Modafinil helps Balancing cognitive enhancement with risk

Modafinil, prescribed for narcolepsy but take without prescription by some healthy people to stay awake. Appears to improve decision-making and problem-solving skills. Modafinil 200 medicine works by stopping nerve cells from reabsorbing dopamine, an excitatory chemical, after it is release at synapses. This allows the brain to stay alert for longer.

Risks

People have sought to boost their brainpower for centuries, and while scientific efforts have uncovered a few promising chemicals. None have yet passed the rigorous tests of cognitive enhancement. But a new systematic review suggests that the decades-long search for safe and effective “smart drugs” may have notched its first success. The drug modafinil, developed to promote wakefulness in patients with sleep disorders, heightens alertness. And research has shown that it can improve cognitive functions such as learning, memory, and attention in healthy people.

The drug has also been show to help people with specific conditions, such as narcolepsy and bipolar disorder. It is currently being studied as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and for mitigating cognitive problems in schizophrenia, depression, and dementia.

While cognitive enhancement is a desirable goal, there are concerns about the potential for abuse and addiction to some of these drugs. Several psycho-stimulants, including methylphenidate and amphetamines. Have a high risk for abuse, but modafinil appears to be less addictive than these drugs. In addition, it is not know to affect the brain in ways that could lead to compulsive use.

In a series of clinical trials, researchers found that modafinil increased performance on complex tasks such as letter-number span and reversal-letter recognition. It also enhanced performance in a task that required both short-term memory and executive function. As well as on a chess board test that demanded rapid movement and accuracy.

Unlike some of the stimulants, Modafinil did not appear to enhance performance on simple tasks such as arithmetic and logical reasoning. In a dose-response study of 41 military recruits, one-dose modafinil was find to improve performance on the AX-CPT task (short-term memory and executive function) and the serial reversal task (memory and logical reasoning).

Researchers believe that the improvement in cognitive functions with modafinil is related to its ability to increase cortical acetylcholine levels. This neurotransmitter is important for both memory and cognition. And a reduction in its level has been associate with cognitive impairment. This effect is independent of the drug’s effects on wakefulness in sleep-deprived people.

Benefits

Modafinil 200 ability to enhance cognitive function without affecting somatomotor or cardiovascular responses has spawned considerable interest in its potential as a ‘cognitive enhancer’. It has been use to augment performance on a number of different cognitive tasks in both normal and sleep-disordered subjects. With consistent improvements over time and the effects being robust to repeated administration. The drug also appears to modulate brain activity and behavioral responses. Such as those of the hippocampus, via its direct actions on dopamine and norepinephrine. This suggests that it may act as the first truly well-validated pharmaceutical nootropic.

In rodents, Modafinil 200 mg increases working memory capacity in a dose and delay-dependent manner and enhances contextual cue processing. And logical reasoning in an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder model. Human studies have shown that in healthy individuals (with and without sleep deprivation), Modafinil improves digit span forwards and backward, delayed visual recognition memory and a version of the Tower of London task, and re-invigorates cortical activation on intermediate working memory loads using a firm technique.

The benefits of Modafinil for cognitive impairments are augmente by its ability to interact with the cholinergic system and enhance the activities of acetylcholine. The neurotransmitter responsible for learning processes. Consequently, it is often use in the treatment of sleep disorders associate with cognitive dysfunction (narcolepsy, shift-work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea). And in the treatment of depression and other mood disorders that are associated with fatigue.

The effectiveness of Modalert Australia in improving cognition is further support by its use in a wide range of medical. And psychiatric conditions that are currently treated with stimulants. Such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, and various psychiatric illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Its superior safety profile, relative to the current pharmacopeia of psychostimulants, makes it particularly attractive for use in these populations. A number of double-blind placebo-controlled trials have found that modafinil is superior to placebo in reducing fatigue. And sedation and in improving symptoms such as agitation, anxiety, depression, and apathy in these conditions.

Dosage

There is a wide range of cognitive enhancement drugs available, but Modafinil stands out as the first drug to prove it can actually enhance cognition while avoiding serious side effects. But there are important caveats to take into account.

One big issue is that the research so far has been incredibly uneven. Researchers at Oxford have analyze 24 studies of the drug between 1990 and 2014 and found that how the drug was used (whether it was give to healthy people without any symptoms or those with sleep disorders) and the type of task being evaluated greatly affected its results.

For example, in a study of healthy participants, some saw significant improvement on tasks that required planning or decision-making while others were unable to distinguish any benefits from the medication at all. One possible explanation for the difference is that the drug improves. The ability to inhibit pre-potent responses and thus reduces impulsive responses. This suggests that it may be helpful for patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who struggle to suppress irrelevant information and respond appropriately.

Another caveat is that because Modafinil 200 mg acts as a central nervous system stimulant. It is important to assess patients frequently for their level of alertness. The drug can mask signs that the person is actually fatigue or in need of sleep. And this could lead to dangerous driving or other activities. Also, some users have report experiencing insomnia, stomachaches, and headaches, so this should be consider when weighing the risks versus benefits.

It is also not clear whether the drug is safe for long-term use. Most of the research to date has been conduct in a control scientific setting. And only a few studies have assessed how well it works over longer periods of time. Finally, the use of the drug in individuals with neuropsychiatric conditions has been limiting. Because it might interfere with medications to treat these disorders.

Although geriatric psychiatrists believe that modafinil might help improve cognitive functioning in older adults, little research has been done on this. However, a recent study of people with Alzheimer’s disease at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix shows. That the drug can improve social interaction and reaction times, both of which are often impaire in this population.

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