Enhancing And Increasing Mental Performance

[cantstoppeating]

A recent thread about depression got me interested in enhancing mental performance in the most general and global sense e.g. attention, working memory, recall, reaction time.

Since Peating is about maintaining a relatively high oxidative metabolism -- by doing things like reducing prolactin, serotonin, estrogen and increasing dopamine, C02, GABA -- we'll naturally experience relatively enhanced mental performance. Though I'd like to compile and explore a list of resources that specifically relate to enhanced mental performance if nothing more than to provide a more appealing gateway into Peating.

If you have any resources and experiences in enhancing mental performance, please share them.


The first plausible route to specifically enhancing mental performance I've come across is the combination of l-theanine and caffeine:

The effects of l-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18006208
"... In addition to improving RVIP (Rapid Visual Information Processing) accuracy and ‘mental fatigue’ ratings, the combination also led to faster simple reaction time, faster numeric working memory reaction time and improved sentence verification accuracy..."

The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood
Gail N. Owen1, Holly Parnell1, Eveline A. De Bruin2, Jane A. Rycroft1
"...This study represents a systematic assessment of L- theanine and caffeine interactions and replicates previous work which suggests a synergy between these two tea components. In particular, L-theanine and caffeine in combination appear to improve, significantly, aspects of memory and attention to a greater extent than caffeine alone. The levels of L-theanine and caffeine used here are higher than those found in real tea beverages and also in the reverse ratio as in tea the caffeine level is typically higher than that of L- theanine (approximately 2:1). Further studies should therefore be aimed at establishing a full dose-range effect for L-theanine and caffeine in combination."

The ratio of l-theanine to caffeine is between 5:3 and 2:1. So if you're taking 100mg caffeine pills, you'd need to take along with it 170-200mg of l-theanine.

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

l-theanine + caffeine didn't do much for me. Just let me drink coffee for longer with a bit less of the negative effects I was getting from it before I quit.
If you want to enhance mental performance... I don't know much better than Adderall. I took 2.5mg once and I did more programming in an hour than I ever had, wrote a long letter, cleaned my apartment, and went on a long hike. It was amazing so I never did it again :)
Some people do well with -racetams, but I did not (they're very inconsistent). You can also try herbal compounds like ginko biloba - which was probably more consistent for me than l-theanine + caffeine.
However, the best I've found all around has been exercise + meditation + real food, often. It doesn't sound sexy, so most don't think it is optimal, but it is the best I've found and I've tried quite a lot.
This might be an interesting read too: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/02/16/no ... -analysis/

 

[Ipsissimus]

This is somewhat of a quest for me.

On one end of the spectrum I do aerobic walks and have some sugar or a fruit (or many of them blended up) before something mentally strenuous. The parameters for the walk follows the Maffatone method, not the traditional one. It's supposed to have your body burn more energy from fat. Not the Peatist thing I guess, but I feel much better after doing it.

On the other end, I used to cycle a prohormone that was marketed as a neurosteriod. It had a type of pregnenolone which I guess basically is one. Anyway, after about a week the effects were very pronounced. I had to stop because it became anxiogenic.

I now just do decaf green tea or white tea. :)

 

[Anonymous]

Look into the concept of sexual transmutation if you are not already familiar with it. It is described in chapter 11 of napoleon hills book think and grow rich. He explains that the secret to genious is being able to transfer sexual energy into other areas of ones life. People will do crazy things for sex. People will risk their lives, pay large sums of money, etc. if people could channel that intense drive into a passion or a goal, they could achieve anything they want. Mans purpose on earth is to reproduce, so all of his actions are directed towards attracting the opposite sex. When we orgasm, that desire diminishes and we don't feel the same need to accomplish because we have already met our purpose. Do what you wish, but you probably get the gist.

Maybe you already implement this principle, but I think maximizing mental function stems from a need to grow and accomplish. So if you can harness sexual energy, that could be a great experiment.

 

[Parsifal]

I remember reading a paper saying that Klotho (an anti-aging protein that Ray has been talking a bit about) enhances mental performance and is induced by sport. Is there other ways to improve it (because my body can't stand too much activity other than walking)?

 

[DaveFoster]

To bump this, replacing my dairy fat with coconut oil has done some amazing things to my mental clarity.

 

[answersfound]

Pregnenolone is the most powerful substance I have ever tried for mental clarity. Hands down.

 

[brandonk]

post 116281 To bump this, replacing my dairy fat with coconut oil has done some amazing things to my mental clarity.

Yes, the switch to a lot of the specific saturated fats in coconut oil or its fractions seems to have made a great difference. I use urine test strips to track ketones, and this lets me know how much to eat and how often.

To be fair I also sip a lot of very strong coffee (total of a gram or more of caffeine per day), and use aspirin and emodin several times a day, so this may contribute to the effect.

The only issue is I've run into is that I often seem to experience a kind of hypermetabolic state, which feels good but intense, like exercising without running. It's also hard to fall asleep at the appointed bedtime.

I also agree that a form of meditative exercise should be helpful and I'm trying things that Pranarupa writes about, to create more mitochondria-rich brown fat.
https://pranarupa.wordpress.com/

 

[ecstatichamster]

Thanks for the link brandonk

 

[Experienced]

I remember reading a paper saying that Klotho (an anti-aging protein that Ray has been talking a bit about) enhances mental performance and is induced by sport. Is there other ways to improve it (because my body can't stand too much activity other than walking)?

wow Klotho seems to be a good thing still any ideas?

 

[jet9]

Bump

 

[danishispsychic]

Pregnenalone and Bacopa and Iodine and Nicotine do it for me.

 

[jet9]

To bump this, replacing my dairy fat with coconut oil has done some amazing things to my mental clarity.

Are you still using coconut oil with positive results ?

 

[matisvijs]

wow Klotho seems to be a good thing still any ideas?

Ray mentioned in an interview that it's main action is phosphate excretion, so high-dose niacinamide and a low phosphate diet should have anti-aging, pro-mental effects. Great thread btw, like many others here, my main interest for years has been mental performance optimization.

 

[Experienced]

Ray mentioned in an interview that it's main action is phosphate excretion, so high-dose niacinamide and a low phosphate diet should have anti-aging, pro-mental effects. Great thread btw, like many others here, my main interest for years has been mental performance optimization.

2 years back man

 

[Experienced]

Ray mentioned in an interview that it's main action is phosphate excretion, so high-dose niacinamide and a low phosphate diet should have anti-aging, pro-mental effects. Great thread btw, like many others here, my main interest for years has been mental performance optimization.

I'm taking L-Theanine and Caffeine though just drinking it with coffee not too much dosage of Theanine. 200 MG is enough.

 

[Experienced]

has been mental performance optimization

Like some one mentions in here that trying out sexual transmutation will help out with mental clarity Semen Retention is very important to make those things workout. Check out NoFap . There is a lot of benefits on it too .

Look into the concept of sexual transmutation if you are not already familiar with it. It is described in chapter 11 of napoleon hills book think and grow rich. He explains that the secret to genious is being able to transfer sexual energy into other areas of ones life. People will do crazy things for sex. People will risk their lives, pay large sums of money, etc. if people could channel that intense drive into a passion or a goal, they could achieve anything they want. Mans purpose on earth is to reproduce, so all of his actions are directed towards attracting the opposite sex. When we orgasm, that desire diminishes and we don't feel the same need to accomplish because we have already met our purpose. Do what you wish, but you probably get the gist.

Maybe you already implement this principle, but I think maximizing mental function stems from a need to grow and accomplish. So if you can harness sexual energy, that could be a great experiment.

 

[matisvijs]

Like some one mentions in here that trying out sexual transmutation will help out with mental clarity Semen Retention is very important to make those things workout. Check out NoFap . There is a lot of benefits on it too .

Yeah, experimented with that 7-8 years ago after reading 'Think And Grow Rich' lol. There is an increase in ambition but I found I'm not that more productive, primarily, because I couldn't focus/think about anything other than sex after a while (I guess I would have to work on the 'transmutation' part a lot more).

 

[Experienced]

Yeah, experimented with that 7-8 years ago after reading 'Think And Grow Rich' lol. There is an increase in ambition but I found I'm not that more productive, primarily, because I couldn't focus/think about anything other than sex after a while (I guess I would have to work on the 'transmutation' part a lot more).

Trust me work on NoFap it'll work out great .