Smart Plants An Introduction to Nootropics
Many of you may have heard of or seen the Bradley Cooper film “Limitless” where a struggling depressed writer with nothing to lose takes an untested pill that makes him super smart and a wildly successful investor/entrepreneur. Eventually, the supply runs dry and he joins steem where he descends into a blackhole of obscurity. (I made up the ending)
Anyway, the film was loosely inspired by the category of medicines known as nootropics. As defined by Wikipedia: Nootropics (/noʊ.əˈtrɒpɪks/ noh-ə-TROP-iks) (colloquial: smart drugs and cognitive enhancers) are drugs, supplements, and other substances that may improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals.
Sounds pretty “newsteem” to me 😉
By far the most popular and well known drug sold worldwide and approved by the pill shilling FDA is modafinil which is prescribed supposedly for sleep disorders namely narcolepsy. In reality it’s an alternative to the legal meth you might have taken to get you through finals week at university. Adderall and Ritalin have some nasty side effects and are indeed habit forming as well as widely abused so in an attempt to improve on mental acuity drugs, modafinil was invented.
The Silicon Valley types and obviously Hollywood screenwriters gobbled em up and created quite a buzz around a decade ago. Nobody took over the world and wisely people realized this speedy edgy drug wasn’t something that could be taken like a daily vitamin and like the limitless character that now shitposts on steem, the pill also faded into obscurity.
That is until now when I’ve used this pharmaceutical as the introduction to my “naturalmedicine weekly theme #nootropic post. What does big pharma have to do with nattymeds you ask ? Well, I shall illuminate and enumerate you, thou which seeketh an unparalleled mental prowess.
Smart drugs and nootropics are nothing new and have existed long before beakers and chemists in lab coats created their heinous bastardized concoctions, that are readily available in nature’s pantry.
To get to the “root” of natural plant medicines I always first consult traditional Chinese medicine TCM and ancient Indian medicine Ayurveda. The other day I mistakenly offered up a notion that watercress is a known nootropic in Ayurvedic traditions but alas I was mistaken, thank heavens for the internet !
While watercress is beneficial and included in Ayurveda it’s not a smart plant afaik. I had confused watercress for pennywort, there’s too much kicking off in my dome and yes I’m going to tell you about the actual smart plant Asiatic pennywort now. Sips pennywort juice 🥤
The class of nootropics in Ayurveda is referred to as Medhya Rasayana Medha means intellect and/or retention and Rasayana means therapeutic procedure or preparation that on regular practice will boost nourishment, health, memory, intellect, immunity and hence longevity.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3459457/
Im taking the liberty of copying and pasting the pertinent information from the link above but there’s scores of more juicy bits you should check out for yourself.
Mandukaparni (Centella asiatica Linn.) is a prostrate, stoloniferous perennial herb rooting at nodes[1] [Figure 1]. Fresh whole plant juice is used for therapeutic purposes as Medhya (cognitive enhancer).[2] Major constituents are saponin (medacoside, asiaticoside, medacassoside, asiatic acid, a new triterpenic acid.[3] They act on behaviour besides being neuroprotectives[4] brain growth promoter.[5] Dendritic arborization is supposed to be the neuronal basis for improved learning and memory.[6]
Anti seizure activity may result from direct or indirect modulation of ATPase activity.[7] Centella asiatica inhibits the memory impairment induced by scopolamine through the inhibition of AChE.[8] BR-16A (Mentat), a formulation containing Centella asiatica proved for its antistress effects.[9] Methanol extract of Centella asiatica showed highest free radical scavenging activity that can be attributed to the presence of polyphenols and flavonoids as this fraction contains maximum amount of these secondary metabolites (0.07 mg/ml). It also exhibited DNA damage protection activity on pRSETA plasmid DNA in TE buffer (10 mM Tris-Cl and 1 mM EDTA) pH 8.0. Chloroform extract of Centella showed highest poly phenolic activity followed by methanol extracts (9.04 μg/mg, 7.7 μg/mg, 6.76 μg/mg Gallic acid equivalents respectively); while flavinoids were abundant in water extracts, followed by chloroform extracts. These two namely poly phenols and flavinoids are responsible for potent anti oxidant and terminate free radicals.[10] Extracts of Centella are used in a herbal cosmetic cream for the improvement of skin viscoelasticity and hydration.[11]
A study was conducted on Menotab, an effective herbomineral preparation containing Centella asiactica with other drugs from the Himalaya drug company, Bangalore. Study showed that Menotab is an ideal medication for relief of postmenopausal symptoms as a short-term therapy.[12] Administration of Centella asiatica at 1,000 mg/kg b.wt for a period of 30 days in albino rats, showed organ specific toxicity.[13]
So if you’re not a medical professional, that was probably over your head, but I understood all of it because I drank my fresh pennywort juice. The proof is in the juicing !
I’m off to take over the world, I’ll start by fixing all the issues on steem, at my current super human pace I’ll be releasing one token newest steem in about 20 years or after my Ned and Dan hybrid cyborg is completed, whichever comes first.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centella_asiatica
Image 123RF.com
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I love nootropics! Makes me feel like I'm about to tackle anything! I have seen pennywort before! Does this only grow in Asia? If I'm not mistaken, I saw that here in Germany as well!
It also grows where I'm from in the south eastern United States.. It's possible it grows in Germany in the summer where there are wetlands.. More likely is that pennywort looks very much like mallow which is an edible flowering plants and probably what you've seen. Mallow is not native to the states and considered an obnoxious weed..
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That could be the case! Looks familiar!
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My mind cannot help but to deviate to the mass doping of children that is occurring right now. It hits close to home for me, for reasons I really don't want to delve into atm, but I'm sure just saying that might paint a picture.. It's so convenient for big pharma, to be intricately intertwined into the fear based control system. Unbelievable when you present substantial evidence to suggest this is poisoning, and people say things like "but child protective services will take them if we don't take the advice of the professionals." Or, "Thanks for the advice, but you're not a professional with a doctorate degree."
On a positive note, this is great for the legalization of cannabis, because all these poor kids are going to have anxiety problems and drug addictions from the predisposition of being a victim of corporate greed. They will need some healing from mother earths natural herbs.
Sorry if this was a little off topic, but this is #newsteem bro, we say what we want!
Seriously though, people need to stop hurting our future generations because they are too sheepish to wake the hell up. My opinion, but I think it's logical.
Absolutely love the comment and I almost went there myself. Both my parents were public educators in the indoctrination system and from age 7 or so they were told your child is add and needs medication. Fortunately they thought I just needed some more play time, healthy outlets, and a system that wasn’t archaic and frankly geared towards, well not rambunctious boys. Lol
I think it’s criminal to give meth to developing brains and I’m glad we made it out alive to hit the bong and tell our side of the story.
Cheers no comment is a bad comment in my book
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I was fortunate enough that one of my parents had some sense in that department.. I just hope my kids recover, the system is preventing me from taking swift action to prevent it any further..
That really sucks, but I’m a believer in the power of the All is possible. With proper guidance and alternatives it’s amazing what open minds are capable of.
There was a time when I wondered if I’d ever be able to function somewhat normally. It’s miraculous my brain has rewired itself and the rewards system is basically as good as new. I credit psychedelics and a change in environment more than anything to my ongoing recovery.
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Definitely, anything is possible brother. If I could survive ten years of alcoholism and cocaine addiction, where falling down and smashing my noggin on concrete was the norm, and made it out with a few brain cells left, then I have to believe that the human body is very resilient indeed.
The irony of it all of course, was that I had to deconstruct the revolving door principles taught in rehabs to actually stay clean. I learned not to question the fallacies in the rehabs and AA/NA meetings, but I wasn't there to convince anyone anyway, I was really trying to get clean.
Cannabis has helped tremendously over the past two years, (another thing you're not allowed to do without being an addict..lol) What a joke..
Your brain functions great as far as I can tell!
Of all the street drugs I was using while in addiction, I've never even been exposed to psychedelics. (except for one time) You can walk outside my front door and find some crack in two minutes.. but no psychedelics. I tried shrooms one time, and watched everyone trip, while nothing happened to me after eating 3.5 grams, wtf lol.
I guess I'll have to try again when the opportunity presents itself. lol
Psychedelics are fantastic at presenting themselves at the right time.. Tripping while in active addiction is a recipe for bad bad things.. Doors will also not be opened if you're not at the right place in your mind, body, soul to walk through them.. Don't force the issue and it's not a formula for everyone, if you've found stability through a bit of weed great! If some psychedelic cross your path please dm me or someone you trust to discuss the situation..
gawd thinking of hard makes me cringe..
Good on ya mate and keep believing in the possible..
Likewise mate. Thank you for the conversation :)
It's funny you write about pennywort. I am used to seeing it in Cambodia growing wild abundantly. But here in Suriname it is absolutely everywhere, and the locals seem to have no interest in it.
We get funny stares from folks on our street when we pick the pennywort next to our fence.
It's much the opposite with kratom in Cambodia. The locals there don't use it or know much of it, but it grows everywhere. Lots of folks here in the western world are now raving about it.
That’s great man ! Kind of the same here with kratom only the malay population knows about it and they keep it pretty hush hush. Meanwhile their government is exporting this “illegal” tree leaf worldwide for millions and millions of dollars.
Back to pennywort here the locals were calling it watercress and while I knew watercress to be a healthy plant and I wasn’t sure about its medicinal properties. I went to pick some up from a friend and said “that ain’t watercress” they replied yes it is. We went back and forth until I got google out to show that they were calling pennywort as watercress.
Now we all know and I have transplanted some to both my ground and aquaponics system.
Thanks for chiming in fell expatriate 😎
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