Are Stimulants Good For the Brain?

The performance of the brain depends on its blood supply.

The body receives much-needed oxygen from the blood.

If it is not enough, the person suffers from cognitive impairment.

In conditions of extreme stress that require increased mental activity, natural resources are not enough, and the brain needs to be recharged.

In the presence of problems with blood circulation, this need increases many times over.

In such a situation, brain stimulants increase brain activity.

Today, You will understand how they work, who should take them and how to choose them correctly.

Brain Stimulants are considered to be substances that should activate the metabolism in the brain.

In many aspects of our lives, we have begun to resort to various stimulants.

Millions of people rely on caffeine in the morning to give them a boost that gets them out of bed and energized.

Sports have become a minefield of legal and illegal methods designed to increase the performance, endurance and strength of athletes.

Also in our time, a new generation of stimulants has appeared – stimulants of brain activity, which are used specifically to increase the mental abilities of a person.

Most of them were originally developed for the treatment of various diseases, and only recently began to be used by the healthy part of the population for a mental “leap”.

Let’s look closer at some stimulants:

Beta alanine. Reduces the level of fear when processing emotional memories. Protects against post-traumatic stress disorder. Reduces irritability, removes apathy.

Improves the plasticity of the brain in response to external influences. Alanine increases psychological stability, helping to keep the body and emotions under control of the mind.

Creatine. Allows more intensive use of the brain for a longer time.

Creatine increases oxygen consumption by brain cells, which reduces mental fatigue, increases the productivity of mental performance and reduces its dependence on the time of day.

L-lecithin (B4). Lecithin increases psycho-emotional stability and cognitive abilities. It will help in the prevention of nervous stress and brain exhaustion. Good for reducing the effects of stress.

Taurine. It is part of stimulants against burnout syndrome, nervous breakdowns, and sleep disorders.

Accelerates the regeneration of gray and white medulla, is needed for the synthesis of cells located in the memory zone.

Taurine boosts brain concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), our top 5 brain supplements.

How Do Brain Stimulants Work?

Different stimulants act on the body in different ways: some directly affect the nerve cell (have a direct effect on it), some improve cerebral blood flow, have an ant-hypoxic effect, forcing the body to better utilize oxygen (that is, they have an indirect effect on the brain).

Today it is believed that one of the main mechanisms of action of stimulants is their effect on the neurotransmitter systems of the brain.

Neurotransmitters are biologically active chemicals that transmit electrical impulses from one brain neuron to another through synapses (connections between neurons).

The neurotransmitter provides activation of the postsynaptic cell (that is, the one that receives the signal), as a result of which the signal is transmitted.

Do Stimulants Improve Mental Performance?

The answer to this question can be ambiguous.

In addition to being scientifically interesting, a number of mental stimulants have also created some interesting ethical dilemmas, dividing scientists into two “sections”.

In the first there are opponents of interference in a healthy human brain. They say that mental stimulants are designed to treat abnormalities, and it is immoral to use healthy people in order to acquire certain abilities.

The problem is that by comparing the brain activity of students not taking brain stimulants and those taking them, they came to the conclusion that people who live without pills basically do not compete with those who take them.

But the widespread use of brain stimulants can lead young people to become addicted to such stimulants, believing that in their absence they will not be able to compete in mentally stressful situations.

These are relatively new compounds, and there are no observations yet of what chronic use can do to our brains.

In the second section there are scientists who say that these stimulants can be indispensable at times of high mental stress.

Surgeons often have to concentrate for very long periods of time performing complex operations and many rely on caffeine, but large amounts of caffeine cause side effects such as trembling, which in the case of operations is unacceptable.

Also, brain stimulants can be used by pilots, wrestlers, or in any other situation where a momentary loss of concentration can be catastrophic.

What Are the Benefits of Stimulants?

The intake of mental stimulants enhance learning abilities due to the complex activation of the central nervous system.

Here are some main benefits what stimulants do:

Memory improvement;
Increase concentration of attention;
Enhancing perception;
Ensuring clarity of consciousness;
Prevention of mental exhaustion;
Decrease in excitability;
Overcoming asthenia (neuropsychic weakness).

Depending on the active substance, additional effects may be observed.

Some have a sedative effect, others help get out of depression. There are also stimulators that help regulate sleep and wake patterns.

Brain activity stimulators are often combined into one group with neuroprotectors. They protect the body from the severe consequences of circulatory disorders, prevent cell destruction, and help slow down dementia.

FAQ

Do Stimulants Have Long-Term Benefits?

It is believed that stimulators are able to stimulate mental activity, activate cognitive functions, improve memory and increase the ability to learn for 5-6 hours. Stimulators are supposed to increase the brain’s resistance to a variety of harmful influences, such as excessive exercise or hypoxia.

How Can I stimulate my Brain Without Stimulators?

In order not to be completely without memory by the age of 50 and to prevent serious brain diseases, you need to constantly train your brain.

It can be both solving simple puzzles through applications on smartphones, and learning foreign languages, reading books, solving mathematical problems, etc. A great way to train memory and imagination is to memorize poems using imaginative thinking.

An important role is played by the emotional state in which you learn new information. It has been proven that a bright event that occurred during the learning process gives a greater impulse to the brain and significantly improves the memorization process…