Unintelligent "smart drugs", back off! Back off! Back off!

"Take one pill before the exam, and you'll be able to write as if inspired by God" "If you have difficulty concentrating, try taking medicine"... As the exam approaches, many parents of candidates are flooded with various "brain-boosting" remedies. In order to help their children improve their grades, some parents of candidates not only take "food supplements" but also want to take "medicine supplements" and try to buy some so-called "smart drugs". If there is really a "magic drug" that can help us achieve twice the result with half the effort, then the side effects it brings will also be huge.

1. Dear, I suggest you don’t eat it blindly if you are not sick.

First of all, it needs to be made clear that most of the products that claim to "make you smarter after eating" are rumors, and may even be a trick to sell fake drugs and defraud money. If a classmate encounters someone trying to sell you the so-called "smart drugs", it is recommended that you report it directly to your teacher or parents.

Chongqing Customs seized 100 tablets of "smart drugs" | Source: Chongqing Customs

However, scientists have indeed studied drugs with similar effects for certain specific diseases, such as Modafinil and Ritalin (these are the generic names of the drugs, and there may be other trade names).

Modafinil is a central nervous system stimulant that is mainly used to treat narcolepsy (a sleep disorder in which a person suddenly enters an irresistible sleep state, manifested as uncontrollable sleep disorders. The disease is clinically accompanied by symptoms such as cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations). Dozing off is not a big problem, but some people still feel sleepy no matter how long they sleep, and cannot wake up all day, affecting their work and study. This is a disease. For this symptom, drugs such as modafinil can keep patients awake for a reasonable time.

Image source: Paixin Creative

Ritalin, on the other hand, is used to treat ADHD, inattention, learning disabilities and other diseases. These drugs are basically limited to treating children's attention deficit and other diseases, and there are very few reports of using them as "smart drugs" in trials. In other words, if you don't have insurmountable difficulties in concentrating, you won't need them at all.

2. Magical effect? ​​Better to sleep peacefully

Can these drugs achieve the legendary effects? The answer is that they are not very useful. For example, for Modafinil, the US military once conducted a sleep deprivation experiment: the subjects were asked to stay up late for two consecutive days, and then they were asked to operate a flight simulator. At this moment, the number of operating errors made by the subjects also increased sharply. However, the group of subjects who took Modafinil performed significantly better in the experiment. In other words, when people are extremely tired and need to concentrate on their work, Modafinil does play a positive role in "improving human cognition." Other subsequent experiments have also confirmed this effect in different aspects, such as reducing sleepiness, reducing memory loss, and even calming the effects of "morning grumpiness."

Image source: Paixin Creative

This means that although using modafinil as a "stimulant" in special occasions can resist fatigue, it can only help you eliminate temporary sleepiness, and will not give you an extra IQ boost to help you perform beyond your level. Expecting "doubled power" is really too much. Some studies have also pointed out that the subjects' performance has improved, and there are also benefits from accepting psychological suggestions. It is not as reliable as honestly and steadily resting for two more hours.

3. Side effects that are difficult to control

If this type of drug is used only to fight fatigue and improve learning outcomes, one needs to be more cautious about the impact of its side effects on students' physical and mental health.

First, the risk of addiction. Modafinil is a central nervous system stimulant that gives the brain a feeling of "satisfaction" and "excitement". After long-term medication, the brain will become more and more adapted to and more and more dependent on this stimulation. Even if there is no need for study or work, it will actively seek to take such drugs. This phenomenon is the so-called "addiction", and its formation mechanism is essentially the same as that of drugs and psychotropic drugs, and it is also very troublesome to treat. As for Ritalin, it can indeed help people concentrate, but the effect also has great risks. After taking the medicine, some people did not focus on the study or work in front of them, but uncontrollably stared at some meaningless trivialities, such as how many leaves are on the tree outside the window, how many sheets of paper are there in a box of tissues, etc. It's so focused that it makes people laugh and cry.

Image source: Paixin Creative

Secondly, it will produce other adverse reactions in the mind and body. The former includes inexplicable mania, sudden depression, or wild delusions after taking the drug; the latter includes the drug's irritation to the gastrointestinal tract and skin itching, which increases the factor of distraction. In response to this, the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) issued a notice in 2009 to restrict the clinical use of modafinil, and especially emphasized that "not for children" should be marked in the product instructions, after all, its safety is still uncertain.

Image source: Paixin Creative

In short, no matter which kind of "smart drug" you rely on, the health risks it brings are unpredictable, and the benefits it brings are also unverifiable. Putting aside the physical and mental side effects, taking such drugs will also have a negative psychological impact, such as unconsciously attributing the credit to the drug, thus doubting your own knowledge and ability, and then losing self-confidence. The human brain is so complicated that it is naturally not worth the loss to rely on one or two "smart drugs" to stimulate its potential; on the contrary, it may cause us both physical and psychological harm, and there is a great safety risk. Remember, there is no shortcut to learning, and "smart drugs" will not bring miracles.

Author: Mantou Laoyao, a university teacher and PhD in chemistry, is engaged in research on food safety.

Review experts: Huang He, Li Chunli, Chen Tao, Xu Xiaoping

Source: Chongqing Science and Technology Museum

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