My modafinil review | Real life Limitless pill?
I'm sat writing this at precisely 04:26am. I'm almost 24 hours deep into my very first experience with modafinil - this sketchy little pill. I've got about 26 tabs open trying to do as many things as possible and write this at the same time - it's all a mess - but is it a coherent mess?
Am I Bradley Cooper from Limitless? Or am I Russell Crowe from A Beautiful Mind? Or neither?
So many questions, so litt- actually, so much time. There seems to be quite a lot of it when you don't sleep. Anyway, let's go back to the beginning - here is my modafinil review.
What is modafinil?
According to Medline Plus, modafinil is described as:
"...used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by narcolepsy (a condition that causes excessive daytime sleepiness) or shift work sleep disorder (sleepiness during scheduled waking hours and difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep during scheduled sleeping hours in people who work at night or on rotating shifts)."
Essentially, modafinil promotes wakefulness. Not the jittery type that coffee induces, but something entirely different. Hard to describe, but I'll take my best stab at it in my breakdown of my modafinil experience further down.
Why do people take modafinil?
As stated above, it's mostly prescribed for narcolepsy, but can also be prescribed for obstructive sleep apnoea. Finally (and also unofficially), it is used for being productive and pulling all nighters. That last one is a complete misuse of the drug, but at the same time, it is an effective use. Modafinil has been tested on army troops throughout the years to keep them sharp and turn them into 'super soldiers'. After your first stint of wakefulness, a few hours of sleep can then allow you to go up to 48 hours without sleep again. So you'd be looking at almost 3 days awake. That is if you really tried to stay awake though. I managed to get off at a somewhat reasonable hour the day following my experiment.
Why did I take it?
So, why did I actually opt to give this wünder drug a go? Well, because I could. As you all know by now, I will try pretty much anything in the pursuit of being a better human. I'm like one of those gimpy biohackers, but much less of a weirdo. I think...
My modafinil review
So, what is modafinil like? Did it give me superhuman productivity? Did it make me a charming swine? WHAT HAPPENED? Well, first of all...nothing.
The come up, if you will, was really subtle. I had 100mg (which is half a pill) at first and felt nothing, so took the other half about 40 minutes later and my baseline then begun to feel a little different. Then I had a coffee and everything changed. As soon as I took that first sip, the caffeine must have interacted with the modafinil and caused some super saiyan reaction because I was walking down the street like Evil Peter Parker.
Productivity
I got a helluva lot of work done. I literally just sat down and cracked on with my web design client work all day. This is a little bit misleading though, as I will often do 16+ hour stints without modafinil if I have a big deadline coming up. This did facilitate getting into the zone a bit easier though.
Unreal pump
After getting a fair few hours of deep work under my belt, I decided to test out modafinil's supposed benefits in the gym. Apparently, it can illicit some naughty pumps. This one was an undeniable success. Paired with the coffee, it had me feeling fantastic. A strange caveat to this though, was that I actually felt weaker overall even though the pump was enhanced. Strange one really. My recommendation if you were going to do it, would be to have an arm day where progressing your big lifts isn't the priority and your sole aim is to get the filthiest little sleeve-busting pump possible.
Laser focus
Like a lot of people have alluded to, the buzz you get from taking modafinil isn't some crazy, 10-coffees deep chaotic thrill ride. It's more of a laser focus that sits just a little bit above your baseline. It is genuinely just like being you, but about 10% better. I can't describe it any other way. Whether that extra 10% is worth the potential downsides is up to you.
There were 5 minutes around the 15 hour mark where I was just sat at the kitchen table feeling like my throat was about to explode. Looking back, this was 100% anxiety about the side affects I had been reading up on and being a bit of a hypochondriac, I had worked myself up. After those 5 minutes passed, I got what felt like a second wave and was able to crack back on, but that's definitely something to watch out for.
Do I endorse taking modafinil?
Yes. Go ahead and snort it until your heart explodes and you die.
...of course I don't endorse taking it for any other reason than what you have been prescribed it for. I've only taken it once and to be honest, don't plan on taking at again. It was fun, I got a lot done and it isn't addictive, but there can be potential side affects.
This includes:
Anxiety
Feeling dizzy or nauseas
Headaches
Diarrhoea (or the other way - constipation)
Heartburn
Loss of appetite
And some more serious ones (which you should see a doctor immediately about) are:
Rash, blisters or peeling skin
Sores in your mouth or hives externally
Excessive itching
Pain in your chest, fast heartbeat or irregular heartbeat
Problems breathing or swallowing
Swelling anywhere on your body
These aren't common and I don't want to give people anxiety about it, but I always like to play devil's advocate and ensure you all have a balanced picture of things before making any decision.
So to conclude, it was a great experience, sans the 5 minutes of mental breakdown. Do I recommend it? No, but if you want to, who am I to get in your way?
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How to create your own real-life limitless pill (NZT-48)
NZT-48 is now one of the most researched pills on the internet, just after viagra and proprietary phallic enlargement blends.
I can’t actually confirm whether that’s true but I assume it’s pretty near to the truth…
Long story short, you’re probably not going to get a hold of it (I’ll explain why in a moment) so the next best thing is to make your own.
EXPLAIN THE TITLE PLEASE…
Have you ever seen the film ‘Limitless’? Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have.
Whether it’s fresh in the memory or this article has just brought back the mems, NZT-48, the pill that Bradley Cooper’s character takes, is the main star of the show.
It allows him to “unlock 100% of his brain”, something which apparently, we only use up to 20% of although this has sort of been debunked.
Anyway, Bradders takes this pill and instantly, he transforms from a deadbeat writer (much like myself), into a prolific author, stock trader, businessman, etc. He also bangs his neighbour’s wife like straight away, which was a weird scene to watch.
This pill gave him limitless self-control, memory, creativity and basically enhanced everything in his life.
The funny thing is though, this pill simply unlocked what was already there. He was calling on information and skills he already had, but were off limits due to his clouded brain.
This is the basic premise of what I’m trying to say. I want this article to be a guide that you can refer back to and share with friends – something that will help you to realise the vast potential that your mind already has – that just needs unlocking.
As a psychology graduate, I have always been fascinated by the dormant power of our minds and how we can improve and harness them to dramatically improve our lives.
To see the power of thought alone, just read some of the testimonies in The Secret, or even better, look at World War II, where they gave injured soldiers sugar pills for pain relief. They believed these pills would stop their pain and they did…
If that isn’t testament to the unbelievable power of our minds, I don’t know what is.
WHAT IS NZT-48 AND DOES IT REALLY EXIST?
NZT-48 is basically just a pill. It was what Cooper’s character, Eddie Morra takes that allows him to use 100% of his mind as explained above.
It is a very interesting concept, yes, but does it actually have any basis in reality? Is the limitless pill a real thing?
Unfortunately not.
There are ‘smart drugs’ which I’ll touch on in the next section a little bit but they are nothing like how NZT-48 is depicted.
Basically – it’s a great concept but completely made up for a film. Who’d have thought it?
There are ways you can boost your brain power, creativity and all those other things Mr. Cooper experienced though…
HOW YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN LIMITLESS PILL
If you know me at all, you’ll know I’m a big hippie and like to do everything naturally.
Recently, I even stopped taking supplements all together as I hate the feeling of having to bring my pill box round with me whenever I travel and relying on exogenous sources for my wellbeing levels – it feels like I’m on life-saving medication!
That’s why the scope of this article will be centred around natural, healthy ways you can expand your mind, unlock your full potential and get the limitless feeling without having to resort to potentially dangerous nootropics like Modafinil.
That being said, I’ll try everything once in the name of science so I’m not going to rule out a week long Modafinil binge/review in the near future – but that’s another story.
The essence of NZT-48 isn’t so much about the pill itself, but the unlocking of our main protagonists brain. It was there all along, but he just had to tune in to the right frequency to get all 100% of it firing at the same time.
I’m going to cover as many tactics as possible to improve all the aspects of your mental state.
Things such as energy, concentration, stress management, calmness, proactivity, stillness, creativity and a bunch of other amazing traits that, when working in tandem, will make you an unstoppable mental machine.
I’ll also be covering a few boring ones in here but their reasoning for inclusion might be a bit different to what you’ve heard before and I’ll try and throw a unique twist on each to stop them being too tedious for you and your yet-to-be-opened mind.
Do make sure you read each one carefully as they’re all important to the success of this process.
And don’t worry, I’ll be doing a full section at the end on how you can implement them all into your daily routine – trust me, it isn’t actually that difficult to just start every one of these habits tomorrow – even today – if you’ve got the hairy gonads for it.
Before we dive in, lets just establish/recap what we want from the NZT-48 pill. What does Eddie Morra (Bradders) actually experience?
Clearer thought, better recall & overall, just smarter
More energy
Motivation to be better (cleaning his apartment, sharpening his dress sense, haircut, etc)
Better attention span – more absorbent of all the information in his environment.
Gets into great physical shape
Improved productivity & creativity
More structured with time management, routines, etc.
Higher self-respect
Looked younger/more presentable/more attractive
Better social skills
Lowered stress – far calmer
Every single one of these steps will improve at least one of these aspects tremendously.
Now let’s start.
SLEEP
No matter what sort of health benefit article you’re reading, sleep is going to be in there somewhere – that, I can guarantee.
Sleep is the all-important factor for improving health. It helps your body to recover from intense exercise, it clears mental fog, makes you happier, helps you retain more (and higher quality) information and so much more.
If you want to get close to NZT-48 level ability then sleep should be your number 1 priority.
Try to get at least 6 hours per night, ideally 8.
RISE EARLY
Maybe this a juxtaposition to getting a lot of sleep?
But…
Rising early is potentially a more important aspect to getting stuff done than sleep. Not overall, but if you want to be productive then getting up early is peerless in its effectiveness.
As long as you adjust your bedtime accordingly, getting up at 5am should be no hassle at all. You can still stay up as late as 11pm and scrape 6 hours so it really isn’t that hard.
Hell, you’ll get your 8 hours even if you went to bed at 9 – that’s still pretty late!
When you’re up at 5am, it’s like someone has switched a different mode on in your brain. As I sit here in some random games room at 5:47 writing this, I can attest to the quiet that early mornings bring.
This room would usually be packed with people chatting, playing ping pong and smashing pool balls but I can sit here on one of the sofas and write some of my best work to date (right, guys?!) because no one else does this and thus, no one else is awake!
I know no-one else does this because every time I get up this early I am ousted from my girlfriend’s apartment to this very games room so I don’t wake her up…
Anyway, enough story time. 5am offers distraction free time to be by yourself, no phone calls, texts or people, just you and whatever you want to do.
If you want more detail on how 5am is the ultimate NZT-48 productivity companion, read it here.
MAKE YOUR BED
This may seem small, but making your bed every single day is one of the best habits you can develop.
Accomplishing a task that requires just a little bit of willpower sets you off on the right foot every day.
This will keep you in a sort of motivated, flow state whereby you don’t want to break your chain of good habits and accomplishing things, pushing you on to complete whatever tasks and goals you have given yourself that day.
Again, small steps, but big rewards.
READ!
What better way to expand your mind to superhuman levels than to read the words of men and women who have already done so with their own?
You want the sharpest mind in town? Read some books gosh darn it.
There are books that teach you how to go deep and work your socks off to achieve your wildest dreams, books that teach you how to manifest your goals with just your thoughts and there are even books on how to turn your body into a muscle building machine.
There are also books that teach us life lessons, books that thrill us, teach us new words and there are books that make us feel things we thought we could never feel.
In short, books will take you through the widest range of emotions and thoughts whilst swelling your brain with a ridiculous amount of new knowledge – much more than a 15 hour Avenger’s marathon ever could (although that is still pretty fun I will admit).
DRINK WATER
Right, this is the last boring-ish one I swear.
I SWEAR.
So, we all know why we should drink water kind of – it’s good for us!
But what makes it so good for us?
Why is water so bloody good for the mind, body n soul?
Because it gives us natural energy, keeps us hydrated (which is pivotal for thinking clearly and rationally and keeps us privy to breakthroughs), makes our minds sharper, makes us stronger, happier, less likely to develop diseases – basically, if we were to put the benefits of water on a supplement from a fancy store, they’d be sold out in seconds.
Do not underestimate the power of h2o fellas.
USE CAFFEINE TACTICALLY
Caffeine can be really good or it can be really bad.
It really just depends on how you utilise it. See, if you rely on caffeine as your only source of energy and depend on it to make you feel good, then you sir, have a problem.
But if you use caffeine as a tool to increase your output at work, in the gym or to sustain a nice fast you’ve got going on, then I’d wager you’ve got a pretty healthy relationship with it.
I try not to have more than a cup of coffee a day, I never have it after midday and I don’t drink it any weekends (I use weekends as a sort of mini-reset for my tolerance levels).
But during the week, I’ll use it to develop Eddie Morra-like laser focus on the task at hand or to really fire me up for a workout where I am still fasting heading into it.
Caffeine is also a great appetite suppressant so if like me, you do struggle towards the end of your fast, coffee is your best friend.
It lets you push the fast just a couple of hours further, leaving you to enjoy your huge meals later in the day.
*A quick side note – if you have a massively unhealthy food binge problem, maybe this pattern of eating ain’t for you.
Anyway, coffee – and caffeine in general – is a fantastic cognitive enhancer and can let you zero in on a task for hours on end.
I recommend sitting yourself down at your workstation with a wee cup of Joseph, setting up a flow playlist (classical works well), switching your internet off unless you reeeeeaaaaaally need it and just cracking on.
You should be able to naturally concentrate for a long time anyway if you’re following all the habits in this article but a tactical deployment of some heavy-hitting caffeine will help you work for 3+ hours straight (you don’t need to wear a nappy though, toilet breaks are allowed).
INTERMITTENT FASTING
I have written about intermittent fasting at length but the basic premise is you have an eating window (usually 4-8 hours) and fast the rest of the time.
During the fasting window you should only consume water, coffee and green tea.
Whilst in this fasted state, you will get a sort of tunnel vision for whatever task you’ve got your sights set on.
I find that since I’m not focused on food, trying to digest anything or the banal tasks that surround the breakfast/lunch rituals as we know it, I can hone in on what I want to achieve and give it my unwavering attention.
This is the sort of concentration and drive that Morra has in Limitless. No matter what’s going on around him, his concentration is so fierce that nothing can knock him off course.
The same applies here, when you’re fasting, you’ve used caffeine tactically and you’re up early, the focus you’ll experience will be nothing like you’ve ever felt before.
MEDITATION, THE WIM HOF METHOD AND ICE BATHS/COLD SHOWERS
These three really deserve a section each to themselves but I wanted to highlight the importance of utilising them in conjunction with each other so that you don’t skimp out on any of them.
On their own, meditation, the Wim Hof method and ice baths/cold showers are great tools for health, wellbeing and NZT-48-esque prowess, but when used together, they will take you to another plane completely.
Some of the benefits you can expect with these three are:
Complete mental clarity
Resistance to basically all diseases (within reason)
More energy
Better breathing
Resistance to extreme temperatures
Unbelievable confidence
Improved recovery
Better skin
Boundless happiness throughout the day
I know this all sounds like a really bad JML infomercial, but it truly works.
Here’s some links to full guides on each below:
SAUNAS
What can I possibly say about saunas that hasn’t already been said? These puppies should be a mainstay in every self-respecting man’s daily routine.
If you have access to a sauna then get involved.
They can boost your brain output, they help to flush toxins out of your body, they give you better skin, a more youthful appearance, they help to recover from hard gym sessions and so much more.
The humble sauna is one of the hidden gems in the natural NZT-48 stack. I don’t see them bandied about too much but trust me, they work.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
This is going to be a simple section.
A brief NZT-48 recap, if you will.
The only difference is, during our recap, I’ll be slotting these habits into various points in the schedule of your new NZT-48-optimised day…
I’ve done this routine for the average 9-5 worker as this is what most of us do.
To be honest, the most important parts of the routine are outside of these hours anyway so if you need to re-jig it to fit your schedule feel free.
Shall we?
05:00 – Wake up (try a natural light alarm clock), down a pint of water, make your bed & go through your morning routine. Don’t eat straight away.
05:30 – 10 minutes of mediation, 3 rounds of Wim Hof breathing & an ice bath.
06:00 – Self-improvement time. Try reading, writing, maybe the gym if you want (although this could be done after work).
09:00 – Work
10:00 – Coffee (pushes hunger back & helps you focus on getting that deep work done).
13:00 – Lunch (go heavy on the fat and protein, this will reduce any blood sugar spike and saves your carbs for after the workout later in the day).
17:00 – Gym time (do a weights session followed by a 15-20 minute sauna, 5 times a week if possible, then get showered and fresh at the gym).
18:30 – Home & your huge carb-heavy dinner (now you’ve changed at the gym, that’s one less thing to worry about once you set foot through the door. You can now concentrate on reaping the calorie-laden rewards of your fast and workout).
19:00 – Ready your things for tomorrow (should only take about half an hour. This is stuff like getting your clothes laid out, readying your meal prep that you definitely did on Sunday evening and any documents, etc you might need the next day).
19:30 – Now its time to relax. You did all your self-improvement work before and during your work hours, you’ve done your gym workout, sweated the toxins out and now your home can be used for what its meant to be used for – chilling the hell out.
20:30 – Night time routine (this should take anywhere between 30-60 minutes. No screens and lots of mindful breathing and you’ll be off to bed in no time).
BONUS BITS
These kind of fit into your daily routine but at the same time, kinda don’t, so I’ve popped them in a lil’ bonus section just for little old you.
If you want to take your NZT-48 journey to the next level, try these two.
THE PARETO PRINCIPLE
This is also known as the 80/20 rule.
It can be applied to basically all areas of life. In business, 20% of your clients probably bring in 80% of the revenue, 20% of your exercises in the gym get 80% of the results and most importantly for our natural version of NZT-48, it can be applied to learning new things quickly.
In the film, Morra is able to learn piano in 3 days, pick up new languages effortlessly and seemingly absorb knowledge left, right and centre.
Obviously this is exaggerated massively for effect in the film but the beauty of the Pareto Principle is that you can apply it here.
To learn a language, if you can master 20% of the words, you can probably get by in 80% of conversations.
Learning 20% of a full guide to playing guitar will probably allow you to play 80% of chords pretty well. It’s definitely a shortcut, yes – but is it effective? Damn right.
You won’t be a master but you’ll be bloody good.
TURN OFF YOUR INTERNET
This is such a huge step to take for all of us, I know.
If you can take the leap of faith though, and turn your internet off when trying to go deep with whatever task you’re trying to get done, you’ll notice remarkable improvements in its quality and quantity.
When you haven’t got the option to distract yourself, you’ll keep coming back to the task. By offering no alternative, you are forced to work.
This sounds a bit draconian but it works – and once you’re in the flow of things, you’ll never want to stop.
There’s a hell of a lot of info to take in there and I do appreciate that it might have blown your kite off a bit but even just taking up one of these habits is a really good start.
NZT-48 may not actually exist, but you can do the same, if not better, naturally and drastically improve your health while you’re at it.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.