Anxiety is one of the most common states that majority of people experience in their lives. Some feel an extreme form of anxiety in various situations.
The diagnosable state of anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million people alone in the US and this rate is rapidly increasing all across the globe.
Practically speaking, every adult human being experiences mild forms of anxiety. They struggle with their studies and ultimately careers due to anxiety and stress.
In order to give a boost to your mental performance, reduction in anxiety and stress is necessary.
Think of the conditions when you are under stress or feeling anxious or nervous, are you able to take right decisions or perform well in your exams?
Obviously, the answer is NO! This is because anxiety and stress cause reduction in mental performance and affects the decision making power.
Why take Nootropics for anxiety?
While the treatment of severe form of anxiety disorders require proper counselling, medication and other kinds of behavioural therapies, the mild to moderate kind of anxiety that you may experience in everyday life can be effectively dealt with through nootropics.
The anti-anxiety Nootropic Stacks help to addresses the causes of anxiety that have a neurochemical basis.
Some kind of nootropics provides state relaxation and tranquillity. These nootropics enhance the production as well as utilization of inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA, which reduces the stimulation of central nervous system.
Another type of nootropics regulates the manner in which the brain processes dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitters that produce a powerful soothing and calming effect.
GABA places an inhibitory effect on the CNS (Central Nervous System) which makes it the primary neurotransmitter to control the feelings of stress and anxiety.
If the GABA levels are low, the nerve cells began to send signals to the brain at higher frequencies.
This condition develops a feeling of anxiety and nervousness. When GABA is in its normal range, you feel and relaxed.
Now you may think that there are sedatives that also stimulate GABA receptors such as alcohol, but remember that they are not nootropics because they have many other side effects.
Also, if you use simple GABA supplements they won’t be effective at changing its levels in the brain because the GABA itself cannot go across the blood-brain barrier.
So to experience the real benefits of GABA, its precursors should be utilized which cross the blood-brain barrier resulting in providing positive effects.
The intake of nootropics helps the GABA receptors to enter the blood-brain barrier which makes them effective in elevating your mood, reduce anxiety and relaxing your mind while lessening the effects of anxiety by various situations. They also work as cognitive enhancers.
The best anti-anxiety Nootropic Stacks
There are large numbers of nootropics that claim to deal with one thing or another. Some are intended to enhance focus, some improve the state of alertness, some improves your cognition along with dealing with anxiety and stress.
However, all individuals who use nootropics themselves reach a certain peak point, for instance, taking a double dose of Piracetam may do a little for you or it may even decrease your efficiency.
The only way to deal with this effect is to stack or combine the nootropics. This is called ‘nootropic stacking’.
You can take a nootropic and then take it in combination with some other, to improve its effectiveness for your body.
The important thing to mention here is that all the nootropic stacks do not work equally well for all individuals but there are few stacking options that are recommended by most of the users.
Here we have enlisted some of the popular stacks that many people and some studies have reported to be effective. If you are using any single nootropic from this stack you can consider adding another one from these to enhance the overall effects.
Stack #1: Basic Racetam Stack
If you have been into taking nootropics you must have heard about Piracetam because it is generally the first nootropic that people start with.
The dose of piracetam interacts with your body increasing an amount of acetylcholine in your body.
It enhances the effects of when taken when taken with choline causing the release of higher levels of neurotransmitters.
Another reason behind using this stack is that the new users of racetam experience headaches. These symptoms can be elevated in many cases through the use of choline.
You should only try out this stack if you have already been taking the Piracetam alone because sometimes choline supplements may also cause headaches.
Ensure that you take the high-quality source of choline such as CDP Choline or Alpha GPC. You need to experiment with the dosage of Piracetam and choline until you achieve just the right dosage for yourself.
However, according to Nootriment.com, Smartdrugsforthought.com, NCBI article and Nootropicsreview.org, if you are taking Alpha GPC or Citicholine powder then the recommended ratio of Piracetam to Choline is 8:1 approx.
Stack #2: L-theanine and caffeine
This is one of the interesting stacks that have recently gained much popularity.
It is a light stack that can be taken on a daily basis while providing significant improvements in mood, anxiety and energy.
The stacking of L-theanine with caffeine is meant to reduce the side effects of caffeine which you might experience otherwise.
You will feel highly alert, focused and it will significantly decrease your anxiety. According to a study published in Science direct, L-theanine causes significant reductions in stress and anxiety.
So if you are already taking caffeine in the form of coffee, energy drinks etc. then you can consider including L-theanine in your diet.
According to the study published in NCBI titled, “The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood”, the recommended dose of L-theanine is 100mg-200mg 3 times a day and the regular intake of caffeine should not be less than 50mg.
Stack #3: Piracetam, Aniracetam, and Oxiracetam
This combination is not recommended for newbies but it definitely has plenty of benefits.
These nootropics have kind of similar effects but taking them together gives multiple cognitive benefits to the users.
For instance, Oxiracetam is really good for improving memory and reasoning but it does not help with mood enhancement and anxiety reduction.
Aniracetam is excellent for elevating mood but have short-term effects while the effects of Piracetam lasts longer nearly a whole day but is not very strong.
You can take all these three nootropic supplements in their standard dosages and experience the effects that you feel taking them together vs. separately. If you feel that it is working for you then continue using the stack.
Stack #4: Modafinil and Piracetam
When you start using Piracetam, for a few weeks you may feel more energetic than usual but after few weeks these effects began to fade and you only get the benefits of creativity and enhanced memory.
This may frustrate you causing anxiety and stress because you may feel constantly tired.
Due to the intake of piracetam, you have enhanced creativity and memory but you feel low energy due to which you may not be able to use those advantages.
This is where the use of Modafinil can benefit you. It improves your state of alertness enabling you to utilise the benefits of Piracetam.
Both these can be safely stacked together, just ensure that you are taking enough diet because modafinil may curd your appetite.
According to Nootriment.com and Reddit.com, the recommended dosage is 200 mg for modafinil while for piracetam, you can take 3g – 10g / day. The standard dose is about 4.8g/day taken 3 times a day in doses of 1.6g each.
Important guidelines for building your own stack
It is not a very difficult task to start building your own stack. As most of the nootropics are safe to use, you can start stacking without experiencing any undesirable side effects.
You can start with the nootropic that you like but in most of the cases, racetam is recommended.
The important thing to note is that you should include a single nootropic at a time when you start stacking.
Here are some important points to keep in mind while designing your own nootropic stacks.
- Do a lot of researchAlways do plenty of researches before you start a certain stack. Read people reviews on various nootropic supplement websites, research studies and consider joining nootropic community and forums.You will be able to know about people who may be using the similar stack as you want to use.
- Keep it simple at the beginningStart using nootropic one at a time. Observe and keep a record how your body is responding to it, then add another one and record its effects.You may feel that this process is time-consuming but this is how it should work. It is the best way to get the maximum benefits and choose the right nootropics for your stack.
- Choose the weakest link in the startWhat do you wish to achieve from the stack? Do you want to reduce anxiety along with enhancing memory and focus? Do you want to become motivated?You need to figure what you are lagging in and what you want to achieve through the nootropics stack.