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The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. It takes effort! Preparing for bed early and disciplining yourself to put the light out is not easy. Not nea

The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. It takes effort! Preparing for bed early and disciplining yourself to put the light out is not easy. Not nearly as easy as popping a pill. But it's so much more effective than any drug listed here. And for a safe and provable quick cognitive boost, take some caffeine, preferable green tea with theanine.

lisper 10y ago
This. And use Flux. Blue light after 9PM is the enemy.
- marak830 10y ago
  Someone mentioned this on HN a few months this ago, ended up grabbing twilight(Android - I like reading in bed). It has made a noticeable difference!
- kristofferR 10y ago
  Try getting the Uvex S1933X glasses. They work for everything in your view (obviously) without messing around with software, and probably works better too. I have them, and they're amazing. I have pretty cool LED lighting in my apartment and can make my whole living room any color I want at night. If I set in to pure blue and put on the glasses, it's like being in pitch blackness (except a couple of items glow brightly). It's not like looking at things with an orange tint at all, even though the glasses are obviously orange. That being said - the benefits I get by using them is amazing. It's weird how much of a difference it can make, I get tired quickly after putting them on in the evening. If I forget to put them on I usually end up staying up too late, getting too little sleep and often ruining the next day. Personally I find it way more effective than flux. By the way - blue light isn't just a negative thing, but also a huge positive. In the morning I use a Philips goLITE BLU HF3332, and it really improves both my energy and mood quickly after just a few minutes of usage. Those two simple items, a blue light and a pair of blue-blocking glasses, have improved my life significantly. Try it out (especially the glasses, it's just $9).
- driverdan 10y ago
  Just turn down your display brightness at night. Personally I can't stand Flux. I hate the false colors it creates.
MichaelGG 10y ago
It can't be "so much more effective", otherwise the Air Force wouldn't give stims to pilots. And anyways, why not both?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- SkyMarshal 10y ago
  Stims are for long missions and when getting sufficient sleep is not possible.
  - HalfwayToDice 10y ago
    Exactly. The listed stimulants will solve a short-term need. But people here are looking for a long-term permanent solution that can be used every day.
mettamage 10y ago
It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep. Sleep tips that help me: 1. meditation: still experimenting with body-scan vs. breath meditation, they both help but have different effects. 2. magnesium: makes my body more relaxed. 3. sleeping less if needed: improves likelihood of falling asleep the next day, it's a tricky thing to do but applied sparingly and timed right it works really well. When I do this I prefer to sleep the 6 to 7 hour range. 4. reduce stress: sometimes hard to do but pretty essential for me. 5. flux. 6. opening your window for sunlight during the day: get vitamin D first thing in the morning. 7. buy quality decaffeinated tea: some green tea manufacturers say it's decaffeinated but it's not really. Or maybe it is but it still keeps me energized and awake. 8. no caffeine after 2: preferably not after 12, preferably not at all, use meditation and power naps as a first line of defence, only add caffeine when those 2 aren't enough. Preferably do the power nap + caffeine wombo combo (takes 20 min. for caffeine to reach your brain which is also the ideal power nap time). I'm curious about other sleep tips that you guys have. I really want to improve this as much as possible.
- trhway 10y ago
  try running. Helps dissolve stress or whatever stuff that accumulated during the day - while it doesn't make problems disappear of course, it helps change your view on them a bit. Just did 3 miles and once i get to bed i'll be like dead.
  - spotman 10y ago
    Completely agree. I prefer to run at night, because running before work means I have some kind of timeline that has to occasionally be accounted for, like another thread running. So after work is done, I love going on some kind of cardio adventure for 30-60 minutes. Running is my favorite but biking also works. When I get home, all steam is blown off, and I manage to fall asleep in most cases. Naturally, I am not really a great sleeper. Cardio helps a lot.
- 10y ago
pavs 10y ago
I agree, but it's very difficult for me to fall asleep naturally. I have tried all the well-known advice and even tried long workouts late in the day so that it would help me to get tired and fall asleep. The only thing that works for me is melatonin and making sure I am away from all kinds of blue lights 2-3 hours before bed. I have been sleeping great for the last 6 months or so. I have tried to get off of melatonin pills, I would sleep normally for a couple of days then I would have trouble falling sleep again. To the best of my knowledge, I haven't seen any side effect from melatonin. I also have random sudden panic attacks. I stopped drinking coffee (which helped a lot) and I would only drink 1 cup of green tea once a day in the morning. Instead, I take modafinil during the day to try to stay awake. The daytime tiredness has nothing to do with sleep or my food intake (I have done extensive research on nutrition), I am fairly physically active, currently training for my first 10k. If I drink coffee I will be fine in terms of alertness but it will make my anxiety crazy (not always but a lot more than not drinking any coffee). So I started taking modafinil which works great without making my anxiety/panic attack any worse. Even with no coffee and good nights of sleep and being fairly physically active, and trying out all the self-help methods I could get my hands on in the last couple of years, I still couldn't fix my anxiety/panic attack issues. The only thing that works is benzo (clonazepam 0.5mg once a day). It works amazing - not only I am happiest when I am on it I am also the most productive (because of less anxiety and panic attack). I have been taking it for the last 3 months regularly (prescribed) and I am already addicted to it. If I try not to take a benzo for one day my anxiety is off the roof - the feeling is horrible and I can't get anything done the whole day. At the moment I am trying to find the best way I can get off my dependencies on benzo but still keep my sanity. The point of my post is that sometimes life is not as simple as "getting a good night's sleep" because even something as simple as "getting a good nights sleep" can be quite a bit struggle for some of us.
- dave84 10y ago
  With respect to the daytime tiredness have you investigated sleep apnea as a possible cause?
  - pavs 10y ago
    My dad has sleep apnea. I don't think I have sleep apnea, because I don't have most of the symptoms/pre-requisite of sleep apnea. But this is self diagnosis, I reckon I probably should get a proper test done.
afarrell 10y ago
One thing to help with sleep that is https://freedom.to/ https://freedom.to/, which you can use to make a list of websites to hard-block and then schedule them to be blocked either 1) now through 8hours from now 2) every SMTWRarsday from 11:30pm-8:30am
- fao_ 10y ago
  Or have cron jobs that swap out /etc/hosts with pre-prepared replacements
- PeterisP 10y ago
  I have a problem with all these website-blocking tools that I want them to behave differently than they do, perhaps you can suggest something? The issue is that I want to block only the main, 'browsing' pages while allowing deep links to that same site. For example, I want to block reddit, when googling some question turns out an answer that's on a niche subreddit I've never seen, I need to be able to read it. However, the site blockers I've tried require me to unblock the whole site or turn them off, and thus become pointless.
  - afarrell 10y ago
    Hmm... That is an interesting problem, but I've not found anything. You would need some sort of proof-of-work for it to make behavioral sense though.
    - PeterisP 10y ago
      I don't think that proof-of-work is needed - these are different models of operation; reading an article (which is ok) vs browsing for more articles (which is not).
  - smelterdemon 10y ago
    With StayFocusd at least, you can whitelist subreddits while blocking the main site.
jokoon 10y ago
A 30min jog in the morning is also a huge boost to your day.
- mobiuscog 10y ago
  30 minute brisk walk morning and evening has helped me far more than any nootropics I tried. I still try various 'stacks' that people suggest (often Tim Ferriss), and am currently on Ubiquinol, Creatine and Policosanol before bed. If I don't perceive any benefit after a month or two though, I tend to move on, as there's a huge commercial market wrapped around all of this, so evidence is required for me to keep spending.
lambdacomplete 10y ago
Assuming sleep works for everyone the same way is not very scientific. And such drugs help transition between an unhealthy lifestyle and a healthy one without having to give up productivity, focus and whatnot.
nvarsj 10y ago
This is so true. It's amazing what an extra hour or two a night can do for me. But who has time to sleep that much?!
agumonkey 10y ago
I just tried "meditation" last night. Not being ready to sleep, wishing to "read more on the web" ... 10 min of trying not to think and I was a lot more ready to sleep on schedule.
blubb-fish 10y ago
> But it's so much more effective than any drug listed here. Well - nobody mentioned weed yet. Give that a try - slows down your mind, relaxes your body - you'll sleep in no time.
forloop 10y ago
Sleep isn't a nootropic. This happens quite a lot with noobs. They conflate nootropics with sleep/food/water/exercise. It wouldn't be that bad, but it derails the actual subject: I.e. nootropics. Here's a concise definition[0]: "(of a drug) used to enhance memory or other cognitive functions" There are other definitions. All the ones I've seen have exogenous substances as a common denominator, however. [0] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nootropic https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nootropic
- aninhumer 10y ago
  >Sleep isn't a nootropic. This happens quite a lot with noobs. It's a figurative usage. The OP is not suggesting sleep is literally a nootropic, but that it is something that performs the same function. Like "the best defence is a good offence". And I don't think it's derailing the topic to talk about relevant alternatives.
  - forloop 10y ago
    > The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. The above is a direct quote from OP. Where's the metaphor? You're grossly mistaken! > but that it is something that performs the same function Can sleep gives one supranormal cognition? No. Does sleep perform the same function as modafinil (a drug which gives you more time to work since you need less sleep)? They're nearly opposites. Does sleep perform the same function as melatonin? A hormone that allows greater sleep "efficiency" than normal sleep. No. You're grossly incorrect again. > And I don't think it's derailing the topic to talk about relevant alternatives. It's a category error. The sleep conversation is above everything else. It takes focus from the subject at hand. It happens a lot with noobs. They don't know anything about noots, but know something about sleep/exercise/whatever and decide that's a good topic to talk about. It's like a conversation about Tesla, and then someone talking about walking—because it's an alternative. OK, the subject may be interesting per se, but it is of little relevance.
    - kale 10y ago
      > Does sleep perform the same function as melatonin? A hormone that allows greater sleep "efficiency" than normal sleep. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep normally. You're taking additional sleep hormone by taking it orally. So sleep is melatonin. It's the hormone that is theorized to be involved in the "blue light" sleep effect. When the high-wavelength cones are stimulated, melatonin release is reduced, according to current theory. [0] [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11487664 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11487664
dagaci 10y ago
Yes! I concur good night's sleep has Amazing results. And that means discipline in regulating your sleeping habits.
arca_vorago 10y ago
This is one of the side effects of ptsd that can make a big difference, since sleep really is so important. Mine is more of a hypervigilance (I can almost be asleep and then hear a sound and all senses are in overdrive, so usually I just get up and patrol the perimeter of the house and check locks/doors/camera systems), but many of my buddies drank themselves to sleep every night. Most of them have switched to MJ and swear it's the best thing ever for them vs alcohol. As a side note, I also think MJ counts as a nootropic when used properly, and I often think about Carl Sagans Mr. X article about it in this light, in the sense that a different perspective can help you solve issues or think about issues in a different way than you might have otherwise. This is why I highly suggest that people trying MJ try to be productive while on it instead of just (read: only) vegging.
- VLM 10y ago
  White noise? I find I fall asleep faster due to air conditioner and forced air furnace and occasional rain storms. When I was a kid I could just barely hear my parents decompressing by watching Barney Miller and All in the Family (yes I am older) and that helped me sleep.
  - arca_vorago 10y ago
    I find that white noise helps as long as I'm not in hyper-vigilance mode, because if I am, the white noise is something thats keeping me from hearing an enemy, which drives me insane (like when someone is snoring too loud, or the AC is squeaky )... so it works great lots of the time. (Classical music, newagey music, movie soundtracks, ancient music (greek/roman) and thunderstorms and a little bit of delta wave stuff are my go-tos.)
codingmyway 10y ago
Powernaps are way more effective than caffeine, I know that. I seem to be in a minority though.
pasbesoin 10y ago
And guarding your health, in the first place. P.S. No one will do it for you. (Not even your parents.)

lisper 10y ago

This. And use Flux. Blue light after 9PM is the enemy.

marak830 10y ago
Someone mentioned this on HN a few months this ago, ended up grabbing twilight(Android - I like reading in bed). It has made a noticeable difference!
kristofferR 10y ago
Try getting the Uvex S1933X glasses. They work for everything in your view (obviously) without messing around with software, and probably works better too. I have them, and they're amazing. I have pretty cool LED lighting in my apartment and can make my whole living room any color I want at night. If I set in to pure blue and put on the glasses, it's like being in pitch blackness (except a couple of items glow brightly). It's not like looking at things with an orange tint at all, even though the glasses are obviously orange. That being said - the benefits I get by using them is amazing. It's weird how much of a difference it can make, I get tired quickly after putting them on in the evening. If I forget to put them on I usually end up staying up too late, getting too little sleep and often ruining the next day. Personally I find it way more effective than flux. By the way - blue light isn't just a negative thing, but also a huge positive. In the morning I use a Philips goLITE BLU HF3332, and it really improves both my energy and mood quickly after just a few minutes of usage. Those two simple items, a blue light and a pair of blue-blocking glasses, have improved my life significantly. Try it out (especially the glasses, it's just $9).
driverdan 10y ago
Just turn down your display brightness at night. Personally I can't stand Flux. I hate the false colors it creates.

MichaelGG 10y ago

It can't be "so much more effective", otherwise the Air Force wouldn't give stims to pilots. And anyways, why not both?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
SkyMarshal 10y ago
Stims are for long missions and when getting sufficient sleep is not possible.
- HalfwayToDice 10y ago
  Exactly. The listed stimulants will solve a short-term need. But people here are looking for a long-term permanent solution that can be used every day.

mettamage 10y ago

It's hard for me to fall asleep. I haven't cracked it yet how to do it perfectly. What helps: view the problem as improving your likelihood to sleep. Before I viewed the problem as falling asleep 100% of the time, which is a really defeating view to have when I can't fall asleep. Sleep tips that help me: 1. meditation: still experimenting with body-scan vs. breath meditation, they both help but have different effects. 2. magnesium: makes my body more relaxed. 3. sleeping less if needed: improves likelihood of falling asleep the next day, it's a tricky thing to do but applied sparingly and timed right it works really well. When I do this I prefer to sleep the 6 to 7 hour range. 4. reduce stress: sometimes hard to do but pretty essential for me. 5. flux. 6. opening your window for sunlight during the day: get vitamin D first thing in the morning. 7. buy quality decaffeinated tea: some green tea manufacturers say it's decaffeinated but it's not really. Or maybe it is but it still keeps me energized and awake. 8. no caffeine after 2: preferably not after 12, preferably not at all, use meditation and power naps as a first line of defence, only add caffeine when those 2 aren't enough. Preferably do the power nap + caffeine wombo combo (takes 20 min. for caffeine to reach your brain which is also the ideal power nap time). I'm curious about other sleep tips that you guys have. I really want to improve this as much as possible.

trhway 10y ago
try running. Helps dissolve stress or whatever stuff that accumulated during the day - while it doesn't make problems disappear of course, it helps change your view on them a bit. Just did 3 miles and once i get to bed i'll be like dead.
- spotman 10y ago
  Completely agree. I prefer to run at night, because running before work means I have some kind of timeline that has to occasionally be accounted for, like another thread running. So after work is done, I love going on some kind of cardio adventure for 30-60 minutes. Running is my favorite but biking also works. When I get home, all steam is blown off, and I manage to fall asleep in most cases. Naturally, I am not really a great sleeper. Cardio helps a lot.
10y ago

pavs 10y ago

I agree, but it's very difficult for me to fall asleep naturally. I have tried all the well-known advice and even tried long workouts late in the day so that it would help me to get tired and fall asleep. The only thing that works for me is melatonin and making sure I am away from all kinds of blue lights 2-3 hours before bed. I have been sleeping great for the last 6 months or so. I have tried to get off of melatonin pills, I would sleep normally for a couple of days then I would have trouble falling sleep again. To the best of my knowledge, I haven't seen any side effect from melatonin. I also have random sudden panic attacks. I stopped drinking coffee (which helped a lot) and I would only drink 1 cup of green tea once a day in the morning. Instead, I take modafinil during the day to try to stay awake. The daytime tiredness has nothing to do with sleep or my food intake (I have done extensive research on nutrition), I am fairly physically active, currently training for my first 10k. If I drink coffee I will be fine in terms of alertness but it will make my anxiety crazy (not always but a lot more than not drinking any coffee). So I started taking modafinil which works great without making my anxiety/panic attack any worse. Even with no coffee and good nights of sleep and being fairly physically active, and trying out all the self-help methods I could get my hands on in the last couple of years, I still couldn't fix my anxiety/panic attack issues. The only thing that works is benzo (clonazepam 0.5mg once a day). It works amazing - not only I am happiest when I am on it I am also the most productive (because of less anxiety and panic attack). I have been taking it for the last 3 months regularly (prescribed) and I am already addicted to it. If I try not to take a benzo for one day my anxiety is off the roof - the feeling is horrible and I can't get anything done the whole day. At the moment I am trying to find the best way I can get off my dependencies on benzo but still keep my sanity. The point of my post is that sometimes life is not as simple as "getting a good night's sleep" because even something as simple as "getting a good nights sleep" can be quite a bit struggle for some of us.

dave84 10y ago
With respect to the daytime tiredness have you investigated sleep apnea as a possible cause?
- pavs 10y ago
  My dad has sleep apnea. I don't think I have sleep apnea, because I don't have most of the symptoms/pre-requisite of sleep apnea. But this is self diagnosis, I reckon I probably should get a proper test done.

afarrell 10y ago

One thing to help with sleep that is https://freedom.to/ https://freedom.to/, which you can use to make a list of websites to hard-block and then schedule them to be blocked either 1) now through 8hours from now 2) every SMTWRarsday from 11:30pm-8:30am

fao_ 10y ago
Or have cron jobs that swap out /etc/hosts with pre-prepared replacements
PeterisP 10y ago
I have a problem with all these website-blocking tools that I want them to behave differently than they do, perhaps you can suggest something? The issue is that I want to block only the main, 'browsing' pages while allowing deep links to that same site. For example, I want to block reddit, when googling some question turns out an answer that's on a niche subreddit I've never seen, I need to be able to read it. However, the site blockers I've tried require me to unblock the whole site or turn them off, and thus become pointless.
- afarrell 10y ago
  Hmm... That is an interesting problem, but I've not found anything. You would need some sort of proof-of-work for it to make behavioral sense though.
  - PeterisP 10y ago
    I don't think that proof-of-work is needed - these are different models of operation; reading an article (which is ok) vs browsing for more articles (which is not).
- smelterdemon 10y ago
  With StayFocusd at least, you can whitelist subreddits while blocking the main site.

jokoon 10y ago

A 30min jog in the morning is also a huge boost to your day.

mobiuscog 10y ago
30 minute brisk walk morning and evening has helped me far more than any nootropics I tried. I still try various 'stacks' that people suggest (often Tim Ferriss), and am currently on Ubiquinol, Creatine and Policosanol before bed. If I don't perceive any benefit after a month or two though, I tend to move on, as there's a huge commercial market wrapped around all of this, so evidence is required for me to keep spending.

lambdacomplete 10y ago

Assuming sleep works for everyone the same way is not very scientific. And such drugs help transition between an unhealthy lifestyle and a healthy one without having to give up productivity, focus and whatnot.

nvarsj 10y ago

This is so true. It's amazing what an extra hour or two a night can do for me. But who has time to sleep that much?!

agumonkey 10y ago

I just tried "meditation" last night. Not being ready to sleep, wishing to "read more on the web" ... 10 min of trying not to think and I was a lot more ready to sleep on schedule.

blubb-fish 10y ago

> But it's so much more effective than any drug listed here. Well - nobody mentioned weed yet. Give that a try - slows down your mind, relaxes your body - you'll sleep in no time.

forloop 10y ago

Sleep isn't a nootropic. This happens quite a lot with noobs. They conflate nootropics with sleep/food/water/exercise. It wouldn't be that bad, but it derails the actual subject: I.e. nootropics. Here's a concise definition[0]: "(of a drug) used to enhance memory or other cognitive functions" There are other definitions. All the ones I've seen have exogenous substances as a common denominator, however. [0] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nootropic https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nootropic

aninhumer 10y ago
>Sleep isn't a nootropic. This happens quite a lot with noobs. It's a figurative usage. The OP is not suggesting sleep is literally a nootropic, but that it is something that performs the same function. Like "the best defence is a good offence". And I don't think it's derailing the topic to talk about relevant alternatives.
- forloop 10y ago
  > The best nootropic is getting a good nights sleep. The above is a direct quote from OP. Where's the metaphor? You're grossly mistaken! > but that it is something that performs the same function Can sleep gives one supranormal cognition? No. Does sleep perform the same function as modafinil (a drug which gives you more time to work since you need less sleep)? They're nearly opposites. Does sleep perform the same function as melatonin? A hormone that allows greater sleep "efficiency" than normal sleep. No. You're grossly incorrect again. > And I don't think it's derailing the topic to talk about relevant alternatives. It's a category error. The sleep conversation is above everything else. It takes focus from the subject at hand. It happens a lot with noobs. They don't know anything about noots, but know something about sleep/exercise/whatever and decide that's a good topic to talk about. It's like a conversation about Tesla, and then someone talking about walking—because it's an alternative. OK, the subject may be interesting per se, but it is of little relevance.
  - kale 10y ago
    > Does sleep perform the same function as melatonin? A hormone that allows greater sleep "efficiency" than normal sleep. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep normally. You're taking additional sleep hormone by taking it orally. So sleep is melatonin. It's the hormone that is theorized to be involved in the "blue light" sleep effect. When the high-wavelength cones are stimulated, melatonin release is reduced, according to current theory. [0] [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11487664 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11487664

dagaci 10y ago

Yes! I concur good night's sleep has Amazing results. And that means discipline in regulating your sleeping habits.

arca_vorago 10y ago

This is one of the side effects of ptsd that can make a big difference, since sleep really is so important. Mine is more of a hypervigilance (I can almost be asleep and then hear a sound and all senses are in overdrive, so usually I just get up and patrol the perimeter of the house and check locks/doors/camera systems), but many of my buddies drank themselves to sleep every night. Most of them have switched to MJ and swear it's the best thing ever for them vs alcohol. As a side note, I also think MJ counts as a nootropic when used properly, and I often think about Carl Sagans Mr. X article about it in this light, in the sense that a different perspective can help you solve issues or think about issues in a different way than you might have otherwise. This is why I highly suggest that people trying MJ try to be productive while on it instead of just (read: only) vegging.

VLM 10y ago
White noise? I find I fall asleep faster due to air conditioner and forced air furnace and occasional rain storms. When I was a kid I could just barely hear my parents decompressing by watching Barney Miller and All in the Family (yes I am older) and that helped me sleep.
- arca_vorago 10y ago
  I find that white noise helps as long as I'm not in hyper-vigilance mode, because if I am, the white noise is something thats keeping me from hearing an enemy, which drives me insane (like when someone is snoring too loud, or the AC is squeaky )... so it works great lots of the time. (Classical music, newagey music, movie soundtracks, ancient music (greek/roman) and thunderstorms and a little bit of delta wave stuff are my go-tos.)

codingmyway 10y ago

Powernaps are way more effective than caffeine, I know that. I seem to be in a minority though.

pasbesoin 10y ago

And guarding your health, in the first place. P.S. No one will do it for you. (Not even your parents.)