If you’re interested in getting started with cogitive enhancement through the use of nootropics you’ll probably want to get a good idea of what kind of stacks would be best to test out at the beginning. First of all, if you’re brand new to nootropic supplementation you may be wondering what exactly we mean by a “stack.” Stacking involves combining compounds that synergize when taken together.

Theanine-Caffeine focus stack

One of the simplest beginner stacks that’s recommended is the l-theanine and caffeine combo. L-theanine is a naturally occuring amino acid found in green tea and guayusa. L-theanine is a slightly sedative focusing agent and caffeine, of course, is one of the most popular and widely used psychotropic substances on Earth. Interestingly enough, this most basic of cognitive enhancing “stacks” is found in nature in high quality green tea.

A 2008 study in the journal of Nutritional Neuroscience studied the effects of 50 mg caffeine, with and without 100 mg L-theanine, on cognition and mood volunteers. Word recognition, rapid visual information processing, critical flicker fusion threshold, attention switching and mood were tested against the control/placebo groups. According to the results it was observed that “caffeine improved subjective alertness at 60 min and accuracy on the attention-switching task at 90 min. The L-theanine and caffeine combination improved both speed and accuracy of performance of the attention-switching task at 60 min, and reduced susceptibility to distracting information in the memory task at both 60 min and 90 min. These results replicate previous evidence suggesting that L-theanine and caffeine in combination are beneficial for improving performance on cognitively demanding tasks.”

The optimal range of theanine-caffeine ratio however is about 2:1 (theanine to caffeine) whereas, even in shadegrown Matcha (which contains some of the highest quantity of theanine) generally it’s closer to a 2:1 ratio of caffeine to theanine. Theanine not only provides an extra bit of focusing power and adds to attentiveness on it’s own but seems to mitigate some of the negatives of caffeine such as jitteriness, high blood pressure and insomnia.

Beginner’s racetam stacks

Another stack that is recommended for newcomers to the cognitive enhancement and nootropic supplementation scene is one of the classic racetams (Piracetam, the original is often advised here) and a choline source. Piracetam was the first of the major nootropics synthesized by Dr. Corneliu Giurgea, the Romanian neuropharmacologist who coined the term nootropic. Piracetam works primarily through upmodulating acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is responsible for memory and movement processes and is bio-synthesized from dietary choline. As a result, most people get much better results by adding some form of choline. Choline is an essential nutrient and quintessential “brain food” that is deficient in most people’s diet.

As far as choline sources, choline bitartrate is one of the cheaper sources available but it doesn’t have the “stand alone” nootropic properties of higher quality acetylcholine precursors like citicoline and Alpha GPC. Piracetam, aniracetam and oxiracetam are 3 of the most popular “beginner’s racetams” and are also the oldest, most tested of the nootropic racetams. Some people find aniracetam to also be beneficial for anxiety and oxiracetam is considered highly energizing but beginning with piracetam and taking a few weeks to gauge how they work for you, you can find which of these combos will work best.

Noopept-choline combo stacks

Noopept is  a peptide analogue of piracetam. Though it lacks the 2-oxo-pyrillidinone skeleton common to all the other similar chemical analogues in the racetam family, it possesses many similar properties in a much more potent (by weight) compound. As a result it’s dosage is much lower in comparison. An average dose of piracetam is generally somewhere around 1.6 grams up to three times per day whereas with noopept 10mg once to three times daily is considered the “optimal range” for dosing. As with many other nootropics, optimum results are often not felt until supplementing for a week or two. Make sure to use a well calibrated scale before dosing noopept. Taking a “mega-dose” of noopept can result in brain fog, headache or an excessively “wired” feeling in some.

As a result, some users may want to opt for the convenience of premeasured and encapsulated doses. The primary benefit being the ease and simplicity of dosing without dealing with messy, foul tasting powders and worrying about having a scale accurate to the milligrams (in the case of noopept and some others).

Before any change in your diet, exercise regimen or supplementation routine you should always check with your personal care practitioner, especially if you are currently under a doctor’s care or take any prescribed or over-the-counter medications for any pre-existing condition.