So, this year you’ve decided to invest in a bigger, better memory, by buying some top quality nootropics that work, but there are so many options out there, that when you try to choose, your head feels like it’s going to explode!
Should you buy locally, or online, and what should you buy? Do they even sell Nootropics at places likeWalmart, GNC, Walgreens, and CVS?
Sure they do, but in smaller selections, and much more basic products. If you're looking for a big selection of proprietary, memory enhancing blends, you will want to look online, and for our purposes, that's what we're going to get into today.
But, how do you know what you're even looking for? It's like a maze without a guide. Before you figure out where to buy, you need to know what, and how to buy.
Some of the claims made, sound like they're selling magic beans, and that's because (let's face it), we secretly WANT them to be, but down deep... we know there's no such thing, right?
- "Have Razor sharp FOCUS"-
- P.e.a.c.e.f.u.l, ZEN LIKE"....and on and on.
It can be really confusing, and sometimes frustrating, trying to weed through all of the hype, to get to the real deal.
There are however, VERY REAL, STUDIED benefits with many nootropics that work, and you've come to the right place to learn what to look for, when you set out to purchase them online.
Before we dive into the best way to qualify a superior nootropic, and then find the best place to buy it, let’s take a quick refresher on what they are and what you want from them.
Nootropics are any drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and any functional foods that help improve mental functions.
Hmmm…hold up let’s go a bit further into that broad definition.
The father of brain pharmacology and mental performance research, Dr. Prof. Corneliu Giurgea, defined nootropics as having these 6 specific characteristics:
- Enhanced learning – yes please!
- Improved focus- you probably want some of that.
- Protect your brain against various physical or chemical injuries- definitely want that!
- Enhance the efficiency of your brain functions-so basically, it does what it normally does, but better- that sounds good.
- They should lack the usual side effects of other psychotropic drugs, like sedation and loss of motor control- no thank you, don't want those.
- And most importantly, nootropics should have extremely low toxicity. REMEMBER THAT THIS IS YOUR BRAIN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, and if you're like me, you're not going to blindly use something, that has no dosage information, and no studies behind it's safety or how effective it is - no matter HOW amazing their marketing campaign is.
So far, so good.
So, what does this tell us should NOT be in our nootropics then?
There are 3 very important factors that I'm going to share with you, so that you will know exactly what to look for in a "brain vitamin", and be able to shop with confidence online.
Here we go, ready?
OK, The Big Daddy of ALL rules, when you're picking out the best nootropic vendors online; what the supplement companies DON'T want you to know about:
Rule # 1-DOSAGES
Remember when you went to the doctor the other day for that "thing", and he prescribed you the EXACT medications that you needed to take care of that errr..."thing"? And then he said "Just take as little or as much as you want, whenever you want?"
Oh wait...
It didn't happen like that?
Of course it didn't happen like that, because you'd have that …"thing" bothering you forever if this was how doctors prescribed medicine. You have to take the correct dose that has been proven effective, in order for it to do it's job, and clear up the..."thing".
CORRECT dosages, are where everyone within the supplement industry get strangely quiet.
Why?
Because, every supplement manufacturer claims that they have what you need. But, many of them never talk about how much is tested as beneficial, and then, how much THEY actually put in their formulas.
If they only put a fraction of the latest, greatest nootropic in their formula, but it's only beneficial at a certain dosage amount, then you have just wasted a TON of money on something that will not work at the low dosage in the product you purchased.
The other thing you need to know is that the average size capsule can only hold 700-800 mg.
Why does this matter?
Well, let’s take a popular brain ingredient like Acetyl-L-Carnitine.
The MINIMUM dosage in all the studies where they saw results was 1,000 mg. The average study used 2,000 mg. So far that's too much for a single 700-800 mg. capsule to hold right there.
Yet, there are many companies out there selling this same supplement in a proprietary BLEND with only 500-600 mg, and a bunch of other low doses of ingredients- none of which have the amount necessary to be beneficial, but people buy them up because they see all the different types of nootropics in the mixture and think they've hit the motherload of "smart vitamins."
You might as well be flushing those supplements down the toilet. And if they’re also putting fillers in to offset their cost, it becomes even less effective.
So how do you know then, when you're looking at where to buy your best nootropics online, which ones have the correct dosage amounts?
If you look at the label on your nootropic, and see the ingredients, but no specific amounts or dosages, that should be a big FAT red flag.
You can always email the company and ask for specifics, OR better yet, if you really want to find out what the dosage is tested at, ask the company for their C of A. This is the 3rd party analytical report of their product.
Any reputable company will give this to you. We offer ours to all of our customers. If they won't let you see this, clutch your hard earned money in your hot little hands and run the other way!
Am I making sense so far? I hope so, because there are companies selling a bottle of their supplements for a ton of money, and they don't have the needed dosages to be effective, in their formulas.
This seems absolutely crazy to me, and I'm sure it does to you as well, but the unfortunate reality is that these companies know, that if you don't do your homework before you buy your nootropics, then chances are you will buy exactly what they tell you to buy.
The next important factor when you are choosing an online source for the best nootropics, is what ELSE is in their supplements-aka the inactive ingredients.
Rule #2 -FILLERS -WHICH ONES TO AVOID
I’m going to tell you a story about yogurt…
“Wait, what”???
I know, I know, “What does yogurt have to do with nootropics”?
Nothing, but if you hang in there with me, you’ll get the idea.
In our house, I either make yogurt (super easy), or I buy very specific, whole milk yogurt that only has milk, cultures& pectin in it. It’s a dollar or two more than the competitors, and I consider it well worth it.
When our daughter was young, she used to ask to get the pre-sweetened , fruit filled yogurt (and sometimes I would let her –I’m not a tyrant people), but as soon as she could read, I showed her the back of both types of yogurt and asked her to read them to me.
She read the back of the brand we normally buy. That one was easy-peasy : Milk, cultures, and pectin.
Then, she started on the other label, and almost immediately got stuck. By the time she got through that label, she was worn out! She asked why it had to have so many big words in it, and I explained that it was a way for the manufacturer to make more money by giving us less of what we REALLY wanted, and more of a bunch of fillers, that we didn’t want or need.
I showed her that we were getting pure yogurt when we bought ours, but if we bought the pre-sweetened, gelatin filled yogurts, we would only be getting a fraction of real yogurt.
So, even though I pay 1-2 dollars more for our yogurt, I’m actually getting a much better deal with ours.
See? I told you that you would figure out where I was going with this.
You need to think about any unnecessary, and sometimes dangerous fillers in your nootropics, like ...well yogurt!
It can be a way for the manufacturer to produce a product that seems like it may cost you less, but in fact you are getting a fraction of what you pay for, and the amounts that you need are not there. You aren’t really getting the best deal at all.
The Top 3 fillers to avoid are ingredients like these when you're searching for the best nootropics online:
- Hydrogenated Oils (yes, oil in your supplements-bad oils- yuck)
- Magnesium Silicate/Talc –that's right, good old baby bum talcum, used as a cheap filler/anti-caking agent -tested as causing different degrees of of lung inflammation.
- Titanium Dioxide- commonly used as a color enhancer or whitener in supplements. "Titanium dioxide has recently been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as an IARC Group 2B carcinogen 'possibly carcinogen[ic] to humans,'" explains the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety on its website. "This evidence showed that high concentrations of pigment-grade (powdered) and ultrafine titanium dioxide dust caused respiratory tract cancer in rats exposed by inhalation and intratracheal instillation."
Rule #3- STIMULANTS AREN'T NEEDED
Stimulants are ingredients like:
Ingredients like:
- caffeine,
- ephedrine
- any other psychoactive stimulants that temporarily increase your alertness.
Many companies will promote their "smart drugs", with these stimulants, to help increase blood flow to the brain, clear brain fog, and sharpen lack of concentration, and sometimes they do, on a very, short term basis.
They do not have any long-term health benefits, and in many cases they are included, to give the person a temporary “feeling” of alertness.
It's not the actual nootropic that is giving you that feeling, it’s the stimulant. Think of it like food for your brain...you want to build the best nutrition for a well muscled memory, not indulge in the quick fix, or instant jolt, that leaves your body (and brain) worn out later.
Alright let's keep moving, so that you can go do your research, and buy the best supplements for improved memory, with confidence.
Let's put what you've learned up to this point, to a little comparison test. How about if we check one of our products, Mind Boost Day, to see how much of the beneficial ingredient is in there, compared to how much is TESTED as being an effective dose. Ready to put your knowledge to the test? Here we go-
Are you able to clearly see how the amounts in this product either meet or exceed the recommended dosages? That's what you want.
Let's do one more- Our Mind Boost Night:
Alright, you know what you're doing now. You've got your ducks all in a row, and you're able to research, find, and purchase the best nootropics for you, online.
3 simple rules- stimulants aren't needed, no unnecessary/dangerous fillers, and you must know your needed dosage in order for it to have any benefit to you.
Oh yes! You want to know where to buy the best nootropic online? Well the reason for teaching you what you need to look for, is so that you can go find what you want on your own.
You can order our products (you've just done a comparison test on them and they passed with flying colors) at Simple Smart Science, and Amazon is an excellent online retailer, because if you're trying to compare a huge amount of products, you'll usually find them there. Also you can always search for specific nootropic blends that you want, because now you know exactly what to look for, and I'm going to give you another amazing resource to help you even further.
Examine.com is a website that was cited in a very informative article ("How to not get ripped off by the supplement companies") by the Co-Founder of Simple Smart Science , and educator in the field of neurosciences, Julia Lundstrom. You will want to bookmark it for so many reasons. You can enter any supplement into it's search field and it will tell you what the effective, tested dose is. It's like your own little pocket police for supplements !
Now go grasshopper... buy your Mind Boosters online...I'm letting you loose on the world of nootropics, armed and dangerous with knowledge.
How do you feel? Has this article helped you to be a more empowered consumer of nootropics?
Thoughts? Comments? Love to hear them. Feel free to comment down below. Happy brain building!
