The Next Stage of Human Evolution – Enhanced Brain

Have you ever wondered (I guess you have) what makes us humans the leading creatures and the best specie on this earth? Definitely it is the mental power we have. Physical strength can never compete with the mental abilities.
We, humans, can control the outrageously powerful forces of nature just by the virtue of our limitless mental abilities. This is the time when we get to use the fullest capabilities of our mind which we are not currently doing. Nature has made the universe as a puzzle having a number of resources in it which, if used wisely enough, can work wonders for us.

It is a known fact that we are not using even the one-tenth of out mental abilities. The greatest amount of cognitive power put to productive use by anyone ever in the known history of mankind was 10% by Albert Einstein. He was God-gifted but not all of us are.
We seriously need to do something to unlock the Unlimited Powers of our minds and go limitless. Man, has always tried to enhance two of his abilities, namely, Libido and cognition and has pretty much succeeded in both.

Nootropics are the substances used to increase the mental abilities of the human mind. This is not a part of some science fiction novel; this is happening out there in the world. People are doing this and getting actual results.
Nootropics not only increase the mental abilities for time-being but can also permanently increase the IQ of a person by as much as 10 points. 10 points of IQ is really something. That could mean the world for someone.

For example, if someone has an IQ of 150 already nootropics can boost that to 160 points which can make the person exceptionally genius and for the people with lower IQ can get to the normal or above average level. Ethical Implications Well, there are certain ethical implications in the use of nootropics.
Some people argue that it is not fair to artificially increase the mental ability and then compete with the normal people. That is not true, our brains have the potential in them.

The only thing these Nootropic substances do is to unlock the potential and make it useful for us. It is just like installing a turbocharger in a car. The engine is the same but the turbo increases the power output of the engine.

Survival of the Fittest

The world and in fact this whole universe has only one rule, SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. Either you are the fittest or you live a miserable life. What makes us the fittest are our brains with their elevated abilities to think. To be really successful in the present world, we need to be very good at thinking and processing information.
Nootropics can make a great difference in our lives by increasing the mental powers. You can get better grades, perform better at job, do better business, play better poker and can just be smart and being smart is the best thing to be.

What are Nootropics?

Also, known as smart drugs or cognitive enhancers, nootropics are the chemicals used to enhance the mental activities of normal healthy individuals.
They work on the brain in a number of ways to increase its abilities related to memory, thinking, focus and motivation. Nootropics are available both as prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs. They are also available as dietary supplements for regular use.

These drugs are also used to treat and/or decrease the chances of onset of deadly brain and nerve diseases like Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s and other such diseases.
Nootropics also help people fight the over-all deterioration of nervous system with age. As we age, cell death in the brain and nerves makes them weaker and that results in weakened mental abilities and motor functions. The use of nootropics has been found effective to maintain the mental health in elderly ages.

Some common Nootropics are:

Usage Before we get into the technical stuff relating to the mode of action and chemical compositions of the Nootropics, let’s see how prevalent they actually are.

• Federal Drug Authority has marked Nootropics as safe and legal drugs
• The total annual international business of Nootropics exceeds 1 billion Dollars
• In Germany, 5-35% of the college students use cognitive enhancing Nootropics

Mode of Action

To understand how these substances can make a normal human brain to perform extra-normally, we need to understand the brain itself. The brain is just like a supercomputer (except that it is much more powerful), where a number of small processors (neurons in this case) are hooked up together to give it amazing computational powers.

The neurons communicate with each other with dendrites and axons which carry information to and from the cell body of a neuron. The conduction of the impulses of information from one neuron to the other is partly electrical and partly chemical. The better the connection between the neurons, the better is the thinking ability of the brain. This is where the nootropics come in. They act in two ways, increasing the number of connections between the nerve cells by helping them grow more axons and dendrites and by improving the conduction of impulses between them.

When the nerve impulse has to transfer from one neuron to the next, it is done by chemical substances called the neurotransmitters. These are released by the first cells and are received by the receptors on the next cell. The nootropic drugs increase the secretion of neurotransmitters in the human body making it easier for the neurons to communicate. Most of the nootropics increase the concentration of the neurotransmitter choline in the body.

Choline is the neurotransmitter that acts on the AMPA and other receptors to transmit the messages of one cell to the other. Billions of the neurons function in coordination to make the brain perform higher order functions like thinking, creativity and focus. Some Documented and Researched Effects of Nootropics on the Brain The effects of the nootropics on the brain are not just some theoretical thing.

The effects have been studied on lab animals, human volunteers and users. The effects are not only recorded on the basis of the verbal statements of the users. They are put through proper IQ tests and electroencephalography (study of the brain activity using electronic probes) to study how actually their brains are reacting when the nootropic is in their blood.

The most evident effects are

• The users have reported and shown better thinking abilities. The users state that after the effects of the nootropic kick in, they feel more mentally alert and focused and they can perform such tasks as they cannot otherwise.
• Electroencephalographs of the test subjects have shown that their brains are actually more active and respondent when under the effect of the drug. There is better brain activity in the areas of the brain related to thinking and speech
• After prolonged use, the brain function is known to increase permanently. It happens as the number of connections between the neurons begin to grow and increase.
• In case of minor head injuries, the damage to the brain of a user of nootropics has been lower than that to the bran of a non-user
• Over the years, the brains of nootropic users tend to maintain their health more than the non-users’

Paranoia Attached to the use of Nootropics

Like any other drug, the use of nootropics also makes people think about the possible negative effects of the drugs on the human body especially when they are used after a long time or a user stops taking them after prolonged use. Below is the clarification of a number of paranoia attached to the nootropics

• Hangovers

Nootropics don’t cause any sort of hangover like the drugs of abuse. Some are even used to overcome the hangovers caused by alcohol and other drugs. Even after the concentration of the active ingredient has dropped in the body, the user doesn’t feel any sort of hangover.

• Dependence

Nootropics have not shown dependence or addiction even in people who have been using them for years. If you want to discontinue them, just stop taking them and there is nothing like withdrawal symptoms and stuff. Most of them are not even some foreign chemical for the human body. They are already being produced by the body and they are just used as a supplement to maintain their concentration in the body.

• Side Effects

Most of the nootropics have no side-effects at all and are marked safe to be used by all normal and healthy adults. Some may have minor side-effects like headaches or restlessness when used for the first time.

• Legal Stuff

Use of the nootropics has been marked totally legal by the FDA. They are even allowed to be sold as over-the-counter drugs without any prescription or as prescription drugs after the approval from a registered medical practitioner. Bottom Line

Intelligence is the nature’s greatest gift for us. We need to polish it and explore the fullest potential in it. The best source for that right now are the nootropics. With the polished mental abilities, we can do wonders and definitely better minds will make better world.