Performance Enhancing Substances For Scientists

So drugs like Modafinil might just be able to enhance our brain power safely. But we scientists have long been using other stuff to help us get by.

Alice-TSSS-4

AsianScientist (Sep. 4, 2015) – Imagine this situation which is common to most scientists (it’s easy if you try). Your alarm has gone off in the morning but you’re super-sleep deprived from spending the entire week doing a combination of experiments, meetings and writing revisions for your grant or paper.

You drag yourself into work, probably with messy hair and glasses askew, only to be confronted by your labmates already in their sparkling white coats, going about their work happily. You grab one of them and ask the question on your mind, “I’m absolutely exhausted but how are you doing this?”

Your colleague flashes a wide smile and says, “That’s because I’m taking Cogni-help!” while holding up a little box. All your other colleagues burst in, “We’re ALL taking Cogni-help!” A voiceover you didn’t know existed in your life states, “Cogni-help—the pill that helps you think better and work harder!”


Enter the cognitive enhancers

Sounds a bit ridiculous? Maybe not. In August, the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology published a meta-analysis which found the drug Modafinil, currently used to treat sleep disorders, enhanced various cognitive functions such as learning and attention in healthy patients with no side effects. Admittedly, this study used non-sleep deprived subjects so it probably wouldn’t work on at least 75 percent of scientists, but otherwise this appears to be the equivalent of a performance-enhancing drug for us!

While it is highly unlikely that it will ever be acceptable to prescribe medication for healthy people, this has never stopped people accessing things if they believed it would give them a cognitive boost—such as this study which found the concentration of metabolites for methylphenidate (Ritalin) and other ADHD medication in university wastewater increased during midterms and finals compared to the first week of classes.

But not everything that can enhance scientific performance are prescription drugs. Here’s a short list of substances that are known to help us out.


Carbohydrates/sugar

We have all been there—you have to write a document of some sort and so you’ll camp at your desk eating potato crisps or chocolate or some other junk food. In fact, I’m eating a bag of gummi bears right now! And who hasn’t been cranky or found it difficult to concentrate while on a diet?

Biochemistry and neuroscience textbooks will tell you that the brain accounts for approximately 20-25 percent total body basal metabolic rate. As the brain does not contain fuel stores, it requires continuous transport of glucose from the blood supply, using up to 60 percent of the total blood glucose.

While the body can produce glucose endogenously, the best way to increase glucose levels is to eat it. A 2009 study found that subjects on a low-carbohydrate diet performed worse on memory-based tasks compared to those on a balanced reduced-calorie diet, and promptly improved once carbohydrates were reintroduced.

Additionally, for everyone on the Paleo diet, a recent study proposed that starchy foods were essential for human evolution and brain growth. So treat yourself to another bowl of rice or noodles!


Alcohol

A positive link between increased IQ and moderate drinking have been found for men, while women with higher education qualifications are more likely to drink daily. This is despite the well-known detrimental effects that alcohol has on cognition and the human body in general.

On the other hand, one of the first effects of alcohol consumption is the decreasing of inhibitions, meaning that you might be willing to say or think in a ways you otherwise would not—hence the description of alcohol as a social lubricant. A professor once said to me that some of the best scientific discussions and connections he ever made were at the pub talking to other scientists. That said, it isn’t the best to try and conduct experiments after having a few glasses of wine. (Don’t say we didn’t warn you!)


Caffeine

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant and I think most of us are familiar with this infographic which lists scientists and lab technicians as the profession that drinks the most coffee (hooray for us?). The list contains other professions that we might also cover, such as ‘education administrator,’ ‘physician,’ and ‘professor.’

Just think about all of your colleagues who simply can’t function until that first cup (or three) of hot coffee have passed their lips in the morning. Also, this infographic doesn’t even take into consideration people who drink tea!

Having said that, I know a post-doc who does not drink coffee, although he does drink tea. This post-doc finished his PhD in less than four years, is the author of a respectable number of publications, and seems socially well adjusted with many friends on and off campus. When asked why he didn’t drink coffee, another person shouted, “Are you kidding me? If he drank coffee, he’d probably take over the world!”

So if you could take something that would help you work, would you do it? People who said *Yes*, I thank you for your honesty. People who said *No*, well I’m sorry to break it to you, but you already are.


This article is from a monthly column called The Sometimes Serious Scientist. Click here to see the other articles in this series.

———

Source: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: Evan Anderson/Flickr/CC.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Alice Ly is a postdoctoral researcher in Germany. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne, and has a BSc in Pathology (First Class Hons) and BA (Art History). She enjoys microscopy, cakes, photos of puppies, and removing warm items from the incubator.

Related Stories from Asian Scientist