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Nootropics

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 04:09:13 GMT

Nootropics

Nootropics are the bleeding edge of mental performance.

This is the field being closely watched by those who want to squeeze the utmost of human cognitive potential; those whose careers heavily revolve around doing what Peter Drucker (the godfather of modern management) named ‘knowledge work (opens new tab)’; these people seek to excel far above their peers, floating up to the top of the pack.

Now, if you would like an unfair advantage over your peers, or even in your industry, then nootropics are perhaps a very handy tool to upgrade your tool-belt.

Many of the world’s best known thinkers, inventors, founders, CEO’s, and scientists have been documented admitting nootropic use. In fact, the USA, Russia, and China have been known to pour millions into researching them to give their research scientists and highly specialised military forces an edge over their competitors.

During the height of Silicon Valley, it was considered an inside secret and cultural norm for developers and founders to be using at least one nootropic.

But what are they?

‘Nootropics’ are simply molecules that support mental performance - found in foods, plants, vitamins, minerals, and man-made chemicals. They are generally supported by scientific empirical evidence, and sometimes backed by thousands of years of ancestral medicine.

Many nootropics can naturally be found in foods that we regularly consume, with some produced by our body, and others out in the wilderness of the plant kingdom. There are also now several newer nootropics designed by neuroscientists & biochemists, and aptly named ‘smart-drugs’.

But regardless of their labelling, they all have one key benefit, to make you smarter(er).

Most have been shown to increase your mental bandwidth, your thought processing speeds, and your recollection, among many other testing markers. Whilst many of the formal tests used are highly controlled psychometric or neuroimaging tests, you really won’t need a lab test to feel the powerful effects of nootropics on your brain and daily performance.

In a world that’s growing increasingly competitive, and at a rapid rate, these are the new bleeding edge for those seeking an advantage above their competitors (or their colleagues). With the coming age of technology, brute strength is out, brain performance is in; it’s a true superpower.

Some of these nootropics are common and fairly well known to help improve cognition, like coffee, avocado and fish. But that’s only brushing the top of one very large iceberg.

How they work

Nootropics generally work via 6 methods:

Cerebral blood flow / oxygenation
Neuronal metabolism
Neurotransmitter modulation
Cellular processes
Neurotrophic factors
Brainwave frequency

Neuronal metabolism

Our brain requires a very hefty amount of energy to keep running. In fact, roughly 20% of the calories you burn every day are spent just thinking. Your brain chews up a lot of power considering it’s only ~2% of your total body weight (for a 70kg human) [r (opens new tab)].

Neurons are constantly using energy to maintain, repair, or replace themselves, as well as sending & receiving electrochemical signals to/from surrounding neurons.

All this requires energy, and lots of it, so facilitating this can lead to better signalling and healthier neurons.

Which can be done by:

Improving the health of mitochondria within neurons
Helping transport fuel sources into the cells (i.e. fatty acids, ketones, or glucose)
Providing key nutrients like sodium, magnesium, calcium, etc
Increasing insulin sensitivity
Providing alternate fuel sources like ketones

If neurons aren’t supplied a ready source of nutrients and fuel, they will likely die or suffer damage, leading to mental fatigue, brain fog, and eventually cognitive decline and degeneration; there are also many links between mental illnesses and cellular dysfunction.

Cerebral blood flow / oxygenation

If you’ve ever stood up too quickly, you’ll know the exact effect of limiting blood flow to the brain; it’s the exact opposite of performance enhancing.

Nutrients and oxygen are delivered to the brain via blood - and cerebrospinal fluid.

Increasing blood flow can facilitate improved neuronal health, functioning, activity, and growth.

The increased blood supply can even be localised to certain areas, which may increase the activity in that area, as well as the behaviour associated with that areas primary function (eg. the hippocampi are associated with long-term memory, so mildly increasing hippocampal blood flow may enhance memory consolidation and retrieval). Generally speaking though, most nootropics that improve blood flow do so across the entire cortex, with only a minority showing localised blood flow improvements.

Neurotransmitter modulation

Neurotransmitters are the chemical signal between neurons.

Certain neurons only use certain chemicals to relay their signal, and enact their relevant thoughts or behaviours. Neurons that use dopamine for their signal, are often related with rewarding based behaviours, or rather, behaving based on the expectation of a reward.

Increasing or lowering the prevalence, synthesis, or abundance or a certain neurotransmitter can help enhance the behaviours, functions, and processes relevant to it.

Caffeine increases dopamine, which is why it often helps with motivation.

Generally speaking, there are 6 primary neurotransmitters, with a few associations for each:

Glutamate - The most abundant neurotransmitter. The ‘ON’ switch for neuronal activity.
Acetylcholine - Learning, analysis, cognition, memory.
Dopamine - Expecting and seeking reward, motivation, mood, pro-survival behaviour (hunting, eating, status seeking, sex, etc).
Serotonin - Relaxation, contentment, happiness, and satisfaction.
Gamma Amino-Butyric Acid (GABA) - Relaxation, sedation, inhibition, sleep, anti-arousal.
Oxytocin - Connectedness, closeness, love, bonding, attachment, nurturing.

Realistically, there are well over 100 neurotransmitters, with new discoveries still occurring.

Brainwave frequency

In a very broad sense, large portions of electrical activity across - and between - areas of the brain can be grouped into pulses, akin to a Mexican wave of neurons firing. These pulses generally happen at different rates, which can be detected via an electroencephalograph (swimming cap that measures electrical activity). The rate of pulses is then converted as a frequency, and then measured in Hertz (Hz).

Different Hz have been associated with different brain (mood & psychological) states.

Not to say they cause the brain states, but that they are a reflection of what is happening within, and for the purpose of this article, can serve as a useful insight into which nootropics promote which frequencies and their associated states.

Here are the most common frequencies and their associated states.

Γ - Gamma - (γ) - Heightened perception - Problem solving - Learning - High level processing - Concentration
Β - Beta - (β) - Fully awake - Alert consciousness - Mentally aroused - Excitement
Α - Alpha - (α) - Light meditation - Relaxed - Insightful - Creative
Θ - Theta - (θ) - Lower consciousness - Dreams - Deep meditation - Insight - Creativity
Δ - Delta - (δ) - Deep sleep - No body awareness - Healing - Dreamless sleep

Cellular processes

This includes neuroprotective functions, chemical messages sent along neurons, as well as the healthy systematic destruction and replacement of inefficient (broken) cells.

Food is generally the best source for chemicals/nutrients that facilitate and improve neurologic chemical processes. Many of these are essential, natural, and occur in cyclic fashion within the brain. Most issues, however, arise from a deficiency of nutrients, but may also arise by the inclusion of toxic chemicals that hinder these cellular processes (e.g. alcohol, gluten, sugar, other phytotoxins).

An example: Sodium, calcium, and potassium are all required for a neuron to send an electrochemical signal down towards another neuron; from the nucleus, down the axon, to the synapse. These chemicals are essential for the signal to be communicated, and without them, thoughts would not exist, nor muscular contractions.

Anatomy of a Neuron

Image sourced: Queensland Brain Institute (opens new tab)

Increasing neurotrophic factors

I’ve a huge desire to gain the skills of accelerated learning, memorising anything with ease, or constantly having new ideas forming through my mind. This would afford an unsung advantage in nearly any environment or situation, for nearly every living creature on earth. Yet these all require (and cause) new connections between neurons, and often the birth of entirely new neurons [r (opens new tab)].

So, facilitating this literal brain growth should be considered very desirable to anyone.

The body uses neurotrophic factors to modulate this growth. Neurotrophic factors are endogenous (produced by the body) chemicals that cause the birth of new neurons (neurogenesis), new connections between neurons, as well as increases in dendrites and the number of neuron supporting cells (microglia) [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

The primary neurotrophins:

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
Nerve Growth Factor 1 (NGF)
Neurotrophin-3 (NT3)
Neurotrophin-4 (NT4)

BDNF stands out within the list of neurotrophic factors. It’s commonly referred to as ‘Miracle-grow brain fertiliser’ in popular science. Increases in BDNF can lead to a restructuring of your brain, which heavily facilitates learning and creativity, as well as breakthrough thoughts and ideas. It does this not only by creating new neurons, but by heavily facilitating the connection between neurons, which is how new thoughts, ideas, and memories are stored, created, and updated over time.

Sources of Nootropics

Nootropics are generally either natural or synthetic.

Many natural nootropics are found within the body already (endogenous nootropics), and need to be ‘unlocked’ via gene expression, while the remaining natural nootropics are found in foods or plant material. Gene expression can be activated by as simple a method as opening a window to allow sun into the room, going for a short bout of exercise, or having a nice cold shower.

Synthetic nootropics, however, are more convenient, and yet, quite often significantly more powerful in comparison to naturally derived nootropics, and thus precautions are required when researching or using any nootropics, but especially synthetic nootropics.

Nootropics are generally sourced from one of five areas:

Food sources:

The best foods for optimal brain health include nutrients that our brain really thrives on. More specifically, nutrients that are used to create, and grow brain tissue, and to facilitate neurochemical processes.

A lot of study within the last two decades has gone into this topic, especially with the rapidly growing rate of neural diseases such as Alzheimer’s, MS, ALS, and dementia.

DHA

Many studies have shown us that foods containing a fat called DHA (an Omega-3 fat) are especially beneficial for our brains [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]. In fact, DHA is required when our body first begins forming our central nervous system, and brains are also composed of this fat. It’s an odd fact, but in your brain roughly 60% of its dry weight is fat [r (opens new tab)]. A great example of some foods that provide this nutrient are salmon, sardines, anchovies, grass-fed beef fat, or avocado.

Further, seafood, which is very high in Omega-3 fats, has been consistently linked to lower rates of depression, suicide, and cognitive impairment [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Food for blood supply

Foods with the ability to increase the blood supply to our brain are also very beneficial for growth, repair, increased learning ability, and removing brain fog.

The increase in cerebral blood flow (CBF) means more oxygen, nutrients and energy can be supplied to the brain for better performance. So, if you’re expecting that big brain-engine to really fire on all cylinders, then you best make certain it’s getting all the fuel it needs.

A great food for increasing CBF is blueberries, or as they are sometimes cringingly called ‘brain-berries’. These berries contain a chemical flavonoid called anthocyanin, which has also been found to improve episodic & working memory, as well as learning [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Another great reason to consume ‘brain foods’ is that many of these foods have been shown to increase levels of a fantastic chemical called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). This chemical is like steroids for neurons. It’s listed in the above section ‘Neurotrophins’.

Anything that increases BDNF can generally be considered a nootropic due to BDNFs essential role in the brain, and the variety of effects it has on cognition, mood, and learning. Largely, because it helps spur our brain to grow new neurons and connections between neurons.

Ketogenic diet

It’s worth noting that a ketogenic, very low carb, or carnivore diet will gift you the largest and most noticeable boost in brain power, with the lowest investment of time, money, or physical effort; however, it does require willpower and mental effort to begin [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

When you’re on a diet that heavily restricts carbohydrates, your body will adapt to burning fat as its primary fuel source, and this is known as being in ketosis, or a ketogenic state.

However, your brain can’t run on fats like muscle can, and so as you head into ketosis, your liver will turn some of that fat into ketone-bodies for the brain, which is known as ketogenesis; these ketones are like premium fuel for neurons.

Interestingly, ketones are heavily preferred by neurons because they ‘perform’ better whilst metabolising this cleaner energy source, as compared to our other main fuel source carbohydrates (glucose). Further, ketones promote neural growth, which means far greater learning, memory, and recollection [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Additionally, ketogenesis has been shown to effectively help symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and has been used to cure epilepsy for over 100 years [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Fortunately, being in a state of ketosis can easily be achieved simply by fasting for 24-30hrs (with further hours increasing your state of ketosis), or by consuming less than 60g of carbs per day for 2-3 continuous days (neither are recommended without professional supervision).

Ketones beneficial cognitive effects:

BDNF levels increase
Neuroprotection
Significantly lessen symptoms of Alzheimer’s, dementia
Effective treatment for epilepsy
Anti-inflammatory
Improved working memory
Increased verbal memory
Improved cognitive performance
Limits effects of ageing, neurodegeneration and carcinogenesis
Increase antioxidant levels
Protect against oxidative stress
[r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]

Fasting But sometimes the simplest way to improve your brain is simply by omission.

Oddly enough, caloric restriction, and more significantly, fasting, will promote a range of beneficial effects on the brain.

Fasting effects on the brain:

Promote neuroplasticity [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Increase BDNF levels [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Improve pain tolerance [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Improve cognitive performance [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Lower anxiety levels [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Lower neuronal inflammation [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Improve sense of taste and smell [r (opens new tab)].
Improves metabolism and brain energy efficiency [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Induce neuronal autophagy (replacing under-performing cells with new ones) [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Lowers risk of cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Autism, and Multiple Sclerosis [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Effectively treats epilepsy [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

The benefits of fasting go far beyond the brain, to improving areas like digestion, energy, heart, muscle, stress, body fat levels, slowing ageing, and many others. I would suggest reading further if this interests you. Additionally, intermittent fasting can be an easy stepping stone towards longer routines of 24hr+ fasting.

However, despite this overwhelming body of evidence, some meta-studies find a negative effect on cognition [r (opens new tab)].

Additional sources on fasting:

(Article) Siim-land - Intermittent Fasting and Brain Function (opens new tab)
(video) Dr Eric Berg - What Really Happens When We Fast? (opens new tab)
(Podcast) Chris Masterjohn - Fasting (opens new tab)
(Podcast) Andrew Huberman - Fasting (opens new tab)

Avoiding detractors

Alarmingly, there are often things we eat every day that damage our brains, very slowly, but surely.

It took me years to learn that some foods, while seemingly healthy (and tasty), are actually really damaging. For over a decade I used to drink a milk based protein shake (whey protein isolate) every day - sometimes up to three times a day! It honestly took me that long to realise the lactose in the dairy was giving me acne, brain fog, lethargy, and eventually, crippling heartburn. The pain from the heartburn would physically shut me down, unable to think or talk when the pain hit, and if I was asleep it would instantly wake me up, ruining my sleep several times each night.

There are things like sugar, gluten, phytonutrients, and dairy proteins that can cause inflammation and auto-immune diseases within our bodies and brains. These are simple things to remove from your diet in order to see a noticeable improvement. It may be worth trialling a week of removing one of these and being conscious to notice any difference.

Gluten was another for me that would cause horrible brain fog and heart-burn. While I am not coeliac, and you may not be either, every living human is entirely incapable of digesting gluten. Our bodies simply cannot use this protein, and generally it is seen within our body as a foreign object which causes our immune system to attack it. A known cause of many autoimmune diseases is caused by exactly this mechanism. In fact, one of those diseases is caused in large part because the gluten protein looks very similar in molecular structure to our own connective tissue protein (tendons, skin, etc). What can happen is our immune system, with a daily bombardment of gluten, will get the two different proteins confused and eventually learn to attack both. This leads to the body, in essence, attacking itself. So maybe that croissant isn’t such a great idea after all.

But there are plenty of alternatives, and luckily the market is starting to realise this, food companies are sensing where the markets are going, and so they are producing a growing number of gluten free (GF) products. 10 years ago the supermarkets had almost zero gluten free alternatives, but now they all have an entire aisle dedicated to GF options. Progress is slow on a global scale, but eventually people will get the message. Take this chance to make the changes to your own eating habits so you can reap the benefits earlier than the crowd.

Plastics are another pervasive issue for brain health. Nearly every food in the supermarket is coated, wrapped, or bottled in plastic. Yet the evidence is overwhelmingly clear, these plastics damage the brain in many ways [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]; not to mention damaging the body in hundreds of ways [r (opens new tab)]. One such effect of plastics such as BP-A is that they can cause damage to your dopamine system, which will affect your motivation and drive [r (opens new tab)]. However, it’s not just BP-A that should be avoided, there is also BP-B, -F, -S etc. The plastic alphabet is long and deleterious to biological life [r (opens new tab)].

Brain food

The best foods for your brain are generally foods with greatest levels of DHA, choline, anti-inflammatory effects, or compounds that increase blood flow to the brain (CBF)

The top brain foods include:

Salmon - many fish contain high levels of DHA omega-3 fats, but salmon tops that list. There are even studies linking the size of a baby’s brain, mental maturity and mental performance to the amount of DHA consumed during pregnancy.
Sardines - Same reasoning as above.
Avocado - the only fruit containing high amounts of DHA, also shown to mildly increase CBF.
Blueberries - increases CBF, BDNF, prevents cognitive decline with age, and mildly improves the immune system [r (opens new tab)].
Grass-fed steak - Grass-fed meat usually contains a good 1:2 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3, also contains high levels of stearic acid, a fatty acid shown to increase mitochondrial energy use [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Liver - contains incredible amounts of folate and choline, essential nutrients for our brain and DNA.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - has moderate levels of Omega-3 and has shown to be anti-inflammatory.
Dark Chocolate or Cocoa - Increases CBF, BDNF, and anandamide (a happy brain chemical) [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Coffee - improves reaction and processing speeds, lowers sleepiness, but does not improve memory or learning. Coffee also limits neuroplasticity by lowering BDNF [r (opens new tab)].
Resistant starch in green bananas - can convert to butyrate (a short chain fat), which also increases BDNF [r (opens new tab)].
Raw, unfiltered, local honey - This mostly serves as a prebiotic, and may possibly help with seasonal allergies [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
High magnesium foods will increase BDNF [r (opens new tab)]. Including natural mineral water, avocado, salmon, cheese, yoghurt, and bone broth.
Broccoli, sprouts, and asparagus can increase BDNF due to the sulforaphane inside, but will also cause thyroid issues, and may cause fat gain [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Supplement sources:

Nootropic supplements are probably the fastest way to reap the results of enhanced brain performance.

To make these, scientists generally analyse a ‘brain food’ to find exactly what molecule is creating the beneficial effects, what method of action it’s using inside our bodies to create the effect and then they simply isolate the exact molecule/s and replicate it or extract it from the food. This leads to a condensed version and even stronger effects, minus all the calories! A great example of this is Curcumin, a beneficial compound only found in the spice turmeric. Unfortunately only small amounts are found within turmeric, so while you will get a small amount of benefit from adding turmeric to your foods, it’s far easier to isolate and condense the curcumin inside a tablet, so you can have the benefits without having to eat piles of turmeric every day.

Here are some of the top supplemental Nootropics for mental performance and neuroplasticity:

Processing speed, Decision-Making, Focus, Flow	Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) Aniracetam Caffeine (low dose), CDP-Choline Lion's Mane Mushroom NALT Vitamin B Complex Creatine Monohydrate 5-HTP Exogenous ketones
Learning & Memory	Aniracetam Bacopa Monnieri CDP-Choline DHA L-Theanine Phosphatidylserine (PS) Pine Bark Extract Creatine Monohydrate Lithium Aspartate Magnesium L-threonate Exogenous ketones
Anxiety & Depression	Myo-inositol L-theanine Phosphatidylserine (PS) Aniracetam (low dose) CDP-Choline (caution) Bacopa Monnieri Rhodiola Rosea Sulbutiamine B-Complex Creatine Monohydrate Lithium Aspartate Magnesium L-threonate 5-HTP
Energy & Motivation	Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) Creatine Monohydrate Alpha Lipoic Acid Caffeine CDP-Choline Rhodiola CoQ10 PQQ 5-HTP Exogenous ketones
Brain Repair & Maintenance	Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) Aniracetam Creatine Monohydrate Green coffee bean extract CDP-Choline DHA Phosphatidylserine (PS) Vinpocetine Rhodiola Rosea Pine Bark Extract Lithium Aspartate Magnesium L-threonate Exogenous ketones
Increasing cerebral blood flow	Nitrates Ginkgo biloba Vinpocetine ALCAR L-Theanine Citicoline Blueberry extract Pomegranate juice Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ) Dark chocolate (>90%) Omega 3 Magnesium L-threonate Piracetam Non supplement: Exercise Cold exposure Ketogenic states Fasting Chewing gum Acupuncture Meditation Sunlight Headstand/handstand Increasing CO2 threshold

But which is best?

Unfortunately, due to the novelty of many nootropics, they often remain in legally grey areas of the law. As such, many of the data around real-life use are exceedingly hard to collect. After all, who would admit to using something potentially illegal or something seen as cheating in their industry?

Further, surveys amongst the nootropics community are difficult, as users are globally distributed, the substances are legally grey in many jurisdictions, and lastly, many of the most passionate contributors are individuals who value privacy and security, and so conceal themselves to the darker sides of the net, or behind pseudonyms.

Yet we do have just one survey from 2016 (opens new tab), which is illuminating, and reaches beyond what any academic study could produce, due to regulatory limitations.

Evidently of how difficult these things are, the author of the survey was threatened to have his anonymity leaked before he could post the more recent 2020 results, and unfortunately had to shut down his blog to avoid being doxxed (opens new tab) by the New York Times.

However, we did get some interesting results in the 2016 study:

Image sourced: Slate Star Codex: 2016 Nootropics Survey Results (opens new tab)

From this, we can see some of the top nootropics are either prescription-only or heavily regulated (to be expected). But there are some useful insights here, particularly Semax, Theanine, and Selank. Clearly the r/Nootropics community has some favourites.

This shouldn’t be taken at face value however. It’s only anecdotal, and is probably riddled with bias.

In fact, we can see caffeine ranked highly, with by far the highest number of users (769), yet we know caffeine does not help with learning, can have negative effects on working memory (creativity & problem solving), and is deleterious to brain matter. In fact, taking a 10 day break from regular caffeine use will actually help your brain grow back that lost grey matter [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Anecdotal studies must be taken with a grain of salt, but they can still be useful and often reach into new areas untouched by academia, because academia’s limited by the regulatory hand that funds them. Anecdotal evidence very often trail blazes the way through risky areas for academia to more rigorously & safely catch up later.

One meta-study collated data around the use of drugs to enhance mental performance by looking at the use by university students [r (opens new tab)]. But even across the 4715 studies collected in this meta-study, the data are not overly useful, as many of the chemicals used are highly addictive, and don’t have much actionable take-home utility.

Nootropic supplements are, unfortunately, still a tricky terrain..

Much research has still yet to be done.

Additional supplement resources:

Here’s a long list of nootropics (opens new tab), with a short explainer to their benefits and mechanism of action.
Here’s a smaller list (opens new tab) of nootropics, with explainers.
A nootropic suggester (opens new tab) (overly simplistic).
Gwern’s (opens new tab) more detailed list of nootropics.
A good list (opens new tab) from a nootropic shop.
Here’s a list (opens new tab) of supplements that increase BDNF.
Here’s a list (opens new tab) of Russian-born man-made nootropics (use is not suggested).
This article (opens new tab) talks to increasing intelligence via nootropics and biohacking.
r/ Nootropics (opens new tab), for community stories and anecdotes. Plus, a beginners guide (opens new tab).

Activities sources:

Physical exertion (exercise) or physical stressors can cause beneficial neurological and chemical changes within the brain.

Walking for 10 minutes has been shown to significantly increase creativity and complex problem solving skills, although it was also found to slightly reduce social fluidity and word recall [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Yoga was found to increase working memory, lower depression, lower anxiety and increase cognitive performance [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Acupuncture was also found to increase BDNF [r (opens new tab)].
Learning an instrument can improve neuroplasticity in the areas associated with speech production, language recognition, proprioception, hand coordination, and digit span (remembering long numbers), and in the auditory cortex of the brain [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Playing an instrument was also associated with higher IQ, better verbal memory, and linguistic ability [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Playing piano for just 2 weeks was shown to cause reorganisational changes in the auditory cortex above the changes caused by just listening to the piano [r (opens new tab)].
Singing, dancing and drumming each release endorphins in ways that just listening to music won’t [r (opens new tab)].
Chewing gum may increase neuroplasticity [r (opens new tab)]. However, it’s difficult to find gum that’s free of mildly toxic chemicals.
Exercise has by far the strongest beneficial effect on neurology [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)], with 29 independent studies showing an increase in neuroplasticity [r (opens new tab)].
During exercise, blood brain flow increases from ~700ml/second upwards to 1.2L/second [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
A short bout of weight training has been shown to significantly increase information processing speeds [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].
Just 8 sets of high intensity weight training also increases BDNF [r (opens new tab)].
BDNF release is positively correlated with lactic acid build up during exercise. Meaning, those long burning drop-sets could be improving your brain as well as your muscle [r (opens new tab)].
Strength gains, but not aerobic gains, are correlated with significant improvements to cognitive impairment when training 2-3 days per week [r (opens new tab)].
Interestingly, indoor cycling increased BDNF, yet not cycling in heavy traffic [r (opens new tab)].
Sprinting greatly improves learning, and further, sprinters were found to have higher baseline levels of BDNF [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Exercise benefits:

Molecularly promotes:

Neurogenesis
Synaptogenesis
Gliogenesis
Angiogenesis - [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]

Cellularly Increases:

BDNF
IGF-1
VEGF
and other Neural Growth Factors

Functionally & structurally increases:

White matter volume
Grey matter volume
Receptor activity
Neural activity
Cerebral blood volume
[r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]

Behaviourally improves:

Cognitive function
Motor function
Symptoms of depression, anxiety, autism, and ADHD
[r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]

There have also been multiple findings showing a strong link between body fat percentage and brain size. The correlation is linear; it shows that the more body fat held, the less grey matter our brain will hold across several areas of the brain. The studies show us that the brain will physically shrink in direct proportion to how much fat you gain [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Behavioural sources:

Being mindful of our own thoughts and feelings has a host of benefits; namely self-awareness.

Being mindful was also shown to increase working memory and cognitive performance [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Meditation was found to create actual physical changes to white and grey matter inside the brain, which resulted in better cognitive and emotional control, emotional regulation, memory, self-awareness, learning, and internal communication (intra-hemispheric communication) [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]. It quite literally increases the thickness of the cortex (the hardware), and of the white matter (the cords & cables), which was found to improve attention, interoception, and sensory processing [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Meditation helps with attentional awareness (awareness of when you’re distracted, or where you could best spend your attention). It does this by simultaneously (and paradoxically) allowing the brain to relax, while also increasing its output, which is likely caused by reducing the release of two inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 & IL-6) [r (opens new tab)].

Meditation is also useful for treating depression, likely because it boosts neuroplasticity and brain growth, whilst also lowering inflammation, a primary contributor to major depressive disorder [r (opens new tab)].

Brief daytime naps of (5-20 mins) have been shown to enhance cognitive performance, learning, memory consolidation, and increase alertness [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]. Longer naps of 30mins+ were shown to be detrimental on cognitive performance due to sleep inertia.

Short bursts of breath holding (hypoxia) can promote an increase in BDNF and MANF [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]. This can be easily practised in the office. Personally, I use this during cardio exercise by only breathing through the nose while running, or whilst walking by holding the breath for X number of steps, and then trying to refrain from taking a huge gulp of air on the first several inhalations (shallow breaths for as long as comfortable after briefly holding your breath).

Environmental sources:

Cold exposure increases neuroplasticity via increased BDNF, yet decreases cognitive performance [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]. So, having a brief period of cold water during your morning shower may prove to enhance learning long term.

Heat exposure can increase a host of cognitive boosting agents, including BDNF, MANF, and GDNF [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)]. Visiting a sauna once per fortnight is a useful tool.

Getting in the sun during the day can increase BDNF levels from two different angles.

Firstly, sunlight increases BDNF directly [r (opens new tab)].

Secondly, central BDNF levels naturally rise and fall as the day progresses, with levels generally peaking during the morning, and slowly decreasing thereafter. So, aligning your circadian rhythm to the time-zone you live in can help optimise BDNF levels, and enhance neuroplasticity [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Blue light can also increase BDNF when viewed, which can easily be achieved by using a blue background, or having blue ambient lighting around your desk, office, or household [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Personally, I like to use smart-lights and LED panels around my home, for a more appealing look, or comforting ambient lighting.

Music can also increase BDNF. In particular, new music varieties or unfamiliar artists [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

Listening to music has even been found to be neuroprotective [r (opens new tab)].

It’s also possible that music from different cultures influences brain plasticity in entirely different ways (eg. Eastern vs Western music) [r (opens new tab)].

Try listening to a new genre, or your favourite genre produced in different countries speaking foreign languages. You don’t need to understand the words to enjoy the music, nor to feel the message.

Here’s a few that I’ve listened to:

Japanese

RnB (opens new tab)

Hip-hop (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Rap (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Love (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Metal (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Pop (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Disco (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Acoustic (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Russian

Techno (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Hip-hop (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Portuguese

Acoustic (opens new tab) YT (opens new tab)

Romanian

Pop (opens new tab)

EDM (opens new tab)

South American

Salsa/EDM (opens new tab)

French

Pop (opens new tab)

Hip-hop (opens new tab)

Rap (opens new tab)

Electro-pop (opens new tab)

Heartbreak (opens new tab)

Brazilian

Acoustic (opens new tab)
Love (opens new tab)
French & Brazilian hip-hop (opens new tab)

Cuban

Jazz (opens new tab)

Noise can be distracting, however, ambient (background) noise can be beneficial for boosting creativity [r (opens new tab)].
Using a free service like Mynoise (opens new tab) may help when you need to spark some creativity, or stay in the creative zone.

Environments enriched with new things will also increase neurogenesis via increasing BDNF [r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)][r (opens new tab)].

This was shown in animal models using mice and memory puzzles. When selectively bred ‘super-intelligent’ mice are pitted against selectively bred ‘super-dumb’ mice, the intelligent mice could easily beat the dumb mice on memory tasks, but only if their daily environment was also enriched with novel stimuli such as toys, treadmills, tubes, and the like. However, if their cages were devoid of any stimuli, then the intelligent mice barely performed better than the dumb mice.

The benefits of environmental enrichment were actually shown in both breeds, as they both improved on the memory task when raised in a cage full of stimuli. However, the intelligent mice improved by a far higher degree than the ‘dumber’ mice.

It’s worth noting that this still shows the ‘dumb’ mice could be improved; which personally gave me some hope for myself (jk).

Simply put, when your environment is devoid of novel stimuli, you may fail to learn and grow as effectively. Yet, by providing an enriched environment, you should learn at a significantly higher rate [r (opens new tab)].

Neuroplasticity In Development

Image sourced: Johanson & Belichenko (2002) (opens new tab)

This can be achieved by inserting new things into your current environment, or by travelling to new locations.

Personally, here’s some techniques I employ:

Take random wandering walks through the neighbourhood; always turning the street down the path that looks least familiar, into unknown areas (good time to listen to a podcast).
Replace your phone & desktop backgrounds every month.
Listen to music from new genres, or better yet, new languages (Japanese hip-hop was an old favourite, Latin dance is a new one).
Visit new suburbs, cafes, restaurants, parks, or art galleries once per week (a quarterly QAGoMA (opens new tab) visit is a favourite).
Train at new gyms on the weekend.
Place new pieces of art around the house, or shuffle old pieces to new areas.
Take the ferry to a new stop further down the river. Enjoy the scenery of the ride and the new destination.
Visit a friend’s house.
Walk through the park, and intentionally try to notice the minutiae of nature; like a caterpillar wriggling across a vine, the falling of leaves from trees up high, or a conversation between two birds.
Intentionally do something outside your comfort zone (karaoke, yoga, painting, swimming, cooking classes, new cuisines, travelling somewhere English is not commonly spoken).
Try learning a new sport or martial art.
Take on a project well above your current competence levels (I’m currently building my own at-home cloud server (opens new tab) and a DNS sink-hole called Pi-hole (opens new tab), both using a Raspberry Pi (opens new tab)).
Go for a hike.
Read or watch videos on philosophy.

The Entrepreneurs Nootropic Stack

This was initially a hidden document, only shared with my high performer clients (usually company owners).

After 2 years in hiding, I’ve decided to release the 80hrs spent creating this high-density-information resource.

In the competitive business world, maintaining optimal cognitive function isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity.

This book is a concise guide designed specifically for high-achieving individuals who value their time and their performance.

Whether preparing for a high-stakes meeting or red-lining for crunch time on a project, this book is your key to outperforming.

In this book, you will discover the perfect combination of nootropics — natural and synthetic brain-enhancing supplements — that will propel you to the next level of clarity and productivity.

I can assure you, you’ve never felt this kind of cognitive enhancement before.

I hope you found value in this article, and I truly hope you consider how nootropics may benefit your own life, happiness, productivity and performance.

That mind of yours has far more latent potential that you can imagine.

Now, perhaps it’s time to unleash that performance through incorporating some nootropics into your daily routine.

Keep optimising,

Isaac

Published: block 750,993 (opens new tab)

Biohacking

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 00:03:10 GMT

My personal search for performance started when I was about 7 years old.

I would turn up to soccer practice an hour early, and keep practising for hours after, until it was too dark to see the ball. Seeking higher performance. This evolved into exercising; push-ups, crunches and the like.
By the time I was 9, I was lifting weights to make myself stronger, bigger and faster.
By 16, I was deeply interested in nutrition and how to improve the muscle on a cellular level. Learning how certain foods and nutrients could make a huge difference was pretty eye opening to a young teen, especially when it came to individual biochemical mechanisms of action that each nutrient performed within our body. Following this path I was then fascinated by the endocrine system, and became engrossed in studies relating to hormones. I’d have easily spent a thousand hours reading study after study on the subject, with dozens of nights spent reading until the sun came up.

In 2020 my attention shifted towards the brain, and increasing cognitive performance, overall adaptability, and accelerating skill acquisition. This attention wasn’t just regarding knowledge, and how to learn faster, but towards altering the brain on a physical level, altering biology and neurology, for enhanced performance towards whatever goal was desired. This research led me towards Nootropics (discussed later) and later towards biohacking the rest of the body and its other various functions, like sleep, muscle growth, body fat levels, balance, speech, digestion, etc.

Following from my previous article on personal growth - if I could improve all of these areas, just imagine how much I would be altering the course of my life for the better.

So, what is biohacking?

‘Biohacking’ as the practice has been commonly referred to, is simply the concept of performing an action that elicits a certain favourable biological response.

Often these actions serve no other purpose than to elicit a known and desired biological response.

Although this term sounds complex, it’s fairly simple if you cut out the science and just look at the before & after components.

Example:

You doing [X action] = [Y changes, inside your body] = [Z desired effects to your body or behaviour].

It is the practice of optimising your physiology, psychology, and biology for your chosen beneficial results. Results like wellness, health, longevity and performance (physical & mental) are all common desirable goals worthy of optimisation.

Biohacking is a vast field with many different methods than can be employed. Simply because there are many different biochemical reactions within our human bodies than we can leverage to our benefit.

One example that is shared with over 1 billion people every day would be drinking coffee. We know coffee contains the chemical caffeine, and we definitely feel the biological response when we drink a cup of that delicious brain juice. Results like boosted alertness, lessened tiredness, and increased productivity & happiness are the hallmark uses of coffee. To demonstrate how popular this biohack is, over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every single day; they aren’t all drinking it just because they’re thirsty!

Exercise is another popular biohack. We know the body responds to exercise with beneficial results like fat loss, muscle gain, lengthened lifespan, reverse in aging, decreased risk of hundreds of diseases, better mental health, etc. These are all the result of biological reactions happening in your body in response to the action of exercise.

[X Action] = [Y biochemical effect] = [Z Result], thus, biohacking!

Other examples include, listening to music, drinking alcohol, watching TV, watching sunsets, playing sports, playing video games, sleeping, meditating, dieting, stretching and tons more.

There are many fields and practises that fit into the realm of biohacking.

The largest are:

Nutrigenomics

using foods, supplements and specific nutrition to create a desired response in the body. Think, dieting to lose weight, drinking a protein shake to help improve muscle, using supplements to improve the performance of your body or brain, or even drinking alcohol to relax.

Exercise Physiology & Biomechanics

Effortful physical activity for the sole purpose of facilitating: losing body fat, improving strength, increasing bone density, growing muscle, becoming fitter, rehabilitating movement functions, or just being a healthier version of yourself. It’s an odd concept, to effortfully expend energy for no purpose other than to stress the body, in order for it to adapt and improve above current levels; no other animals do this (that I know of).

Chronobiology

day and night cycles affect your body’s physiological processes and so we can use methods and actions to ensure we have truly synced with this cycle in order to better optimise the thousands of processes occurring in response to this unshifting daily cycle. Any mismatch in our processes and the cycle can have detrimental effects within us, including depression, shortened lifespan, faster ageing, and reduced mental & physical performance.

Technology

technology is fast becoming a hugely popular tool for monitoring and improving our health and daily routines. Branching from this area is the quantified self movement, whereby everything that can be quantified within and around the body is then tracked and seen as a metric that can be improved through trial & error (e.g. step count, heart rate, blood tests, sleep quantity, calories, books read, and screen time, etc).

Given the enormous reach that technology has, it’s without saying that it can improve our lives by helping us with our biological processes. Common examples include things like sleep trackers, heart rate monitors, exercise machines, headphones, televisions and phones. The phone in your hands, or the smart-watch sitting on your wrist right now may even be used for biohacking, if done right. However the true performance enhancing tech is less common, in-fact it’s often a secret to the general population, and is often expensive; however this is proportionate to the huge results they give. Further down the rabbit-hole of tech and biohacking, there are people who implant tech into their bodies, to fuse man and machine, so they can upgrade their body to acquire new senses such as weather detection, echolocation, blood chemistry, or even things like magnetic forces.

Psychology

Improving things like your mindset, motivation, emotional well being, happiness, empathy and thoughtfulness. The state of your psychology can have big effects on your body, and studies within the last 30 years have proven that the state of your body can also have huge effects on your psychology. There are some very fascinating studies on the reciprocal relationship between the two. Performance psychology and its subsets have also grown substantially (more than 5-fold) within the last 12 years.

Neuroscience

by using the modern scientific method and modern measurement devices like the fMRI or EEG, we can see the mechanisms within the brain, and how they relate to our abilities and behaviours. We now have a much higher resolution into how our brain perceives the world, and how we react in response to it. This feedback allows us to surmise which of our actions, or which chemicals, have beneficial results in our brains, that may cause us desired feelings, or enhanced desirable functions (like verbal fluidity, or accelerated learning). We know that things like sex, eating, winning, and social inclusiveness, increase certain neurotransmitters, like dopamine and serotonin, that make us feel good. We’ve also learnt there are easier ways of creating favourable reactions, like drinking coffee to increase dopamine ‘the productivity hormone’, or breathing in certain patterns to lower certain hormones like cortisol. There are also methods to grow new brain cells, neurons, and synapses to increase our mental performance, intelligence and mental health, while removing things like brain fog and unproductive thoughts. We can even slow or reverse brain ageing. Neuroscience is often a mixture of chemistry, biology, and psychology.

Genetics

these can be analysed through blood or salivary samples. Once analysed we can see whether we may have predispositions for certain illnesses, as well uncovering how our body processes certain nutrients or other chemicals, which shed light onto what we may benefit the most from eating or taking. For example, a test may reveal that you have the ApoE-4 gene, and may benefit highly from taking DHA fish oil to prevent Alzheimer’s.

This is only a short list of the many areas, as biohacking is incredibly diverse, and many of these areas have heavy overlap.

Hopefully you’ve gained some insight as to how incredibly powerful biohacking can be when equipped or adopted into your lifestyle.

Biohacking may seem very new-age, a bit out-there, and very complex, but it’s something that we as humans have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. If we look at simple anthropological data we can see that the most successful hunters in tribes were usually given the most nutritious parts of the animals (organs) and generally got the best pick of partners to procreate with (thus hacking the genetic results for more offspring with an aptitude for successful hunting). This was a shared understanding by the tribe in order to increase the harvest of future hunts, to improve the efficacy of the tribes efforts and ensure group survival.

There are thousands of examples in the animal kingdom as well. One humorous study found that dolphins will sometimes gather in a group and chew on a pufferfish to get high, in order to increase social bonding and elicit happiness among the group. We also know that gorillas beat their chests, which increases their testosterone, and bears biannually alter their diet to gain large amounts of body fat for hibernation.

Pro’s and Cons.

Biohacking can be detrimental (drugs, alcohol, etc), but if we focus on the scientific literature, and we take the imperative to control our biology for the betterment, the results are nothing short of life changing.

Don’t miss the opportunities awaiting. You can optimise yourself. You can be a better version of yourself. You can start biohacking.

Keep optimising,

Isaac

Published: block 722,393 (opens new tab)

Why Personal Growth Matters

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 23:13:27 GMT

I’d like you to think about the last event you went to, where there was some level of social risk at play, be it a social event, a presentation at work, or simply a conversation with a peer or someone new. Can you think back to what happened in the moment you had to do the talking, you had all eyes focused on you, ears awaiting what you had to say, and brains searching for body language cues. There was surmounting pressure to leave a good impression, say something valuable, to speak insightfully, or at least posit a useful contribution. Now, instead, think of a course, book, podcast or lecture that might’ve helped you get an even better outcome from that situation.

If you were talking to a stranger who was interested in travelling. Think of how much better you would have connected and left a better impression, if you had learnt about travelling, or read a book about great places to travel.

If you were in negotiation with a new business partner, or in an interview for a new job, think of how much better the outcome could have been if you had already read a book on body language, an article on personal branding, or a podcast on how to sell yourself.

Think of your life 20 years from now if you had decided tomorrow to pick up a book on investing, and started to learn how to invest money, or picked up a book on how to improve your health, and took the steps necessary to do so. If you were to compare the two versions of yourself, the one who read the books, or learnt the insights, versus the one who didn’t, you would see two very different people at very different stages of their life, yet the exact same age. Now, using that same logic, think of yourself now in your current set of circumstances, your house, your car, your friends and your job. If, two years ago, you had picked up a few books, listened to a few valuable podcasts, or taken a few courses, would you still be in the exact same position? Could you possibly have a better situation? How would that better situation impact your level of happiness?

Imagine where you would be today if someone gave you a book on how to successfully diet, or how to get through a breakup quickly, how to negotiate, or even how to start a profitable business.

Those small bits of information would have influenced every decision you’ve made up until now. They would have improved the filter that you see life through, impacting every single moment of your life until this moment, which would have resulted in a drastically different life.

Imagine if you had read a book on how to save money, you would’ve probably bought less things you didn’t need, and would currently have a bigger savings account.

Every day we make an estimated 32,000 decisions.

These bits of information learnt all add up, so that we can use them when we’re faced with these decisions, big or small; and very often unconscious decisions. They influence our choices whether we notice or not.

A good analogy I like to use is:

Think of a plane, travelling along the sky at a steady pace in a straight line perfectly across the middle of the equator, now if that plane were to keep travelling straight all the way around the globe it would land perfectly where it began. Yet if it were to adjust its steering by as little as 1 degree just once before it first took off, yet still travelled the same amount of distance, it would actually land 809km away from where it first left off.

This one seemingly insignificant adjustment made such a huge impact over the course of the trip, and this is exactly how a small piece of information can also make a huge impact across the course of your life. Truly, one good book can change the course of your life dramatically.

Now you always have that choice, how can I spend my free time?

Perhaps scrolling through social media is altering your life course for the better, or for the worse. Maybe spending your Saturday night binge-watching TV series is steering you in a better direction. It’s up to you to decide, but this decision is what intentional personal growth is all about. Picking your direction, and ensuring you’re being nudged toward it by feeding your brain the information that will change your thoughts.

Valuable information changes the way you think, which alters your decisions, which regulates the way you behave, and thus changes your life circumstances.

Small changes alter the course of your life with every small decision, the frequent decisions (habits) are the ones that make the most difference, but they all change the course, whether you notice or not.

So, why not have some control over these changes.

Have some control over the direction you’re steering this plane.

Make time for personal growth, and you will be actively steering the plane (your life) toward the direction you need.

Here’s a map of some of the methods I employ:

Personal Growth Mind-map (opens new tab)

Keep optimising,

Isaac

Published: block 721,949 (opens new tab)

The SINCH method for page flagging

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 05:45:58 GMT

Reading - The SINCH Method

In late 2020, I realised that the more I ramped up my reading, the more I was flying through page flags, and also the more I had to vaguely recall which book had really important and fascinating page flags or simply just interesting ones. I needed to vaguely track this so I knew which books were worth looking back into a year or so later, or for reference when needed.

From this is decided that the easiest way to track the meaning behind page flags was to categorise them. So I came up with a method using the 5 coloured page flag pack I’d bought from Officeworks that day.

The method follows an acronym for easy reference and recollection. Each of the 5 colours corresponds to a category, and a letter from the acronym. After many hours and stuffing about trying to find an acronym that made sense using the words I preferred, I finally came to the creation of the SINCH method; sinch because its easy; and because I’d somehow spelt cinch incorrectly my whole life (Latin origin word).

Here are the categories explained:

S -

The ‘S’ is to flag information that gave you a feeling of Self-awareness, Self-enlightenment, Self-consciousness, or as the Japanese say, 悟り (Satori), ‘the feeling of suddenly seeing one’s true nature’. When you’re reading something and it gives you a sudden insight into something that you currently do, a behaviour, a way of thinking, a situation you’re in, or a part of your personality that you hadn’t ever noticed before. The ‘S’ is to indicate a page that helped you discover a new piece of yourself.

I -

This flag is to indicate generally interesting stuff, things that don’t really apply to the other categories, yet it’s still something worth flagging for later use. The ‘I’ stands for interesting, or Intriguing.

N -

The ‘N’ is a very useful one, it’s for flagging things that just don’t make sense right now. Stuff that causes cognitive dissonance, friction in your thoughts, or things that are simply above your current knowledge or skill-set. Also useful for things that make some sense right now, but you feel they will be better understood or applied, at a later period of your life. The ‘N’ stands for Next year, or stuff that you’re too Narrow-minded to understand right now. I use ‘N’ as a flag that I need to re-read this page next year.

C -

Condensed information: Charts, Concepts, Checklists. This flag is used for the pages with a lot of info packed into it, such as summaries, graphs, charts, lists, or concept and chapter summaries. Pages where the idea/s have been condensed for quick understanding. Usually you can gloss over the stuff on these pages and quickly recall the concepts within the whole book or chapter. Very useful for recalling concepts, frameworks or ideas from a book!

H -

Finally we have ‘H’. Personally this is my favourite flag to use. It was the ‘S’ and the ‘H’ letters I would not forfeit when trying to find an acronym. The ‘H’ flag is used on pages that behold a nugget of pure gold, the pages that are equipped with a mind-bomb. This flag is used for pages that really alter your way of thinking. Often this is the page that links all the other pages together, or a sentence that suddenly links many different ideas together in a new way - often old or seemingly unrelated ideas. It rapidly solidifies your understanding.

The page that makes you stop, look up off the page, into the distance, and say “…Huh…” with an equally puzzled yet elated expression of deep thought. Thus, H is for “huh”.

To summarise my method: (use the C flag here)

S.I.N.C.H.
Page Flagging System

S. Satori.
I. Interesting.
N. Next year.
C. Condensed.
H. Huh.

Using the 5 colour page flag pack I bought, these are the colours I used. Intentionally using Green for the pages that gave me the most growth, and Yellow because I fly through this colour, and it’s easy to find 5 packs of just yellow to refill the coloured pack.

PinkS - self knowledge, consciousness, self-awareness & enlightenment
YellowI - basic highlighted pages, generally interesting
OrangeN - beyond current abilities, cognitive dissonance & friction, read next year
BlueC - charts, graphs & summaries, lists
GreenH - stuff that made me go “huh…”

Here’s the 5 pack I use for the SINCH method:

(opens new tab)

Keep optimising,

Isaac

Published: block 721,729 (opens new tab)