Studying is tough. It takes an enormous amount of concentration, focus, and delayed gratification. Stacking certain nootropics can make things easier.
You probably know someone who relies on stimulants to boost alertness for studying. While stimulants work, they often come with negative side effects.
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying Review
The best nootropic stack for studying and learning is based on ingredients that work differently from synthetics. Combined, these nootropic ingredients help:
- Energize the brain on a cellular level to help you power through those late-night study sessions
- Boost memory to help you retain information
- Enhance cognition and recall on test day to improve exam results
In this article, we’ll talk about nootropics that can enhance your studying experience, and how combining some of them can help you create the best nootropic stack for studying.
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying
How Nootropics for Studying Work
Used smartly, nootropic supplements can not only improve mood, attention, focus, working memory, accuracy, and mental energy that are needed for effective studying. They also work to support long-term brain function.
- This highlights the difference between natural noots and synthetic ‘smart cure’ that more and more students use (and abuse), the latter of which tend to give short-term benefits at the cost of long-term health.
It’s just as important to note that natural nootropic supplements listed in this article have all been proven to be safe and legal in most parts of the world.
As a result, the following nootropics can help you improve your studying and academic results in a safe and sustainable way.
In addition to boosting overall cognitive performance, nootropics can also boost different cognitive functions that are needed for effective studying:
- Mood & Motivation – Arguably the biggest obstacle to studying is a lack of focus and motivation. When you’re feeling moody and completely distracted, studying can feel like hell. Some nootropics work by uplifting mood and sparking motivation so you can kickstart your study session and enter ‘the flow’ with more ease.
- Memory Pathways – Good memory is crucial for studying. A stack consisting of proven and helpful nootropics can boost your encoding, recall, storage, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Ultimately, leading to better test performance.
- Mental Energy – Studying becomes easier and more effective when you’re mentally energized. However, stimulants for alertness tend to lead to ‘crashes’ and other side effects. Best nootropic stack for studying consists of clean, stim-free ingredients that provide a more stable, lasting kind of energy.
As good as individual nootropics are for studying, it would be a waste not to tap into their full potential by combining them together – a practice you may know as “stacking” that can help to boost multiple aspects of cognitive function at the same time.
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying
The best nootropic stack for studying consists of Bacopa Monnieri + Phosphatidylserine + Citicoline + L-Tyrosine + Lion’s Mane Mushroom.
Each of these ingredients helps to improve efficiency of your studying in a different way.
For example, Phosphatidylserine works to boost neural signaling between your brain cells, improving recall in the process. Citicoline and Tyrosine work in conjunction to enhance mental energy and motivation to help you maintain focus.
Here’s an explanation of each ingredient in more detail.
1. Bacopa Monnieri
The Ayurvedic botanical herb is among the most renowned nootropics for learning and studying.
Bacopa Monnieri, a powerful adaptogen, belongs to a particular category of Medhya Rasayana, an ancient health system from India. Medhya Rasayana means the “essence of intellect”, which describes perfectly what this herb does.
As it turns out, some of the mythical elements of Bacopa are grounded in science.
A double-blind placebo-controlled study showed that 12 weeks of consistent Bacopa Monnieri use improved the following:
- Anxious state
- Visual information processing speed
- Learning rate and memory retention
Bacopa Monnieri enjoys a strong reputation as a herb for students, specifically: studies have reported it may reduce the rate of forgetting newly learned information. [1]
However, you should look out for the type of Bacopa you’re getting. Best Bacopa supplements are delivered as a standardized extract – supplying 9 of its bio-active bacosides.
2. Phosphatidylserine
Phosphatidylserine, or PS, is a fat-soluble compound found in high amounts in your brain. It’s needed for various brain functions and healthy neuron membranes. [2]
Latest studies on PS show it possesses neuroprotective and neuro-enhancing properties, and that supplementation can lead to improved memory, focus, cognition, learning, cognition, mood and processing speed.
In one study, children with ADHD experienced a significant reduction in their symptoms after regularly using Phosphatidylserine.
3. Citicoline
Citicoline (also known as CDP-Choline) is the best stim-free nootropic for mental energy. It can help power your brain through marathon study sessions. [3]
Citicoline is specifically good for your brain because it delivers a one-two cognitive boosting punch. After you ingest it, Citicoline splits into two crucial compounds:
- Choline – a building block for acetylcholine which is needed for memory, learning and overall cognitive function.
- Cytidine – a precursor to a RNA nucleotide base Uridine, it helps to repair and maintain your brain cell membranes.
Other forms of choline, such as Alpha GPC offer similar benefits in terms of providing choline to the brain, but only Citicoline provides cytidine.
Why should you, as a student, care? Because the choline+cytidine combo helps boost:
- ATP Energy Levels – Resulting in increased mental clarity
- Neuronal Plasticity – Faster cell-to-cell communication and learning retention.
- Neurotransmitter Synthesis – Improved acetylcholine and dopamine for better studying effectiveness.
4. L-Tyrosine
Tyrosine is a chemical-supportive amino acid that sharpens your thinking under stress and sleep deprivation.
When you’re tired, stressed, or over-excited, your body’s natural tyrosine tanks are burned as fuel for neurotransmitters like dopamine and epinephrine.
As Tyrosine levels sink, so does your mood, focus and motivation. At this point, it can be almost impossible to get yourself to study, or continue studying.
Supplementing Tyrosine helps to replenish these crucial brain chemicals to keep you going for several more hours. This makes it extremely effective for boosting your cognitive performance under sleep deprivation.
After a night’s sleep loss, people in a placebo-controlled study were found to significantly offset the negative effects of lack of sleep with the help of Tyrosine.
Specifically, tyrosine boosted their psychomotor function and vigilance, and the effects lasted for 3 hours after ingestion. [4]
- Tip: Tyrosine is just one of the building blocks needed for dopamine synthesis. The others include B vitamins, which you should combine with the amino acid for optimal benefits.
5. Lion’s Mane Mushroom
Lion’s Mane is the only mushroom known to boost brain health. More specifically, it rejuvenates your brain cells, literally, by triggering the so-called Nerve-Growth Factor. This is a type of protein that supports brain building.
The result of this increase in brain cell growth is better mental clarity, improved memory, and faster learning – key ingredients for an effective study session. [5]
Best PreMade Nootropic Stack for Studying – Mind Lab Pro
You can take some of the ingredients from above and try stacking them for yourself. Or you can save some money (and time) by opting for a professional nootropic formula made by PhD doctors and experts.
Enter Mind Lab Pro.
Consisting of 11 bioactive, plant-based ingredients, all of which have been proven in studies to have the biggest impact on mental health and performance.
- Mind Lab Pro supplies Lion’s Mane extract with all of its bioactive compounds, including the nerve-regenerating Hericenones and erinacines.
L-Tyrosine in Mind Lab Pro keeps your cognitive function sharp, while Citicoline energizes your brain cells so you can keep studying efficiently for hours.
Mind Lab Pro’s ingredients are top-of-the line quality. Delivered in vegan NutriCaps made of fermented tapioca. The result is a 100% clean, natural brainpower for enhanced studying performance and better scores on exams.
>Click to Read Mind Lab Pro Review<
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying Anything Else to Consider?
As always, it’s easy to neglect some of the basic things when it comes to brain optimization. Less processed junk, more healthy food, regular exercise, and the hardest thing for most students – more quality sleep.
If you’re able to get these fundamentals right, then a nootropic can really take your studying efficiency to that next level.
READ: Brain Food for University Students
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying The Bottom Line
So there you have it – this was the best nootropic stack for students. Consisting of some of the best natural ingredients for optimized memory, cognition and focus.
Our favorite premade nootropic stack is Mind Lab Pro, which is specifically designed to help individuals like college students to thrive under pressure and get more out of their study sessions.
If athletes have sports nutrition, then you can think of nootropics as student nutrition. They’re safe, legal, and completely natural way of enhancing student’s performance. Which can’t be said for most substances that are commonly used for this purpose.
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying Final Words
If you’re like most students, your go-to is probably coffee or an energy drink. The convenience of the nootropics shown above is that you can easily stack them with coffee, enhancing their effects even further.
*The nootropics featured in this guide are for an 18 and older college-aged students. However, people from all walks of life can benefit from using them, as their benefits aren’t limited to the classroom.
Just make sure to talk to your doctor if you have any medical concerns. Remember that we’re not doctors, and this article is only offering an advice!
Best Nootropic Stack for Studying References
- Roodenrys S, Booth D, Bulzomi S, Phipps A, Micallef C, Smoker J. Chronic effects of Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) on human memory. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2002;27(2):279‐281. doi:10.1016/S0893-133X(01)00419-5
- Glade MJ, Smith K. Phosphatidylserine and the human brain. Nutrition. 2015;31(6):781‐786. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2014.10.014
- Silveri MM, Dikan J, Ross AJ, et al. Citicoline enhances frontal lobe bioenergetics as measured by phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy. NMR Biomed. 2008;21(10):1066‐1075. doi:10.1002/nbm.1281
- Neri DF, Wiegmann D, Stanny RR, Shappell SA, McCardie A, McKay DL. The effects of tyrosine on cognitive performance during extended wakefulness. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1995;66(4):313‐319.
- Ratto DI, Corona F, Mannucci B, et al. Hericium erinaceus Improves Recognition Memory and Induces Hippocampal and Cerebellar Neurogenesis in Frail Mice during Aging. Nutrients. 2022;11(4):715. Published 2022 Mar 27. doi:10.3390/nu11040715
