What Is Brain Hacking: How To Optimize Your Brain With Supplements

Brain hacking is the latest offshoot of the biohacking movement which uses simple tricks and techniques to upgrade the performance of your body and mind.

In broad terms, hacking the brain is practice of trying to enhance brainpower in areas such as memory, reasoning, mental fluidity, productivity, energy and mood.

While the term “hacking” might have some negative connotations among the general public, there is nothing unsafe of suspicious about this practice. In fact, anyone who participates in brain training programs like Lumosity which aims to improving neuroplasticity has already engaged in brain hacking.

So what can you do to boost your brain using short, simple and safe techniques?

Cognitive games and puzzles are a great place to start, but neuroscience now offers some even easier “brain hacks” that can help you get the most out of your grey matter. Today, optimizing the brain is as simple as taking a few well-chosen supplements that work to increase your cognitive capacity.

What are these so-called “Smart Drugs” and brain supplements and how do they work?

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Nootropics—The Best Place To Start:

One of the best known and most effective types of nutritional supplements for brain hacking is Nootropics.

This is a class of supplements developed by neuroscientists to improve the neural functions in your brain that create our thoughts and memories. The name “Nootropic” is Greek in origin and means ‘mind-turning’.

While Nootropics are still relatively unheard of in the general population, there are millions of users worldwide who take these cognitive enhancers to get the best results from their brains.

The first of these so-called ‘smart drugs’ was Piracetam, developed back in the early 1960’s. It is still useful today for helping to improve a number of mental processes such as memory formation, recall speed, learning capacity, lengthening attention span, and improving focus and concentration.

Piracetam is quite an amazing supplement, especially when it is considered that there are only very mild and uncommon side effects associated with its use (headaches, nervousness, fatigue).

There are, of course, a number of additional Nootropics on the market today. Other members of the Racetam family (a sub-category of Nootropics of which Piracetam was also the founding member) include Oxiracetam, Aniracetam, and Pramiracetam. These are all effective, more potent in their own right, and tend to each have slightly different effects upon the brain.

For example, Oxiracetam is well known as a logic and spatial memory booster, Aniracetam helps to reduce stress and anxiety, and Pramiracetam is just a much stronger version of Piracetam.

Other types of Nootropics which may merit consideration include supplements like Noopept, Choline sources, and Vitamin B related or derived supplements. One company called Onnit Labs has come out with an all-natural Nootropic stack known as Alpha Brain that brings together many of these different brain hacking supplements in one pill.

Supplement Stacking For Brain Hacking:

A common approach to brain hacking is to stack multiple nootropic suppements together.

This concept has been well-known in the world of body building and weight training for many years, although brain hackers have discovered the idea more recently. Using a nootropic stack allows you to gain synergistic benefits from complementary compounds while also increasing your range of results.

Designing a personalized stack with your goals in mind can help you address specific needs related to your natural neurotransmitter levels and brain activity.

As you learn more about Nootropics, you can decide which supplements are best for you, but a good beginner’s stack for would-be brain hackers might be something like this:

• Piracetam
• Choline
• Sulbutiamine (a modified B-vitamin family member)
• Green Tea (for Caffeine and Theanine)

Nutraceuticals—Also Good For Beginners:

Another class of supplements called nutraceuticals can have positive effects on cognition and intellect as well. These types of supplements are usually either made by the body naturally or come from a plant source or other biosynthetic sources. There are some interesting options here to help with a brain hacking routine.

This includes Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR). It acts as a powerful brain anti-oxidant and cognitive enhancer (improves the function of the neurotransmitters Dopamine and Acetylcholine). Krill oil and medium-chain Triglycerides may also be potentially helpful at increasing mental (and physical) energy and assisting the brain to run more efficiently.

Another good option for use in your bio hacking routine is Creatine powder. Often considered to be simply a bodybuilding supplement, Creatine is coming into its own for a number of new and exciting benefits.

Not only does it improve physical strength, but there is a lot of evidence suggesting that the brain uses this to help build more synapses, or connections between neurons. It improves brain function, especially in people who are vegetarians (they are almost guaranteed to be deficient in this important nutrient).

Stimulant-Type Supplements:

There is also a class of Nootropics known to have significant stimulant properties. While these supplements can be very beneficial, they also demand care since some of them may lead to the development of tolerance. Therefore, with the possible exception of Huperzia, these should be considered everyday types of brain hacks, but rather reserved for occasional use.

Huperzine A is a plant alkaloid that has been used by the Chinese for centuries. It helps to reduce headaches, fever, swelling, and blood disorders. But it also increases memory, speeds up nerve growth, and protects against degenerative cognitive issues like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Modafinil is a stimulant that can help improve memory and mood, reduces impulsive decision-making, increases resistance to fatigue, and acts as a wakefulness agent. A similar stimulant is Adrafinil, which works in a very similar fashion. While Modafinil requires a prescription in the USA, many people use Adrafinil which is legal and does not require a prescription.

Increasing your brain power is not just for executives or over-achieving students. Instead, anyone with a brain should be taking advantage of at least some of these easy to use and implement brain hacks. You will be amazed at how much better you feel and the improvements noticed in things like memory and overall cognition.

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