How To Power Your ADHD Brain With The Best Nootropics

If you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, chances are you’ve been prescribed one of the ADHD stimulant medications such as Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin, and their variations. These drugs also come with some unwanted side effects, so there are a few things you’d always like to be able to do: 1) get the same benefit from a lower dose, 2) minimize the side effects from the dose you’re taking, or 3) avoid prescription meds altogether.

Depending on the severity of your ADHD symptoms, you may be able to use nootropics to either supplement or as an alternative to the ADHD meds. Here we highlight the top nootropics with solid evidence to help with ADHD. Even if you don’t have ADHD and just want to improve your mental edge, these can help.

What Are Nootropics?

Nootropics are compounds or supplements that enhance cognitive performance. The term “nootropics” first referred to chemicals that met very specific criteria. But now it’s used to refer to any natural or synthetic substance that may positively impact mental skills. They are most often used to boost memory, focus, creativity, intelligence, and motivation. They can include everything from vitamins and minerals, natural chemicals obtained from plants to prescription medications.

Adult ADHD Nootropic Stack

These are the essential nootropics where we believe there is enough science-based evidence to help boost brain performance.

Your situation may be different, or ADHD symptoms not as severe. Only you can decide if nootropics can replace ADHD meds. The stack we describe on this page is designed to be used with or without stimulant meds.

Whether you use this stack with meds or without, you’ll need to discover for yourself what dosages of each nootropic are ideal for you.

L-theanine

L-theanine is a soothing amino acid that originates from tea leaves. L-theanine increases calmness, upbeat, focus, and attention.  L-theanine may affect the levels of serotonin and dopamine, which influence mood, sleep, emotion, and cortisol.

In several studies, theanine has been shown to support focus and concentration without the jittery feeling common in energy drinks.

Theanine is commonly used in conjunction with caffeine to moderate caffeine’s side effects. It can have much the same effect when paired with ADHD medications like Adderall. It should be taken at the same time as Adderall. The usual dosage is 200 mg.

Citicoline(CDP-choline)

CDP-Choline is known to increase cognition and brain function, improve focus and motivation, and reduce fatigue

CDP-Choline, also known as Citicoline, is present in every cell in your body. Citicoline is most well-known for its brain energizing effects, which can promote sharp mental processing for anyone. However, Citicoline also supports norepinephrine and dopamine, suggesting more issue-specific help for ADHD.

If you are using Adderall to increase focus and mental processing speeds, then citicoline is a perfect supplement to take at the same time.

L-tyrosine

L-tyrosine is an essential amino acid that serves as a precursor to dopamine and norepinephrine, two neurotransmitters that govern motivation and reward. Research shows that supplementing with L-tyrosine can significantly enhance cognitive performance, especially under acutely stressful situations.

L-tyrosine is not only a great alternative to Adderall but can also be used as a supplement to take with Adderall. The beauty of L-tyrosine is that it can help you avoid the stimulant “crash”
 that is so common late afternoon when using stimulants.

While you can take L-tyrosine, it’s often recommended to take it in the form of N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (NAT) due to its bioavailability.

Omega-3

Omega-3 is great for ADHD as it contains the stuff your brain is made of, DHA. DHA builds and maintains nerve and fat tissue health in the brain. Omega-3 is known for its focus, memory, and attention-boosting qualities.

One consequence of long-term Adderall use is chronic inflammation. Chronic Adderall use can also lead to brain cell degradation over time, as your neurons become overused due to the increased CNS activity, and their dendrite branches slowly wither away. One of the best ways to protect against this and to promote recovery is to take omega 3 supplements. Supplementing with fish oil protects against brain cell damage over long periods of time and helps fight chronic, systemic inflammation.

Omega-3 fatty acids are an essential nutrient that you must get from your diet since your body doesn’t produce them. There are a lot of Omega/Fish oil products on the market. But we highly recommend Ultimate Omega from Nordic Naturals. Unlike most brands, they use purified deep sea fish oil so they are free from environmental toxins and heavy metals such as mercury. They also have a lemony taste, so no fish burps.

Vitamin B Complex

B-Vitamins are Critical in Controlling ADHD.

Take note that several of the B-Vitamin group are involved in the production of the neurotransmitters involved in ADHD. We recommend adding a good B-Vitamin Complex well above the usual RDA levels that include folate (not folic acid) and methylcobalamin (not cobalamin) to your stack. Both in a pure nootropic stack as well as when stacking with any of the ADHD prescription stimulants.

We recommend Jarrow Formulas Methyl B-12 & Methyl Folate

Bottom Line

There are thousands of supplements on the market today and many of them may work, but since these supplements aren’t regulated you need to be careful and do your research. The ones we’ve highlighted are the ones we feel have the most science-based evidence.

So if you are dealing with ADHD, hopefully this post will help. Especially if you are using stimulants like Ritalin, Adderall, Vyvanse, Focalin, or any of the other stimulants prescribed for ADD/ADHD. Or you are trying to deal with ADHD naturally by avoiding prescription stimulants.

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