While there are many ways to hack your life and body, and we'll cover those on this blog, there is one thing that's an length ahead of others because it promises instant effect.
What if I told you there is a pill that can if not instantly, then very quickly - make you smarter, faster, happier - make you better in one way or another?
You might think that's nothing new, drugs have been around for a long time. In the last few years and even decades news are full of stories about sportsmen that take them to break the records, students that take them so they do better at school and even housewives that need some extra juice to take care of the house and all the kids.
And we were all taught that drugs are bad since they all have side effects and shouldn't be taken unless we really need them to cure some disease. Drug abuse deteriorates your health and makes you addicted to them, we were taught, right? But is that always true?
What if I told you there are drugs/foods/substances that a "healthy" person can take, that would make that person smarter, faster or happier - simply put better than without drugs, and there were no bad side effects and no addiction (in the life threatening, sweating and hearth beating, sell your mother for a quick fix - if you skip your dose - way)?
What if I told you, that you already used some of them without even knowing?
You don't smoke? Cool me neither - I can't stand tobacco. You never had energy drinks or coffee? Not even tea? Never took Aspirin after hard workout so you don't end up with sore muscles the day after? Never took alcohol to loosen you up (and have more fun during the party)? You don't take any vitamin/mineral/amino-acid supplement?
If you haven't done any of these - then you should take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
If you did at least one of those then you should take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes - though you get to choose how deep you want to go ;)
Lets cut the chase - what exactly are nootropics?
At it basic definition it's a food, drug or some other active substance that has positive effect on a human body - from better physical or mental performance to life extension - with very little and most usually short term, or none at all (bad/unwanted) side effects.
Side effects range from virtually nothing in instances such as vitamins/minerals and other similar food supplements, to something like being just a little nervous when you drink a lot of coffee, to increased libido (I personally don't find that as a bad side effect at all :) ) you may experience from some drugs.
Of course - even in cases of substances that have no side effects in normal/recommended doses, like vitamin supplements - if you over do it, especially for long periods of time - there can be some serious side effects.
Some people also place things like amphetamines and the like in the nootropics category - but one needs to be very careful with them since they are (heroin like) addictive - and I personally wouldn't risk it since all junkies thought "I'm too smart to get hooked up", aside from the fact it's illegal to get them without prescription.
In the coming days we'll go over each of nootropics in detail, from scientific findings and theory to real life cases and effects (we'll need your help/feedback on those as well) and how you can use and abuse them to hack your body and improve your life.
Until then, think about nature and moral of using nootropics. What is your opinion on them? Would you use them? Is it fair to use substances and gain advantage over someone who isn't using those?
Keep the comments about specific nootropic experience for the posts where we cover them ;)
