Originally developed to treat narcolepsy, modafinil is now used off-label as a cognitive enhancer by people who need to concentrate for extended periods of time. It has also been used to treat fatigue related to illness, jet lag, and high school students taking exams.
Studies have shown that modafinil improves memory performance in healthy individuals. This is a result of its effects on glutamate transmission in the brain.
It Boosts Dopamine Levels
Modafinil 200 Australia is an FDA-approved wake-promoting medication that has also been shown to enhance cognition. It does so by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly dopamine, which plays a role in regulating wakefulness.
Studies in animals and healthy humans suggest that modafinil may improve cognition by enhancing dopamine levels and the activity of the dopamine transporter. Dopamine also plays a role in motivation and reward, as well as in memory.
For example, one study found that modafinil increases learning and alertness in sleep-deprived emergency physicians. It also improved their ability to work with complex tasks. Similarly, in an experiment in rats, modafinil enhanced the performance of subjects with an unpredictable task. Another rat experiment found that modafinil boosted the speed of response to a stimulus, which is linked to cognitive agility.
Other studies have found that modafinil may increase pupillary dilation, indicating increased activity in the limbic system, which can affect vigilance and motivation. The research also suggests that the drug may have a direct effect on dopamine and its receptors in the frontal cortex, which are involved in working memory.
A recent systematic review of 24 studies, conducted by Dr Ruairidh Battleday and Anna-Katharine Brem from the University of Oxford, found that modafinil was associated with improvements in planning and decision making, as well as learning and memory. However, it was not found to improve creativity or understanding different points of view.
It Increases Glutamate Levels
Modafinil increases the levels of serotonin and glutamine in the brain, which boosts the activity of these neurons and enhances cognition. Serotonin is a powerful inhibitory neurotransmitter and modulator of cognitive function, so it’s important to have healthy levels of this substance.
Modalert Tablet has been shown to increase serotonin levels in the brain via a direct effect on serotonin neurons and a secondary increase of its own precursor, 5-HT, which is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Serotonin is a major player in the fight or flight response, which is activated when you feel threatened or stressed. Interestingly, Modafinil was found to enhance the increase of extracellular serotonin induced by the antidepressant drugs fluoxetine and imipramine in the awake rat (Ferraro et al, 2000).
Glutamate is another central neurotransmitter involved in cognition, and modafinil increases the levels of this chemical in the brain. Modafinil increases the synaptic release of glutamate onto medial prefrontal cortex pyramidal cells, and this is blocked by prazosin but not yohimbine. It also increases the levels of the cerebral glutamate-glutamine pool (with corresponding elevations of aspartate and creatine phosphocreatine), but not N-acetyl aspartate or taurine, as assessed by 2D COSY 1H NMR.
In the mouse, modafinil causes a dose- and delay-dependent improvement in working memory performance on a sequential alternation task without affecting exploratory or anxiety-related activity. In addition, it decreases cortical GABA levels in a time-dependent manner and at ascending doses in the cortex, medial preoptic area, hypothalamus, striatum, globus pallidus, and nucleus accumbens.
It Boosts Adrenaline Levels
Modafinil acts as an agonist of the noradrenaline transporter and increases extracellular dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. Its ability to increase dopamine levels has led researchers to speculate that it may have cognitive enhancing properties, similar to the procognitive effects seen in methylphenidate users. The study was designed to evaluate this potential using a battery of neuropsychological tests. The participants were given Modafinil at a time when it was at its peak level, and then performed the cognitive testing while blood pressure and heart rate were monitored.
The study found that Modafinil significantly enhanced performance on tasks requiring planning and decision making, as well as flexibility, learning and memory. It also increased the speed at which these tasks were completed. It did not, however, improve the accuracy of these tasks. Ruairidh Battleday and Anna-Katharine Brem from the University of Oxford and Harvard Medical School conducted a meta-analysis of 24 studies on cognitive enhancement by Modafinil. They found that the benefits varied depending on the type of task being undertaken.
The authors believe that this variation is because Modafinil affects different brain areas in a slightly different way. In addition to influencing norepinephrine and dopamine, it also enhances histamine transmission in the brain. Histamine is involved in regulating the sleep-wake cycle and in promoting alertness. It also boosts the release of adrenaline, which contributes to arousal and response to stress. It also modulates gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is involved in inhibiting neuronal activity and decreasing anxiety.
It Enhances Sleep
Modafinil is an effective wakefulness enhancer with minimal side effects compared to other stimulants. It is also known to improve vigilance and mood, while decreasing fatigue in both healthy individuals and those suffering from sleep disorders. It has been shown to boost performance in many situations, including preventing lapses of attention during war and combat, improving cognitive agility for entrepreneurs and millennials seeking to outperform their peers, and alleviating shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) symptoms.
In one study, participants who were more resistant to the circadian dip in alertness and performance during a test session were grouped as high performers (HP), and those who were less resistant were grouped as low performers (LP). Modafinil was found to significantly reduce HP errors on the Wisconsin Card Sort Test, and reduce interference on the Stroop task. It was also found to increase LP performance on the Hayling sentence completion task, and to enhance activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex in both groups during these tasks.
Studies on Modafinil have also demonstrated its efficacy in treating obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome, as well as for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness and jet-lag. However, long-term use can lead to tolerance and requires higher doses to produce the same effect, putting some people at risk for misuse or dependence. Abrupt discontinuation can trigger withdrawal symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, and depression.