The Best Natural Nootropics For Focus
How to naturally heighten concentration, increase alertness, and become super-productive.
What makes for a truly great nootropic stack? Easy; it combines all the best nootropic substances in a carefully balanced combination to produce total brain optimization. However, you know as well as I do that this is easy to imagine, but very difficult to achieve while keeping costs and side effect risks to a minimum. I’ve spent a long time reviewing products for VAGA, and there are few supplements which actually deliver complete brain enhancement.
To create a genuinely great stack, you need to understand what individual natural nootropics do, how they work, and how they might interact with one another in the body. You then need to combine that with a honest look at the areas of cognitive performance you most need to focus on, and the areas most important to your career, sports performance, etc.
So, what are the best nootropics in the world right now?
Which brain-boosting substances have the most robust scientific credentials?
What is the best way to combine nootropics into a stack for complete brain optimization?
To answer these questions, I’ll be taking you through the best nootropics for each individual aspect of cognitive performance. I will stick to the most important measures of cognitive function. Let’s get into it!
Focus
The best natural nootropic for increasing focus has to be a cholinergic. Cholinergics are compounds which increase choline availability in the brain. Eating regular choline doesn’t raise brain choline levels very much because the molecule struggles to cross the blood brain barrier. That’s why we use choline analogues, or cholinergics as they are also known.
The most efficient, effective cholinergic in my opinion is CDP-Choline (also known as Citicoline is Cognizin). CDP-Choline rapidly raises brain choline availability, which in turn raises availability of both acetylcholine (the brain’s executive neurotransmitter) and phosphatidylcholine (an important structural component of brain tissues). Dozens of studies show that Citicoline significantly improves focus in the short term.
Memory
What is the best nootropic for memory? In my opinion, it is without question Bacopa monnieri. To my mind, there isn’t anything that even comes close to the memory-enhancing powers of bacopa monnieri for the same side effect risk profile.
Several clinical trials have proven that Bacopa monnieri supplementation improves memory function in various different ways, including recall speed and accuracy. It is believed that Bacopa works by increasing dendrite branching; in simple terms, Bacopasides in Bacopa monnieri encourage the growth of branches between your neurons. Your neurons then have more channels of communication at their disposal, which means faster thinking and memory retrieval.
Stress resistance
Stress resistance is an important part of brain performance. If you fall to pieces in stressful situations and your anxiety gets the best of you, then you have no chance of retaining your focus and decision making skills when it matters most!
Thankfully there are some natural substances which have proven extremely effective for promoting cognitive function in highly stressful situations. Take Tyrosine for example; this amino acid reliably improves the scores people achieve in cognitive demanding tasks when they are in extremely challenging situations (sleep deprivation, extreme cold, and more). Supplementing with some Tyrosine when you’re burning the midnight oil, or you need to perform on the field despite bad weather, will help you stay focused and motivated despite the circumstances.
Brain development & maintenance
This is, in my opinion, the single most important aspect of cognitive enhancement, and it is sadly the one that most often gets overlooked.
There are a handful of natural substances which can directly stimulate the maintenance, proliferation, and growth of brain cells. The best option for this is Lion’s Mane Mushroom.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom consumption stimulates the release of a neurotrophic factor called Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). NGF governs the growth, proliferation, and maintenance rate of neurons. Higher NGF levels means you are faster at repairing, growing, and creating new neurons. I don’t need to tell you what having more, better maintained neurons would do for cognitive function!
Putting it all together
To really achieve total brain optimization, I recommend combining the different substances above into a single stack and taking it on a regular basis. Cognitive enhancement isn’t something you should push for as-and-when it is needed; for optimal results, you need to build an all-round better functioning brain and keep it at optimal performance year-round.
You can learn more about nooropics and cognitive enhancement on Vaga.org: