Improving mental performance often includes adding things into your daily life and routine, such as the case with nootropics and smart enhancers. Biohackers are notorious for adding new technologies, lifestyle habits, and supplements to improve their mental performance. At times, it is additive to remove things from our daily life to optimize our brain. One practice exemplifies this the most: fasting. Even though fasting has become more popular over recent years, most mainstream adherents follow a process called "intermittent fasting," which entails small windows of daily eating and 16 - 20 hours of fasting per day. This methodology can have...

For most nootropics enthusiasts and brain hacking lovers, there are few neuro chemicals that aren't familiar. We may not always know every detail about dopamine or norepinephrine, but we have heard the name before. Anandamide is far less well known, but is arguably the most important missing component of the creativity puzzle. Creativity is one of the most elusive skills despite its importance in the modern era. As machines start completing any and all repetitive tasks, creativity and ingenuity becomes all-important. Anandamide is one of the brain chemicals that allows us to achieve that. Ecstasis and Anandamide Anandamide is a...

Tim Ferriss has the ability to move markets. With hundreds of millions of podcast downloads and millions of book sales, it's no wonder a small percentage become devotees in the cult of Ferriss. Even more impressive is the fervor to which they push an idea into the mainstream. When Ferriss interviewed researcher Dom D'Agostino about ketosis and exogenous ketones, it seemed like everyone was going from low-carb to no-carb. Today there are many products selling ketone salts to improve brain health and mental performance. Many of these products are well-intentioned, but the true effects of a ketogenic diet or ketones...

Flow is described as a state of timelessness, energized focus, and full involvement and enjoyment for a specific process. Originally described by Hungarian psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, it is a term used frequently at the highest echelons of any industry. The original book from Csikszentihalyi was published in the 1990s and many psychologists and peak performance experts have since infused modern technology and neurochemistry in the topic. One such researcher is Steven Kotler, the bestselling author of The Rise of Superman, who works with many organizations to not only better understand flow, but reverse engineer this mental state and use it...

If you visit the island of Okinawa, it's a far cry from the war torn island it used to be only a few short decades ago. Long after World War II, the inhabitants have returned to a lifestyle that has lasted them thousands of years. Now considered one of the top 5 longest living cultures, people from Okinawa have practiced fishing and cooking seafood for as long as inhabitants have occupied the island.  According to Dr. Josh Axe, it is their diet high in fish, which has led to success for most long-living cultures. While replicating these cultures and eating...

Caffeine is one of the oldest cognitive enhancers known to man. For hundreds of years people from many cultures around the globe have used caffeine. Unfortunately, caffeine can be pretty addictive and too much of a good thing is assuredly a bad thing. Lately, I've given myself a test to quit caffeine and over the course of a month developed a three step system that helped wean myself (and others) off of caffeine. Part two of this 3-step process is to find alternatives to replace caffeine and that is the focus of this article. There are a host of nootropics...

When you think of nootropics, what imagery and sensations come to mind? Imagine you wake up in the morning, have many mentally taxing tasks to complete, and you open your cabinet to find a nootropic that can help you. Usually it is going to improve your concentration, memory, or motivation, right? While all of these are helpful, they can't help mental performance if you have a poor mood and mental stress in the way.   In fact, one of the best ways to improve your mental performance is to improve mood and reduce stress. Think back to your high school...

During the Renaissance, members of the European nobility started traveling across Europe in search of culture, knowledge, and enjoyable experiences. This “Grand Tour” provided education and a great deal of happiness to nobles much like modern backpackers and nomads. For all the enjoyment, there were plenty of downsides for our ancestors and in the modern day. People in certain professional roles live on the road for hundreds of days out of the year and despite the desperate attempts to remain healthy, there are still ailments. Traveling is incredibly difficult on the immune system and creates a whole host of problems...

Thousands of years ago our ancestors had similar ideas about brain enhancement as we have today. Using the plants and herbs surrounding them, civilizations on the Indian subcontinent utilized what they could to become mentally balanced, happier, and more intelligent. These early nootropic users from what is now known as modern day India developed an entire repertoire of knowledge that helped them 5000 years ago similar to how they are effecting us now. Despite the long history of Ayurvedic medicine, very little is outdated or unusable by modern humans. In fact, many of the herbal remedies that saved lives thousands...

We've mentioned it previously, sleep is important for optimal cognitive function. Without proper sleep the brain doesn't operate at 100%, and nootropics simply are not going to make up the difference. While you may be one of those people who do not need, what most consider a full night of sleep, and can function perfectly fine on less, most of us are not that lucky. Here's the ultimate guide on getting the best night sleep possible. Of course none of the below is medical advice and should not be substituted for the advice of your primary care practitioner regarding your...

Meditation is defined on Wikipedia as “a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content...or as an end in itself.” It's obvious to me from this definition that meditation is an incredibly difficult practice to accurately define. Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese zen practitioner credited with bringing the practice to America, said that “...you become very idealistic, and you set up an ideal or goal which you strive to attain and fulfill. But as I have often said, this is absurd....

The names sums them up perfectly. Fish oil is oil that comes from fish. Krill oil is similar, but limited to only Antarctic krill (that’s a type of small crustacean). Despite being so simple in theory, fish oil and krill oil both have a major effect on the body of a human because of the Omega 3 fatty acids they contain. Getting enough of them is absolutely vital to being healthy. Here at Pure Nootropics, we all take an Omega 3 source. We've begun to think of krill oil as a slightly-superior alternative to fish oil. We’ll talk about the...