they would be ideal to use daily, they certainly have acute effects as well.

 

[Slims]

Luckily you don't need a standardized extract. Both of the most promising human studies on lion's mane have simply used 2-3 grams/day of powdered fruiting body. You can find powdered fruiting body if you look, although mycelium is more common. There's debate as to which is superior, and there's arguments in favor of both, but given that the studies used fruiting body, and showed it worked well, I'd replicate that as closely as possible.

As to the original question, lion's mane is a good one, as is bacopa, which takes a few/handful of weeks to really manifest benefits.

2-3g of Lions Mane, damn. I only have 600mg of Lions Mane powder in my Brain Gainz. I guess I'll have to add some extra

 

[muscleupcrohn]

2-3g of Lions Mane, damn. I only have 600mg of Lions Mane powder in my Brain Gainz. I guess I'll have to add some extra

Yeah, lions mane is a hard one to find dosed properly in multi-ingredient products. In pills, it takes up multiple pills itself, and in powders, it doesn’t exactly taste good, and it’s not cheap either way.

 

[Slims]

Yeah, lions mane is a hard one to find dosed properly in multi-ingredient products. In pills, it takes up multiple pills itself, and in powders, it doesn’t exactly taste good, and it’s not cheap either way.

The blue rasperry flavouring in Brain Gainz is very strong, so hopefully it'll be able to mask the flavour of an extra gram or two of Lions Mane. Apart from the lower dose of Lions Mane it's a pretty well dosed product with a very good profile... Well from my knowledge anyway

 

[Slims]

Ya that product is pretty stacked! I've seen it before and it looks great. The Black version looks solid too. At two scoops it is amazingly well dosed.

I'll note that I don't usually even take a whole 3g of Lions Mane a day, but have been using 2g recently and interested to see how that works longer term (I've used the 600mg found in quite a few products consistently).

The caffeine free version that I have is really easy to drink and even at just a few weeks in has had some noticable effects.

What did/have you noticed, if anything, from taking 600mg consistently?

 

[sns8778]

Focus XT contains a lot of great nootropic ingredients, many of which have a great long term cumulative effect.

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[Slims]

Focus XT contains a lot of great nootropic ingredients, many of which have a great long term cumulative effect.

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I used Focus XT (Caffeine Free version) for a few months last year, I actually recommended it to a few people. Huperzine-A was a nice addition to that, it's very underrated in my opinion.
I considered it again this time along with CL's Brainwash, but in the end I chose Brain Gainz