Modafinil, a drug sold under the brand name Provigil, has emerged as one of the super-effective smart drugs.
It belongs to the class of drugs called pharmacological cognitive enhancers (PCEs) that boost memory, learning, concentration, motivation, and focus for longer periods.
In a blog published in The Guardian in 2013, David Cox, a health journalist and former neuroscientist, explained whether modafinil is safe in the long term.
He mentioned what Prof. Barbara Sahakian of the University of Cambridge wrote about her research of modafinil as a possible clinical treatment for the cognitive problems of patients with psychosis. Fascinated by healthy people taking smart drugs, Prof. Sahakian co-authored a book on the subject.
How does modafinil work? Sahakian says, “We believe modafinil is a drug with multiple actions. This is because it acts on several neurotransmitter systems in the brain. I suspect that because it’s got these multiple actions, you’re getting a number of things improving but not all for the same reason.”
Neurotransmitters are the brain chemicals that transmit signals between cells.
Dr. Peter Morgan from Yale University believes that modafinil affects three neurotransmitters in particular. He says, “Modafinil definitely affects the dopamine system and dopamine will make you more alert, and also more interested in things. It affects norepinephrine which can again make you more alert and better able to focus, and it also affects histamine which can keep you awake.”
Modafinil is “believed to enhance the short-term memory by as much as 10%, through its influence on a neurotransmitter called glutamate,” according to The Guardian.
Prof. Sahakian cautions, “A lot of people, especially students, are getting it off the internet so they don’t know what they’re buying – it could be anything. It’s not coming from a reputable source, they don’t know it hasn’t been contaminated, and they don’t know it’s safe for them to take.”
Her research suggests that long-term use of modafinil could have a potentially damaging effect on your sleep architecture.
“Some professionals tend to use it on specific occasions – when they’re jetlagged or when they’ve had a particularly bad night’s sleep,” she explains in her book. “They don’t use it every day and they don’t use it in multiple doses. Whereas, if you talk to students, they’ve often taken a dose and then, when they feel it’s wearing off, they’ve taken another dose.”
“And of course that does affect their sleep pattern, because when they should be going to bed, they’ve still got the drug in their system, still exerting its wake-promoting effects,” she continues. “This is of course counter-productive, as we consolidate our memories during sleep.”
Dr. Morgan believes that long-term use of modafinil could damage your memory. He says, “Look at nicotine. Nicotine is an amazing cognitive enhancer, purely from a lab perspective! But for people who use nicotine chronically, we know their baseline cognitive function goes down and the nicotine is maybe bringing them back up to normal.”
“So now nicotine is no longer a cognitive enhancer, it’s a cognitive normalizer,” he adds. “Because of the chronic use, the brain has adapted and without it, you’re performing at a lower level. There’s no reason to think that modafinil would be any different.”
However, a study published in PubMed has found that modafinil is effective for the long-term treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness caused by narcolepsy. It has also been found that the drug significantly improves perceptions of general health. The study researchers noted that modafinil is well tolerated and there was no evidence of tolerance developing during 40 weeks of treatment.
