<story><title>Ask HN: Do you take nootropics?</title><text>What do you think about them?&lt;p&gt;Which ones do you take?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>Lewton</author><text>&amp;gt;Regardless, my experience was that its only value is the placebo effect. If a substance actually does anything real, and there is potential for a pharmaceutical company to patent and profit from it, then you can generally rest assured that it will be scheduled to require a doctor&amp;#x27;s prescription. For just about everything, the over-the-counter options consist of vitamins and quackery. So either blatantly break the law, or don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;Just a counter-point. Melatonin is OTC in the US (sadly not where I live) and the efficacy of melatonin on sleep quality is pretty hard to dispute. 
It&amp;#x27;s not what you&amp;#x27;d normally call a nootropic maybe, but having melatonin on hand has significantly improved my life&lt;p&gt;Edit: oh. Yeah. Of course, Adrafinil is OTC in the US too and that&amp;#x27;s the prodrug for Modafinil. Definitely not placebo either</text></item><item><author>StevePerkins</author><text>I took piracetam years ago when I was considering a career change and prepping for the LSAT exam.  I believe that its legal history is somewhat similar to ephedra... 10-15 years ago you could buy it over-the-counter or online, but since then it&amp;#x27;s been taken off the market in the U.S.&lt;p&gt;Regardless, my experience was that its only value is the placebo effect.  If a substance actually does anything real, &lt;i&gt;and there is potential for a pharmaceutical company to patent and profit from it&lt;/i&gt;, then you can generally rest assured that it will be scheduled to require a doctor&amp;#x27;s prescription.  For just about everything, the over-the-counter options consist of vitamins and quackery.  So either blatantly break the law, or don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;As an aside, what is the point of taking a serious nootropic for software development?  Typically, a coder&amp;#x27;s problem isn&amp;#x27;t failure to get into a groove once they have uninterrupted time.  The typical problem is not having uninterrupted time in the first place.  Like most people here, probably, I work in an open floor plan environment.  I&amp;#x27;m subject to constant &amp;quot;drive-by&amp;quot; interruptions that could have been handled better via email, and a neverending roar all around me as colleagues literally scream at each other about Reddit memes or video games or the latest superhero movie.&lt;p&gt;Do you have a &lt;i&gt;drug&lt;/i&gt; that would allow me to completely shut off my hearing, peripheral vision, and other sensory input?  So that I can work without having to blast music through $300 noise-canceling headphones (which itself impairs focus, but is the lesser of all evils)?  If so, then I would gladly break the law to find a pharmaceutical escape from contemporary office plans that sacrifice productivity for the ability to squeeze headcount into the smallest possible space.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>driverdan</author><text>Melatonin and DHEA are hormones and are OTC. But just because they&amp;#x27;re OTC doesn&amp;#x27;t mean they should be taken lightly. Hormones are highly regulated in our bodies and taking extra can cause decreased natural production.&lt;p&gt;Adrafinil is not OTC, it is unregulated. That means you can sell it in the &amp;quot;research chemical&amp;quot; grey market but not as a drug.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Do you take nootropics?</title><text>What do you think about them?&lt;p&gt;Which ones do you take?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>Lewton</author><text>&amp;gt;Regardless, my experience was that its only value is the placebo effect. If a substance actually does anything real, and there is potential for a pharmaceutical company to patent and profit from it, then you can generally rest assured that it will be scheduled to require a doctor&amp;#x27;s prescription. For just about everything, the over-the-counter options consist of vitamins and quackery. So either blatantly break the law, or don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;Just a counter-point. Melatonin is OTC in the US (sadly not where I live) and the efficacy of melatonin on sleep quality is pretty hard to dispute. 
It&amp;#x27;s not what you&amp;#x27;d normally call a nootropic maybe, but having melatonin on hand has significantly improved my life&lt;p&gt;Edit: oh. Yeah. Of course, Adrafinil is OTC in the US too and that&amp;#x27;s the prodrug for Modafinil. Definitely not placebo either</text></item><item><author>StevePerkins</author><text>I took piracetam years ago when I was considering a career change and prepping for the LSAT exam.  I believe that its legal history is somewhat similar to ephedra... 10-15 years ago you could buy it over-the-counter or online, but since then it&amp;#x27;s been taken off the market in the U.S.&lt;p&gt;Regardless, my experience was that its only value is the placebo effect.  If a substance actually does anything real, &lt;i&gt;and there is potential for a pharmaceutical company to patent and profit from it&lt;/i&gt;, then you can generally rest assured that it will be scheduled to require a doctor&amp;#x27;s prescription.  For just about everything, the over-the-counter options consist of vitamins and quackery.  So either blatantly break the law, or don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;As an aside, what is the point of taking a serious nootropic for software development?  Typically, a coder&amp;#x27;s problem isn&amp;#x27;t failure to get into a groove once they have uninterrupted time.  The typical problem is not having uninterrupted time in the first place.  Like most people here, probably, I work in an open floor plan environment.  I&amp;#x27;m subject to constant &amp;quot;drive-by&amp;quot; interruptions that could have been handled better via email, and a neverending roar all around me as colleagues literally scream at each other about Reddit memes or video games or the latest superhero movie.&lt;p&gt;Do you have a &lt;i&gt;drug&lt;/i&gt; that would allow me to completely shut off my hearing, peripheral vision, and other sensory input?  So that I can work without having to blast music through $300 noise-canceling headphones (which itself impairs focus, but is the lesser of all evils)?  If so, then I would gladly break the law to find a pharmaceutical escape from contemporary office plans that sacrifice productivity for the ability to squeeze headcount into the smallest possible space.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>coryl</author><text>I have a weird experience with melatonin. It puts me out quickly, but I wake up about 4-5 hours later in a half drugged state. For the next few hours I&amp;#x27;m awake but drowsy.</text></comment>