Brain supplements

[studychinese]

Disclaimer: The following does not constitute medical advice. Always take medicines under professional medical supervision.

 

My language learning journey started when I was 20 years old. At the time I had an amazing memory and I could remember the name of a person that I met once years ago, or a phone number that I had only seen or heard once. It was a great advantage when I was learning Japanese. After a few years, however, this ability declined and eventually disappeared entirely. Now I have trouble with names, and can't retain any phone number.

 

Fast forward around 13 years and I found myself in China, trying to study Chinese. Unfortunately I found that my old brain could not retain information. I also couldn't concentrate no matter how hard I tried.

 

Vexed by this problem I found out about something called Piracetam, a brain supplement. Supposedly it helps with cognitive function and memory. Best of all It is legal in China and sold over the counter (but it is prescription only in most other jurisdictions). 

 

Piracetam doesn't really provide any extra ability to concentrate as far as my experience goes, but I do think that it helps in retention as the main function of Piracetam is neurogenesis. 

Amphetamine sulfate is another substance that I tried. People with Attention Deficit Disorder take this kind of thing, like adderall and so on. 

I was amazed at the level of focus and concentration provided by amphetamine sulfate. Anyone that has studied knows that sometimes (but more often not at all) that you can get into 'the zone' in which you have a very effective hour or two of studying. Amphetamine sulfate (and possibly the prescription drugs like adderall) puts you in this frame of mind for hours. 

You may be able to get a prescription amphetamine from your doctor. You will have to tell your doctor that you have attention deficit disorder (and it seems that a lot of people are diagnosed with that these days). Amphetamine sulfate (known by the street name 'speed') is entirely illegal just about everywhere. It is also highly addictive.

 

Piracetam helps with retention of words and such, and the amphetamines help with concentration. By combining the two I have been able to make gains that would be difficult for me at my age.

In short: I am certain that these meds can contribute to language acquisition, and perhaps even especially language acquisition. 

Cheers, 

Studychinese

[Shelley]

I am very glad you put in a disclaimer.

 

I would not under any circumstances recommend anyone takes any drugs just to help them learn anything, especially amphetamine sulphate.It is highly addictive and has many bad side effects.

[hackinger]

Hi,

 

this topic is a mine field. I echo Shelley's sentiment.

 

However I consider it possible that one day there may exist safe memory enhancing drugs. I would not try now though.

 

BBC had a news item on the topic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15600900

 

Also, 33 is young. You will know that when you are 45. :-)

 

Cheers

 

hackinger

[imron]

This is a really good article about the founder of a startup who was taking similar memory/focus enhancers to help him start his company.

 

The takeaway:

What I found with more experimentation of days both with and without Modafinil was that actually, I was just as productive if I was well rested, healthy, well fed with healthy foods and working on something I cared about.

 

You might find that there are other ways to get back your cognitive function without resorting to potentially addictive substances.

[Shelley]

Only 33, I didn't do the maths, 45 is young, you will know that when you are 56

 

Absolute no need at that age for any chemical help.

 

Good diet, active mind and plenty of fresh air and exercise.

 

Simple stuff but all you need to be healthy in mind and body.

 

And once again Post #4 slides in as I am writing and echos my sentiments.

[hedwards]

I'm with imron on this, the brain is sensitive and putting strange substances in to boost performance is something to be done only with caution. Especially in a country like China where the regulatory agencies are still figuring out how to keep legitimate prescription medications free of contamination.

As far as the topic goes, for most people, exercise and a clean diet free of excessive sugars will deliver the same basic effect, especially when combined with appropriate rest. I've got ritalin, but I've found that if I'm not eating a proper diet, getting sufficient exercise and rest that the ritalin doesn't really help that much. For folks without ADHD, this applies as well, just usually to less of an extent.

 

One of the more damaging things that people do to their memory is convince themselves that they have bad memory. I've got excellent memory over all, but if I tell myself that I'm having a hard time remembering things, I tend to get that result.

 

Anyways, the first thing that folks who are having attention problems ought to be doing is making sure to cut back on excessive sugar consumption, making sure they get at least a half hour of vigorous exercise a couple times a week and make sure they get a proper 6-8 hours of sleep ever night.

 

I'm not a doctor, but apart from people that aren't well enough for exercise, this should be safe for most folks.

[abcdefg]

I sympathize deeply with your valiant struggle against the ravages of old age. The weight of those 33 years must be heavy indeed.

[roddy]

For those who don't appreciate the topic - I did ask studychinese to post this, as I think it's interesting. So blame me. 

 

But yes - 33 is nothing, and if anything it's the age where you master impulse control and learn to sit down and concentrate better...

[abcdefg]

No need to blame anybody. I think it's interesting too.

 

Last Winter in the inland hill country of Guangdong, I bought some bitter herbal tea that was touted as improving concentration and retention of new information. It also allegedly cured coughing and indigestion. Cannot say that it changed my life, but I was willing to try it.

 

[studychinese]

I knew that this topic would be controversial but there is no reason for sarcasm about chronological age. Every person is an individual and about half of all people have below average cognitive function for their age group.

[imron]

How would you say your experience compares with the author of the article I posted earlier, especially with respect to:

 

*after effects (and how they might negatively affect study the following day)

*regular use vs occasional use

*sometimes ending up focusing intently on a task you didn't intend.

[Demonic_Duck]

about half of all people have below average cognitive function for their age group.

This statement is almost tautological... The only thing that stops it from being tautological is that there could be an uneven spread (with very low performers being so far from the norm that the average gets skewed).

 

Anyway, suffice to say, being "below average" hardly qualifies as learning difficulties.

[hedwards]

@roddy, I don't think we hate the topic, but this is an area where there's very little understood. GABA is a potential solution to a very specific brain "problem." It's also something that's not been particularly well researched at this point, so if there's some sort of consequence to this, we're not likely to know. There's also a ton of possible medication interactions that aren't really fully understood. I tend to recommend people not take psychoactive substances of this sort without more research. I take ritalin from time to time, but adderall is known to cause parkinson's in all cases, however both are routinely prescribed for ADHD.

 

Dr. Amen seems to be the current authority on the topic, but he's very much experimental in nature at this point. The scans he uses in terms of his studies haven't been properly validated yet, which means there's probably other possible explanations for the improvements that he sees in his patients.

 

And like Demonic_Duck says, being below average isn't a learning disorder, it means that you're in the lower half. I've worked with people who have serious memory problems and they'd be thrilled to only be bottom half. I had one student years back with antegrade amnesia. He literally couldn't remember anything that I told him more than 20 seconds earlier.

 

As far as language goes, poor memory is usually the result of a bad attitude towards the subject, excessive activity of the amygdala or bad memorization strategies. And frequently all 3 go hand in hand. For those that don't have a good memorization strategy, it might be worth taking a look over at http://mnemotechnics.org/ for more information and resources. I've personally found that since I now have a strategy that my memory for vocab and grammar is much better than it had been, even when I'm not using my strategy.

[Shelley]

I wasn't being sarcastic about chronological age, I was just saying that if you are experiencing difficulties at your age imagine what its like for someone of my advanced years

 

It was suppose to be encouraging in as much as you have the advantage of being relatively young and taking on learning Chinese.