Brain drugs boost performance

dudara

From the BBC

Brain-boost drugs 'to be common'
Healthy people, including children, might one day take drugs to boost their intelligence, scientists predict.

The think-tank Foresight, outlined the scenario in an independent report looking at potential developments over the next 20 years.

Such "cognitive enhancers" could become as "common as coffee", they suggest.

Scientists did not rule out children taking exams facing drug tests, as sportsmen do, to see if any have taken 'performance enhancing substances'.

The report was compiled by 50 experts, who set out their predictions for the next two decades.

Some drugs are already known to aid mental performance.

Ritalin, now prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has already been used by some students to improve their performance in exams.

Modafinil, used now to treat sleep disorders, has been shown to help people remember numbers more effectively.

It can also make people think more carefully before making decisions.

There is also a type of molecule called ampakins, which enhance the way some chemical receptors in the brain work, suggesting drugs could be developed to improve people's memory when they are tired.

The Foresight report states: "In a world that is increasingly non-stop and competitive, the individual's use of such substances may move from the fringe to the norm, with cognition enhancers used as coffee is today".

But the availability of such drugs would open up a range of social and ethical questions, including whether it should be permitted for people to use them to gain advantage over others.

How they should be monitored would also be an issue.

Scientists said it could raise issues about what substances children undertaking exams could use.

Professor Trevor Robbins, of the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, who helped compile the report, said: "No one minds very much about people taking vitamins to make them do a little bit better.

"But taking a natural, or unnatural, substance in exams might cause some ethical problems along the lines that we have in sport."

Professor Gerry Stimson, an expert in the sociology of health behaviour at Imperial College London, who also helped compile the report, said: "Would this be putting people at a fair advantage, or an unfair advantage?

"It is permitted to take drugs for therapeutic reasons, but you would need a regulatory framework for well people."

But the scientists say the drugs could become commonplace.

Professor Robbins said: "You have to look 20 years into the future.

"It's possible that these new drugs will be the new coffee, if you like, and taken by a broad range of individuals."

The report also looks at potential for vaccines against addictions to nicotine or cocaine, which would offer treatments for addicts by blocking the effects of the drug in the body.

It also looked at the potential for drugs to treat or delay the progress of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

Sir David King, chief scientific advisor to the government, who oversaw the project, said "By examining challenging issues, such as brain science and addition, scientists can help inform the government and others by building a strong scientific evidence base.

"This will provide the best platform to help us prepare for the future."

While it makes sense that certain foods and supplements can have a beneficial effect, I have concerns that taking such supplements interferes with the natural selection. If you're born smart, that's because nature has intended it to be that way. This just seems like another more pleasant version of genetic modification

DrIndy

Its not really genetic modification - merely enhancement. There is an interesting reference to these drugs being common as coffee - caffeine is a very effective mental stimulant provided you are not addicted to it. People have improved concentration and cognition when using it. It also has a good tolerance profile - overuse results in anxiety and tremors - which are unpleasant and people naturally limit their intake to titrate to this effect.

Is it wrong to artificially stimulate the brain? Is it wrong to tamper with people? We treat high blood pressure with medicine, we treat cancer with medicines, we have cosmetic surgery? Should the brain be different?

Kernel

DrIndy wrote:

Its not really genetic modification - merely enhancement. There is an interesting reference to these drugs being common as coffee - caffeine is a very effective mental stimulant provided you are not addicted to it. People have improved concentration and cognition when using it. It also has a good tolerance profile - overuse results in anxiety and tremors - which are unpleasant and people naturally limit their intake to titrate to this effect.

Is it wrong to artificially stimulate the brain? Is it wrong to tamper with people? We treat high blood pressure with medicine, we treat cancer with medicines, we have cosmetic surgery? Should the brain be different?

Yeah I agree with the Doc. Natural selection is a fine concept, but we've moved past that now, and life saving medical procedures and medicine itself could be seen to be 'going against' natural selection. I think natural selection is something that has gotten us this far, so let's use our evolved minds to improve ourselves.

Gene therapy is something I think will be hugely beneficial to mankind, as we can finally treat these mutated and defective genes that still get passed on from generation to generation. OP, there's a fine line between natural selection and eugenics.

Anyone interested in brain-boosters should check out herbal supplements such as Ginseng and Gingko Biloba, I've taken them myself in the past (after migraines I found the old noggin wasn't firing on all cylinders for a few days), and noticed a subtle improvement in energy levels and attentiveness/memory. Gingko Biloba is not legally available in the Republic, but you can buy it in most other EU countries.. including the UK. It stimulates blood flow into the brain apparently.

DrIndy

Gingko is banned in ireland as it also thins the blood and so it interacts with and amplifies other blood thinning medicines such as warfarin and aspirin (daily use after a heart attack). This can result in very serious bleeds.

Too much ginseng causes the "ginseng effect" where your blood pressure shoots through the roof and you feel your heart beat in your head.

In the far east, I would challenge you to find someone over 60 who does not eat gingko daily - and it seems to work for them!

Should we substitute "migraine" with "hangover"?

Kernel

DrIndy wrote:

Should we substitute "migraine" with "hangover"?

haha.. no! I used to suffer from chronic migraine (like the great Julius Caesar), which resulted in speech problems, blind spots/loss of vision, sensitivity to light and sound, and left me feeling wrecked and unable to concentrate for days (or conversely - very rarely I felt totally refreshed and full of energy the next day!).

They occurred for a couple of years, but lately I haven't gotten any at all. Originally they thought it was a transient ichemic attack (TIA or mini stroke) or brain tumour, but I got the all clear after a barrage of tests.

DrIndy

Kernel wrote:

haha.. no! I used to suffer from chronic migraine (like the great Julius Caesar), which resulted in speech problems, blind spots/loss of vision, sensitivity to light and sound, and left me feeling wrecked and unable to concentrate for days (or conversely - very rarely I felt totally refreshed and full of energy the next day!).

They occurred for a couple of years, but lately I haven't gotten any at all. Originally they thought it was a transient ichemic attack (TIA or mini stroke) or brain tumour, but I got the all clear after a barrage of tests.

You can get the rare migraine variant where you get arm weakness and change in sensation. This is initially indistinguishable from a stroke as it is due to blood supply changes to the brain. However, a migraine always reverses itself.....

cathy01

It was my understanding that theses drugs only help a child focus better.It does not put the information into their brian and process it to form a correct answer to a question.
I undestand what you are saying but by this it could also be percieved that a adhd person is not clever but is showing side effects to a drug???

cousin_borat

I get Ginko from the US for my father who is quite elderly to help with his memory loss. It works quite well in my experience.