The secret to making your brain work better – Financial Times

I take lions mane with a daily microdose of psychedelic, and B6 to switch on the brain and getmore ideas, says writer Catherine Frenette, ofthe effects of her supplements regime. I did it allthrough writing my latest book: I had a short deadline and needed to stay at my desk. It absolutely worked. Without doubt, Im working better.

Tired, unfocused brain in need of a boost? The traditional recourse coffee is, it turns out, very pre-pandemic. A stimulant made for 2019s office-worker world, when we were all just striving to keep up, its ashort-term fix that burns through your adrenal reserves and leaves you, ultimately, depleted. Nowadays, thats not good enough. Enter the latest nootropics cognitive enhancers that will take users up and up, and could support brain function and health in the long term.

Unlike coffee, these new nootropics, or smart drugs, nourish the brain without cashing in on its energy reserves. The brain is the bodys most hungry organ, consuming 20per cent of our energy, so it is vital that it is well fed. Stimulants such as coffee, Adderall or study drug Modafinil operate by robbing Peter to pay Paul: increasing dopamine while simultaneously depleting reserves.

We thinkitsnormal to be tired andforget things. Thats not normal. Weshould be feeling better

There is much debate about which nootropics to take, how to take them and how much to take. In online forums, the nootropic hive mind bandies about options that include amino acids like L-theanine and glutamine, thesalt magnesium threonate, nutrients citicoline and phosphatidylserine, adaptogenic herbs such as rhodiola and Bacopa, or the ubiquitously trending cordyceps.

Everybody wants to know about brain biohacking rightnow, reports Dr Tamsin Lewis, founder of Wellgevity,a personalised preventative healthcare service.Everything starts with the brain. If you can changeyour neurochemistry you movedifferently, you interact differently, the whole filterto your day changes. Lewis, whobegan trying nootropics following a head injury,believes plenty of improvement can be gained, butcounsels: Theresno one-size-fits-all everyones baseline functionis different.Shealso cautions that some supplements are notdosedcorrectly or do not include their ingredients in a bioavailable form its important to look for clarity when it comes to dosages.

Lewis recommends to her patients personalised blends of intravenous ingredients, including B vitamin complex and alpha lipoic acid. She says the latter is agreat enhancer of mitochondrial function, naturally increasing levels of glutathione [an amino acid involvedin cell repair]. It can make your brain feel veryclear for a good few weeks.

Another compelling ingredient is Cognizin, a version ofcholine, which is a compound derived from food, particularly eggs. It promotes the production of phospholipids, which make up the membranes of our neural cells. Studies of Cognizin demonstrate up to a 25percent increase in attention, memory and focus in patients versus a placebo. It is an ingredient available in brain-boosting supplements from Qualia to Mind Lab Pro. JulianLee, CEO of green tech business Binding Solutions, began taking Cognizin as one of the ingredients in the super-supplement Lyma. I have remarkably better energy and focus during theday, he reports. Things have really shifted. Im50 andin very good health and spirits I feel much younger than my age.Mentally, clear as a whistle.

If you can changeyour neurochemistry you movedifferently, you interact differently, the whole filterto your day changes

Over at Matt Roberts Evolution in Mayfair, where longevity doctors, physiotherapists and microdosing and psychedelic experts operate in tandem, a 60-something client is emerging from an intravenous glutathione infusionto treat her brain fog. Glutathione cleans out her cells, explains clinician nurse Michelle Gundry. We thinkitsnormal to be tired andforget things. Thats not normal. Weshould be feeling better. MattRoberts Evolution also hascoffee on the menu, butwitha difference: Mushroom coffee, confirms Roberts, madewith cordyceps to give youthe kick you need withoutthecomedown.

Medicinal mushrooms such as lions mane show someevidence of supporting neural health and cognition. Roberts recommends magnesium threonate for sleep (goodsleep is essential for brain recovery and memory)and the supplement NAD, which is essentially niacin (a vitamin B3 extract), or its more hardcore sister, NMN. NADmay increase human-growth hormone response andtherefore the ability of the bodys cells to regenerate. Watch how you take NMN, though, he says, as it needs to be attached to a fat molecule to be absorbable. Like almost everyone else I spoke to, Roberts cites gut health inthe form of a diet rich in plants and fermented foods asa key element in the quest to improve brain function andadaptability.

Neuroplasticity is also on the mind of Clinique La Prairie, the Swiss health and beauty brand, which declares ita fundamental aspect of healthy ageing. Cognition, says Professor Bogdan Draganski, a neuroscientist at the University Hospital of Lausanne and a member of CLPs scientific committee, is a key target for biohackers or neurohackers, as he calls them. Last year, Clinique La Prairie came out with its own health supplement, Energy Focus & Performance (279 for 120 capsules). It has been formulated with the patented nootropic Cognivia, which showed a nine per cent increase in numeric working memory.

Much of the interest in neurohacking is fuelled by the work of key professors at Stanford, Harvard and Yale. Neuroscience professor Andrew Huberman at Stanford School of Medicine is one such guru, as is Harvard professor of genetics David Sinclair. Both publish their work daily on social media and have amassed huge followings. Sinclair believes its possible not onlyfor us tohalt cellular decline but to reverse it. Huberman recommends easy hacks such as 30minutes of sunlight every morning to set the circadian rhythm and put you in control of your nervous system.

Huberman also likes to publish his stack, which is how wellness nerds referto their supplement regime. On a recent podcast he listedhis latest, which included eating foods that are rich inomega-3s and/or supplementing with omega-3s to get 2-3gof the fatty acid EPA per day; phosphatidylserine, alipid-like compound abundant in meat and fish; choline, which helps in modulating brain circuits; and creatine asupplement the fitness-obsessed use to bulk up, but which is good fuel for the brain at least 5g a day, he said.

The science is changing all the time, says James Heagney, gym director of KX health club in South Kensington, where Chelseas most ambitious wellness disciples go forworkouts. We follow the research to choose not justthe nutrients gaining in popularity but those that havescientific backing.

Heagney is currently looking at dopaminergic supplements for focus and concentration, the amino acid tyrosine to improve alertness, and adaptogens like gingko and holy basil. As a 4am riser, and with two young children to wrangle, Heagney is laser-focused on his own stack. Increased performance and cognition is where its at, he says. Brain function is everything in the body.

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The secret to making your brain work better - Financial Times