4 ms·

Non-Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancers – Current Perspectives [pdf]

89 points by mantesso 11y ago

mikedmiked 11y ago
Less detail than I hoped but a lot of sources. Be wary of tCDS - no long term studies. Also 'no such thing as a free lunch' - see gwern : http://www.gwern.net/Drug%20heuristics http://www.gwern.net/Drug%20heuristics Not included and should be: very bright light. http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_alertness_and/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_ale...
- discardorama 11y ago
  > Not included and should be: very bright light. http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_ale.. http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_ale.... I've heard good things about bright lighting too. Unfortunately, my apartment's wiring can't support multiple 100W bulbs. Anyone have any tips on super-bright LED lightbulbs (that don't cost a fortune)?
  - abakker 11y ago
    I switched to 8 100W equivalent LED bulbs from Cree. They were expensive, but they'll last forever. I recommend mixing spectrums. I went with 3 bright white, 3 soft white, and 2 of the warm. It seems to give the best mix. I've definitely noticed that the whiter the light, the faster you wake up in the morning, and the better everything feels. I work in a home office though, and do have a window. Its worth noting that GE now makes some fluorescent tube replacements with LED that have a much more complete spectrum. For those with Fluorescent fixtures above your desks, they will help improve the quality of the light you have. I've put them in my woodshop with great success.
    - copperx 11y ago
      What kind of lamp do you use to hold the lights?
      - abakker 11y ago
        standard track lighting that was installed in my rental house. Just a straight bulb swap.
    - pasbesoin 11y ago
      Thanks for mentioning those GE tube replacements. I'm looking at a couple of fixtures right now.
      - abakker 11y ago
        Yeah - I'll be honest, a big reason I went for it was that they are MUCH less fragile. It used to be a fairly common occurrence that I'd hit a board into the fixtures on my ceiling. With the LEDs, I no longer get covered in broken glass a mercury powder. Instead, the bulb just flexes.
        pasbesoin 11y ago
        Probably also less susceptible to accelerated aging caused by on-off cycles.
- reubenmorais 11y ago
  Very bright light will definitely mess up your circadian rhythm if you're not very careful, and has been linked to all kinds of adverse health effects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-illumination#Health_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-illumination#Health_effec... The best solution I found for increasing alertness is also the hardest, but it works for me: go to sleep at the same time every day, don't linger in bed after waking up, and exercise in the morning.
  - rhinoceraptor 11y ago
    It's all about periodization. You want bright in the day, and dark in the night. Most places are too dim for me in the day, and too bright in the night. There's also the color temperature of the light, which I definitely notice. I use f.lux/redshift as well as red light bulbs at night, and sleep with blackout curtains. On the flip side, I find it hard to wake up in a pitch black room, so I set two clip lamps aimed at me on a timer instead of an alarm. What would be really nice is to have light bulbs that adjust both brightness and color temperature to mimic the sun. It would be interesting if mimicking a tropical sun cycle would help with seasonal affective disorder.
- narag 11y ago
  I can't vow for alertness, but bright light in the morning made wonders against DSPS.
adamiscool 11y ago
Is anyone aware of a similar sourced survey of the literature for pharmacological cognitive enhancers i.e. nootropics?
- discardorama 11y ago
  Apparently there's a vibrant nootropics community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/nootropics https://www.reddit.com/r/nootropics
- Plough_Jogger 11y ago
  Longecity has a really good forum as well.
- xq 11y ago
  Disclaimer: have been an /r/nootropics moderator for most of its life. Am basically inactive now, but sometimes answer modmail. Be wary of Longecity (and /r/nootropics to a lesser, or at least different, extent). There are some Longecity users in the Brain Health forum who will seem to know what they're talking about if you haven't read through introductory neuroscience and pharmacology textbooks. The same is true in /r/nootropics, but there are a greater concentration of knowledgeable users and bad science tends to get readily downvoted. I know I have said some ridiculous things in the past on both forums, and /r/nootropics has been more willing to call me out for indulging in anecdotal evidence. The Longecity forum also seems to have a slightly more experimental tone to it, given that Longecity as a whole is not a nootropics community but a life extension community. There's a tradition of doing "group buys" of new substances from overseas. /r/nootropics has gotten more openly experimental in the past couple years, but I don't believe anyone has tried to organize a group buy yet. But yeah, the sibling comments have exhausted the options that exist today. As far as I'm aware there aren't any expansive surveys that span the whole of nootropics / cognitive enhancement. There are papers that compare specific classes of new substances or techniques, but no comprehensive treatment of the idea of cumulative/permanent pharmacological brain enhancement yet. For now we're stuck with two slightly quirky online forums (which both skirt the line between self-help and wannabe academia) and wading through the literature ourselves. There's also examine.com and wikipedia as starting points.
charlieflowers 11y ago
I'd love a TL;DR (fully admit I'm lazy).

89 points by mantesso 11y ago

Less detail than I hoped but a lot of sources. Be wary of tCDS - no long term studies. Also 'no such thing as a free lunch' - see gwern : http://www.gwern.net/Drug%20heuristics http://www.gwern.net/Drug%20heuristics Not included and should be: very bright light. http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_alertness_and/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_ale...

discardorama 11y ago
> Not included and should be: very bright light. http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_ale.. http://lesswrong.com/lw/gdl/my_simple_hack_for_increased_ale.... I've heard good things about bright lighting too. Unfortunately, my apartment's wiring can't support multiple 100W bulbs. Anyone have any tips on super-bright LED lightbulbs (that don't cost a fortune)?
- abakker 11y ago
  I switched to 8 100W equivalent LED bulbs from Cree. They were expensive, but they'll last forever. I recommend mixing spectrums. I went with 3 bright white, 3 soft white, and 2 of the warm. It seems to give the best mix. I've definitely noticed that the whiter the light, the faster you wake up in the morning, and the better everything feels. I work in a home office though, and do have a window. Its worth noting that GE now makes some fluorescent tube replacements with LED that have a much more complete spectrum. For those with Fluorescent fixtures above your desks, they will help improve the quality of the light you have. I've put them in my woodshop with great success.
  - copperx 11y ago
    What kind of lamp do you use to hold the lights?
    - abakker 11y ago
      standard track lighting that was installed in my rental house. Just a straight bulb swap.
  - pasbesoin 11y ago
    Thanks for mentioning those GE tube replacements. I'm looking at a couple of fixtures right now.
    - abakker 11y ago
      Yeah - I'll be honest, a big reason I went for it was that they are MUCH less fragile. It used to be a fairly common occurrence that I'd hit a board into the fixtures on my ceiling. With the LEDs, I no longer get covered in broken glass a mercury powder. Instead, the bulb just flexes.
      - pasbesoin 11y ago
        Probably also less susceptible to accelerated aging caused by on-off cycles.
reubenmorais 11y ago
Very bright light will definitely mess up your circadian rhythm if you're not very careful, and has been linked to all kinds of adverse health effects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-illumination#Health_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-illumination#Health_effec... The best solution I found for increasing alertness is also the hardest, but it works for me: go to sleep at the same time every day, don't linger in bed after waking up, and exercise in the morning.
- rhinoceraptor 11y ago
  It's all about periodization. You want bright in the day, and dark in the night. Most places are too dim for me in the day, and too bright in the night. There's also the color temperature of the light, which I definitely notice. I use f.lux/redshift as well as red light bulbs at night, and sleep with blackout curtains. On the flip side, I find it hard to wake up in a pitch black room, so I set two clip lamps aimed at me on a timer instead of an alarm. What would be really nice is to have light bulbs that adjust both brightness and color temperature to mimic the sun. It would be interesting if mimicking a tropical sun cycle would help with seasonal affective disorder.
narag 11y ago
I can't vow for alertness, but bright light in the morning made wonders against DSPS.

adamiscool 11y ago

Is anyone aware of a similar sourced survey of the literature for pharmacological cognitive enhancers i.e. nootropics?

discardorama 11y ago
Apparently there's a vibrant nootropics community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/nootropics https://www.reddit.com/r/nootropics
Plough_Jogger 11y ago
Longecity has a really good forum as well.
xq 11y ago
Disclaimer: have been an /r/nootropics moderator for most of its life. Am basically inactive now, but sometimes answer modmail. Be wary of Longecity (and /r/nootropics to a lesser, or at least different, extent). There are some Longecity users in the Brain Health forum who will seem to know what they're talking about if you haven't read through introductory neuroscience and pharmacology textbooks. The same is true in /r/nootropics, but there are a greater concentration of knowledgeable users and bad science tends to get readily downvoted. I know I have said some ridiculous things in the past on both forums, and /r/nootropics has been more willing to call me out for indulging in anecdotal evidence. The Longecity forum also seems to have a slightly more experimental tone to it, given that Longecity as a whole is not a nootropics community but a life extension community. There's a tradition of doing "group buys" of new substances from overseas. /r/nootropics has gotten more openly experimental in the past couple years, but I don't believe anyone has tried to organize a group buy yet. But yeah, the sibling comments have exhausted the options that exist today. As far as I'm aware there aren't any expansive surveys that span the whole of nootropics / cognitive enhancement. There are papers that compare specific classes of new substances or techniques, but no comprehensive treatment of the idea of cumulative/permanent pharmacological brain enhancement yet. For now we're stuck with two slightly quirky online forums (which both skirt the line between self-help and wannabe academia) and wading through the literature ourselves. There's also examine.com and wikipedia as starting points.

charlieflowers 11y ago

I'd love a TL;DR (fully admit I'm lazy).