Can This Strange Mushroom Really Double Your Brain Power?

hey 42 here imagine remembering every minui of your life since adolescence from what you wait for breakfast on a random Tuesday decades ago to the exact words exchanged during a heated argument on a December morning in 1995 for a very select group of people this is their reality Jill Price was the first person modern science identified as having a condition called hyper fesia also known as highly Superior autobiographical memory Jill Price remembers every moment and every detail of every day of her life since the age of 14 and she's not alone we have identified 62 living individuals like her now I've talked about incredible powers of the brain a few times over the years from Savant syndrome to hyperia but what if there was a way to hack the brain to induce Supernatural powers of cognition and memory without having been born with a super rare one in a million condition what if I told you that new and groundbreaking science on some very old substances may be about to unlock a new Epoch of mankind where we could see a new type of human that gets better sleep thinks quicker and sharper has less anxiety and mood swings and ages more gracefully dodging conditions such as Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases this could very well be your future and all of our futures welcome to the weird world of New Tropics New Tropics often dubbed as smart drugs or cognitive enhancers promise to unlock the untapped potential of our brains offering improvements in memory focus and cognitive speed they're pretty damn hot right now there are websites forums and podcasts popping up everywhere dedicated to the discussion and explor ation of neut Tropics adaptogens and other smart drugs but what's the truth are we about to unlock some dormant human power or are we walking into a dystopian nightmare with Untold and scary side effects let's find out Ado is an all-in-one management software that provides entrepreneurs with a range of applications to simplify the day-to-day management 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and thanks to Ado for sponsoring this video the term neut Tropic is fairly new coined in 1972 by Romanian chemist cornelu e Georgia he was researching a new compound and he chanced upon effects to the human brain that did not correlate with any existing category of psychotropic drug it was evident there and then that an entirely new category of drug was needed hence New Tropics were born according to Georgia to be categorized as a new Tropic a substance should adhere to a list of criteria the most important of which being it should enhance memory and learning it should protect the against various physical or chemical injuries and it should lack the usual side effects of psychotropic drugs sedation for example and generally it should possess few adverse effects and have low toxicity most New Tropics on the market today however vary quite a bit from these guidelines and generally the term neut Tropic is very Loosely applied and regulated but for the purpose of this video we'll Define a new Tropic simply as something that has the potential to offer cognitive benefits with no serious side effects they may have only been named in 1972 but neut Tropics aren't anything new far from it humans have been playing about with plants and messing with minerals for thousands of years just to see what happens in the pursuit of gaining some sort of edge over our peers in ancient Egypt priests and Scholars used extracts from Plants such as the blue lotus flower believing it to have psycho active properties that could induce states of higher awareness and Clarity they meticulously documented their use of various herbs and plants on Papyrus Scrolls similarly the ancient Greeks including philosopher Theo prus documented the use of herbs like Rosemary for enhancing memory additionally Greek Scholars consumed concoctions made from gko Boba believed to improve memory and cognitive function in fact the very term neutr IC is derived from the Greek word noose meaning mind and Trine meaning to bend or turn although as mentioned it wasn't actually named until 1972 during the Cold War the Soviet Union took an avid interest in cognitive enhancers in a bid to surpass the West in various Fields including science technology and Military progress Soviet scientists were tasked with developing substances that could make their astronauts soldiers and Intelligence Officers smarter and sharper though much of their work is still shrouded in secrecy all this Soviet scheming led to the Discovery and development of several new Tropic compounds including pyeta created by the AFF forementioned Dr cornelli E Georgia the development of pacatan by Georgia in the 1960s symbolized a watershed moment in cognitive enhancement this synthetic compound unlike anything derived directly from nature opens the door to a new era of Nutri Tropics but pyatam also opened the floodgates of research into other substances are there perhaps undiscovered cognitive enhancers in nature or synthetic with low or moderate side effects that we could use and abuse to gain an edge over our peers to deliver that project one week earlier to fit in an extra hour of focused work every day that's what in recent years the world has begun to wonder specifically a select group group of ultra high net worth individuals to whom even a 1% mental performance gain could equal an additional tens of millions of dollars a year I'm of course talking about Silicon Valley Tech those Titans of tech have tried everything at this point to think quicker to make an extra book and to raise the ticket price of their company's stock from biohacking to meditation to micro doing but biohacking isn't quite there yet meditation only removes more time from your day which means fewer hours of work and micro doing involves messing about with some highly dangerous highly addictive class a Narcotics so New Tropics present a tantalizing taste of what a safe and controlled performance enhancer could look like millions of dollars of research is being put into them right now but what's the truth is there any veracity to the purported benefits and are they really safe for you and I to be taking on a daily basis by the end of this video I promise we'll have an answer but first we need to familiarize ourselves with some commonly discussed and consumed neut Tropics that you can buy today because the answer to those questions varies widely depending on which neut tropic stack you personally choose to take many people don't realize that they've actually been taking a new Tropic their entire lives without realizing it and I bet you have to can you guess what it is caffeine of course we don't think of caffeine as being a neut Tropic but that's only because we've been consuming caffeine for thousands of years and the term neut Tropic is relatively new and not widely understood but caffeine fits all the characteristics of a new Tropic caffeine is perhaps the world's most widely used psychoactive substance it primarily works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep and relaxation but caffeine has also been shown to to have other cognitive benefits which is why it's actually a new Tropic in Disguise caffeine improves concentration reaction times enhances vigilance and elevates mood caffeine comes from many sources but not all are created equally green tea contains caffeine but it also contains an amino acid called lanine which isn't in coffee lanine is fascinating because it mod ulates the effects of caffeine in a way that enhances its positive effects whilst dampening the less desirable ones when combined alanine and caffeine work synergistically to improve cognitive performance attention and reaction times all whilst reducing the jitteriness and potential anxiety that caffeine can sometimes induce if you were to graph caffeine response in the body over time then add alanine to the mix you would see its effective flatten the spike meaning the positive effects last longer and the post caffeine slump is less severe another very old new Tropic that unlike caffeine is only very recently seeing widespread adoption is gko Boba an ancient herb originating from one of the oldest living tree species on the planet gko Boba has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for Millennia believed to improve memory at a basic level gko works by increasing peripheral blood flow around the body including to the brain which is why it's purported to have cognitive benefits so does it work well most of the research to date has focused on ginko's efficacy at slowing down the onset of dementia and a metaanalysis in 2014 found that taking 240 migr a day is able to stabilize or slow decline in cognition and neural function especially for patients with neuros psychiatric symptoms but the evidence is mixed and we just don't have the long-term data we need to draw any solid conclusions we would ideally like to know if taking gko from early adulthood all the way into later life has any long-term cognitive effects and protections against noro degeneration but its widespread adoption at least in the west is very recent so it could be many years before we can confidently answer that another ancient natural substance that has recently gained more attention is lion's main mushrooms you've probably already heard of this one it's suddenly appearing in everything from tea to toothpaste Lion's man is a storied medicinal mushroom that has been used in East Asian cultures for centuries traditionally it was consumed by monks to enhance their brain power and heighten their focus during meditation but its recent adoption as a new Tropic in the west has made it the subject of intense scientific research and it turns out that when consumed Lion's man is able to synthesize nerve growth factor ngf in the body ngf is a protein that is crucial for the growth and survival of neurons in the brain ngf binds to neural receptors which initiates a signaling pathway that promotes neuronal growth and survival this is crucial not only to maintain cognitive function but also to repair and regenerate neuronal networks which can deteriorate with diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's specifically Lion Man contains the compounds Heron and oranos these molecules have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier a highly selective permeable border that protects the brain from the general bloodstream once across this barrier this pair of molecules can directly influence brain activity promoting not only Nerf growth factor symphysis but also enhancing overall brain plasticity furthermore recent studies suggest that Lion's man may also play a role in promoting the health of myeline chiefs which are protective coverings on neurons that facilitate the proper transmission of electrical signals in the nervous system long story short Lion Man is a very promising cognitive enhancer and may potentially protect against neurod degenerative diseases and as yet studies haven't revealed any major side effects from long-term Lion's main consumption but it can interact with other medications especially blood finish so as with most neut Tropics you should first consult a doctor before taking now if I say the word ceps to you you might conjure up images of The Last of Us Style zombies or zombie ants but what have I told you that ceps are rapidly being adopted as a new Tropic for human consumption ceps is a fungus that infects insect lari before sprouting fruiting bodies from the host's body and then controls its mind its Origins Trace back to the high mountain regions of China where it was first harvested from the bodies of caterpillars in high altitude Meadows fortunately for us ceps are incapable of controlling the minds of humans Well for now and in fact consuming this fungus might actually have cognitive benefits ceps is particularly rich in cpin a compound FS to increase ATP production the energy currency of your cells the result is a sharpened focus and more energy reserves for the brain but it's still very early days for ceps adoption as a new Tropic one study showed that ceps increased mice's ability to navigate mazes but to date the depth of research doesn't come close to the likes of lion's man and Gino Boba from mushrooms and fungus we move onto Roots specifically riola Rosa often hailed as the golden root this remarkable herb thrives in the harsh cold climates of Europe and Asia particularly in regions like Scandinavia and the mountains of Siberia centuries of folklore have claimed that rodol La Rosa can Aid depression and reduce stress modern science has a word for any such substance adaptogens whilst neut Tropics focus on improving cognitive functions and memory adaptogens are any substance that treats stress anxiety or depression but some substances can have Crossovers and they fall into both camps but what's fascinating about rodea is that it isn't just folklore the science backs up many of the claims the root contains over 140 active ingredients the two most potent being rosavins and salidroside these compounds are shown to have a significant impact on reducing fatigue combating stress and aiding recovery after after exertion studies suggests that rodea can also boost memory attention and mental processing speed it works by boosting the symphysis of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine this means that riola is both an adaptogen and a neut Tropic however like any neut Tropic or adaptogen it's not without its nuances it's generally considered safe but some people experience insomnia after taking it also your brain can become desensitized to its active ingredients over time now then we've explored the intricate networks of melium and the frost touch roots of Scandinavia but our journey for the world of New Tropics now takes us to a revered herb in the Lush Landscapes of India meet bopa moneri also known as brahi an ancient Staple in aurvedic medicine cherished for its remarkable cognitive enhancing properties studies suggest that poopa moneri works by enhancing the rate at which the nervous system can communicate by increasing the growth of nerve endings also known as dendrites additionally it's thought to have antioxidant properties that protect the brain from potential degradation caused by free radicals and recent clinical trials have provided empirical support for some of these claims specifically a metaanalysis in 2014 concluded that it has the potential to improve cognition in particular the speed of attention but the same study also admitted that a larger scale trial is needed to definitively verify its Effectiveness it's also worth noting that the cognitive enhancing effects of bopa are usually observed over an extended period of use typically several weeks rather than immediately but bopa moneri isn't the only brain boosting herb out there meet ashwaganda yet another historic herb in the auravedic medicinal system with a history of use stretching well over 3,000 years this ancient remedy often dubbed the Indian gin sing is yet another adaptogen its main purported function is to help the body adapt to and manage stress it does this by helping to balance cortisol levels remarkably some studies suggest that ashwaganda can also support neurogenesis the growth and development of new brain cells yet ashr ganda's impact extends Beyond its mental prowess it's also shown to improve endurance and reduce fatigue making it popular amongst athletes in fact the science on ashwaganda is probably the most conclusive of all the new topics we've discussed so far except for caffeine a 2021 metaanalysis concluded the findings revealed that ashanda supplementation was more efficacious than Placebo for improving variables related to strength power cardiorespiratory Fitness and fatigue recovery in healthy men and women in fact the probability of at least a small effect size on physical performance favoring subject supplemented with ashwaganda is is very high more than [Music] 95% sounds impressive but there's one new Tropic that is far better studied than even ashwaganda in fact it's probably the most well studied dietary supplement of all time creatine creatine has been a staple in the realm of fitness and physical performance since the early '90s our bodies naturally create creatine but we also get it from meat fish eggs and milk creatine has been proven to support muscle growth and Recovery by aiding ATP regeneration which is a primary energy source for your muscle fibers but recently creatine has gained a lot of attention for increasing well attention you see the brain is an extremely demanding organ consuming about 20% of the body's total energy needs energy that creatine helps to supply it's been suggested that creatine supplementation could potentially boost cognitive processing enhance memory and improve mental stamina this makes creatine a promising candidate as a neut Tropic Research into creatine's cognitive effects reveals some compelling findings Studies have shown that creatine supplementation can significantly enhance memory and Intelligence on test scores particularly in individuals undergoing sleep deprivation and stressful conditions the effects are particularly strong amongst vegetarians and vegans who don't consume enough creatine in their diets so as we've seen nature offers a bounty of substances like ashwaganda bopa moneri and creatine that can enhance our mental faculties often with centuries of use backing up their efficacy however as impressive as these natural New Tropics are the Quest for cognitive enhancement doesn't stop there the future could hold even more promise as researchers turn turn to the frontiers of synthetic biology and chemistry to develop the next generation of New Tropics imagine compounds designed at the molecular level to Target specific brain Pathways or enhance certain cognitive functions without the side effects usually associated with broader acting drugs this isn't just theoretical some of these synthetic neutop are already well into development or are even available commercially right now welcome to the new rapidly growing world of synthetic neut Tropics it's pretty bloody obvious why multi-billion dollar drug companies and VC funded startups alike are chomping at the bits to be the first to develop a widely used safe and effective synthetic neutop imagine if a drug is created that boosts cognitive ability more than the world's currently most consumed drug caffeine yet it has no side effects no driness no withdrawal symptoms Etc it doesn't take Elon Musk to tell you that that would be just about the best business plan in the history of our species once its Effectiveness and safety is properly demonstrated on a large scale it would rapidly grow to close to the popularity of caffeine and maybe one day overtake it everyone wants to be that little bit smarter sharper and protect their brains from degeneration as they age but it's also a significant challenge any drug that has a real measurable effect on cognitive performance opens the doors wide open to addiction and side effects it's just the nature of pharmaceuticals that's why the most commonly consumed neut Tropics are all still natural products that originate from Plants humans have already been triing them for thousands of years and we figured out now which are addictive which are dangerous and which are fairly benign synthetic neut Tropics are often labeled as smart drugs one of the most widely taken that's currently available is modaal it was originally developed in the '90s as a narcolepsy treatment but it soon gained popularity amongst people seeking to enhance their alertness and concentration it's used wisely by students during exams and Professionals in High Press careers due to its ability to increase focus and endurance during long periods of mental activity unlike many traditional stimulants modaal does not carry quite the same risk of dependency or via side effects making it a popular choice as a new Tropic but before you run off to your nearest pharmacy bear two things in mind firstly it's a prescription only drug in most countries which has led to it being sold to Smart drug Seekers primarily online especially on some rather dubious websites and there's just no way of knowing what these untested variants may actually contain also while some Studies have shown cognitive improvements in some individuals when taking modaal other Studies have shown no brain boost at all some Studies have even demonstrated a cognitive decline whilst on the drug and it seems any benefits it may have only work on those who are sleep deprived it doesn't really affect people who already get enough sleep but modafanil wasn't developed as a new Tropic it was developed to treat narcolepsy there are however a small handful of supplements currently in development that are are intended to be used solely as New Tropics and now there's armodafinil a new and updated version of modafanil that lasts longer throughout the day and although it was designed as an updated and more effective narcolepsy treatment it has been heavily adopted as a new Tropic then there's new pep created in Russia which is particularly known for slowing down neuronal death mind lab Pro New Cube and new septin are what's known as neut Tropics Stacks they blend various neut Tropics some that I've already discussed in this video and a few others to create one tablet with purportedly everything you need to boost your brain and reduce stress other as yet unnamed supplements are currently in development and with the growth of Gene editing beside the explosive new Tropic market so called smart drugs are only going to get smarter more effective and more widespread in the in the coming years if there's one thing I know about humans it's that we're always searching for the next big thing the next thing that will Propel us forward the thing that will make our lives a little bit better the thing that will make us happier or make us more money and new toopics promise to be that very thing but is that a good thing well if they do work as advertised then most likely they will have a positive effect on Humanity just imagine if all ass stist doctors teachers emergency responders and hundreds of other professionals who keep the world ticking and moving forward could operate with just 5% more brain power I imagine that progress would increase as an unprecedented rate and the future would look very bright indeed whilst a choice to take New Tropics on a daily basis might seem obvious it isn't that clearcut at least not yet a 2015 metaanalysis of various New Tropics and vitamins founds no no conclusive Trend in those taking New Tropics for a prolonged period versus those who don't some participants in the study noticed a slight cognitive Improvement but a good number didn't notice anything at all and the problem might lie with how we're consuming them we have known for a while now that supplements in all categories are just not as effective compared to eating the natural Whole Foods that they are extracted from Whole Foods are significantly more bioavailable than a tablet meaning our body utilizes a much bigger percentage of the nutrients vitamins and chemical compounds within take omega-3 fatty acids for example which have now been robustly studied we know that they have powerful benefits for human health they protect the heart and brain and improve brain function to boot but the evidence shows that these effects when consumed in tablet form are minor in comparison to a diet that is rich in whole fatty fish like salmon and mackerel and it could be the same story with New Tropics maybe all these synthetic supplements and neut Tropic Blends that come in a convenient tablet will have negligible effects over the long term when compared to the benefits of a well-rounded and healthy diet the truth is we don't know yet there simply hasn't been the time needed for large scale longitudinal studies on neut Tropic consumption and its effect as we age but early indications are that the younger you are when you start taking New Tropics the better the long-term effects will be some researchers suggested that those who start to take them after middle age experience vastly reduced effects if any at all but take everything I've said with a pin of salt because like I've already said it's very early days for New Tropics on the other hand what I will say is that none of the major over-the-counter New Tropics available today at least not the ones that I've talked about in this video have yet demonstrated serious or irreversible negative effects on health that's not to say they couldn't happen we just haven't observed them yet some people however experience minor side effects from neut Tropic use such as dizziness nausea Etc so what I'm basically trying to say is that the risks associated with neut Tropic experimentation are quite low but the promised rewards especially if you're young and you have a lifetime of productive work ahead of you are potentially enormous whatever the future of New Tropics brings one thing is for certain the full unbridled potential of the human brain is yet to be realized thanks for watching just a quick word to say that I couldn't make these videos without the support of my patreon members consider joining the exclusive 42 Discord Community by supporting me on patreon it's a great place to discuss my videos with like-minded individuals and myself the Link's in the description but if you don't want to or you can't join my patreon then please don't worry a simple like or comment to say thanks would also put a huge smile on my face thank you

Channel: Thoughty2

Views: 651,651

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Id: LQI-kIrmuAM

Length: 29min 44sec (1784 seconds)

Published: Fri May 24 2024