Sreco

I have problems with lower back pain. If I sit in meditation then it gets worse, since some muscles get really tight. It is not that it hurts me during meditation, but after that my back can be hurting for few days, especially if there is other stuff I had to do. I do meditations laying down mostly, but as you can imagine I fall into sleep if I get too deep. Please suggest what are possible solutions.

I think you should separate the ones that just effect neurotransmitters and the ones that actually give basic building blocks or influence brain development. For the one that just effect neurotransmitter you are probably right. They can still be used occasionally if you need special boost for some reason. For the ones that give basic building block (fats, amino acids, vitamins, mineral) there should be long term benefits. To go to sport analogy - having proper diet does improve your performance in the long run.

Why Iron? Having too much Iron is actually very dangerous (most older man have too much iron even without supplementing). Have you measured blood Feritinin level?

I find this study hard to believe even though I don't qualify as a chemist. Modafinil has been around for more than a decade and the dopamine thing is no joke. If modafinil has such an effect how it went unnoticed? It is not unnoticed, I think that increasing dopamine is how it works. So it is not side effect, it is what it does (maybe even the only thing that it does). A lot of details in this podcast, where they call it Selective Dopamine Re-uptake Inhibitor: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/sleep-podcasts/modafinil/ On the other hand, many thinks increase dopamine (including coffee, alcohol, ...), so it does not necessarily mean it is bad. It is about how fast, how much and how often dopamine is increased unnaturally.

To continue my previous post, I believe we can divide supplements that directly effect neurotransmitters to those who provide basic ingredients that body needs to syntheses them (amino acids, vitamins, ...) and the ones that influence production/decomposition, re-uptake or even directly bond to receptors. I suspect that the second group is more problematic, since that is what many of the drugs do and side effects are know to be quite bad (even for the prescription based ones). SSRI (Selective Serration Re-uptake Inhibitors) are example of one group, which increases levels of Serotonin. They are prescribed regularly to people with depression symptom, althoght in many cases issue is not serotonin being too low. Side effect are severe (actually I would not even call them side effects, they are simple the consequence of having to high serotonin). Ritalin does probably similar to Dopamine, so I believe does There are also many working on Choline (Huperzine A). The first group we can see as food. For example Tyrosine is amino acid which is in many foods and the body needs to go through two additional cycles to produce dopamine (Tyrosine -> l-dopa -> dopamine), so the effects might not be so severe ( taking L-dopa is one step further in the cycle). In the same way there are precursors for others (AlphaGPC for Choline, 5HTP fpr Serotonin). There are also some increasing calming neurotransmitters (GABA), like Glycine, or combining Glutamine with magnesium (GABA is synthesized from Glutamate which is excitatory). I believe calming one activate more parasympathetic nervous system, while excitatory sympathetic nervous system. Balance of both is crucial. Some care should be taken to keep balance between them. Note that every thought, the way we move and the way we breathe influences all of them. However all that said I am still not sure if anything should be taken on daily basis long term. I am currently taking Tyrosine 500 mg twice daily (first time in the morning and around noon). It has nice effect on me, and I might even sleep better, probably because I wake up better in the morning so 24 hour circadian cycle is reset. Calming ones I tale in the evening, but only if I feel I need them. I would relay like some feedback from anyone with long term tyrosine use - should I cycle it or is it OK to take it all the time?

I have probably 50+ different supplements at home. Some are for better health, some anti-aging and some as nootropics. Leo's video about nootropics really motivated me to investigate further This is how I see it: There are some that actually improve your health and brain - they have long term effects and are probably beneficial to most. I see no problem with using them, except that a lot of money can be spent without actually knowing what is helping and how much. In this group would be Lion's Maine, PQQ, ... Then there is another group of supplements which effects neurotransmitters and hormones (like Dopamine, GABA, Glutamete, Serotonin, Melatonin, ...). Effects of these supplements are quite fast and can influence mood and cognitive abilities in any direction you want. However what concerns me here are long term effects. Since they elevate specific neurotransmitter, what body might do is that it down-regulates receptors for that specific neurotransmitter and/or it starts producing less. I believe the effect is especially severe if some neurotransmitter is elevated way above what it normally would be. Typically it takes weeks to months to see those effects and the effect is that without the supplement your base level of that neurotransmitter activity is dropped. That means you start to have opposite effects as when supplement is taken. That is actually what happens with drug additions and I believe that some of nootropics can have effects in that direction if taken inappropriately (too much, too often or combinations of supplements affect the same neurotransmitter). So in long term damage can actually be done. I would really like same feedback what do you think and which of the supplements are more problematic then others.