What is the best nootropic? This is a question that everyone seems to ask as soon as they're introduced to the wonderful world of cognitive enhancement.

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, if we slightly reframe the question, it can be answered. Let's dive right into it.

What Is The Best Nootropic?

There is no single right answer to this question because every nootropic works differently. And everyone's brain chemistry is different. What might work great for you may be terrible for me.

Asking what the best nootropic is would be like asking what the best ice cream flavor is. Ask ten people and you'll probably get ten answers (or close to it). Personally, I'm going with Ben & Jerry's Half Baked all day long. But maybe you like Chunky Monkey. Or maybe you like Cherry Garcia. Or maybe you don't like Ben & Jerry's ice cream at all (if that's even humanly possible).

I'm sure you get my point. Different strokes for different folks. Or, in this case, different nootropics for different folks. Everyone's brains are uniquely wired and we all respond differently to what we feed it.

So, it's impossible to answer the question: What is the best nootropic? However, it is possible to answer a slightly altered question: What is the best nootropic for me?

What Is The Best Nootropic For Me?

Each nootropic offers its own unique set of benefits. Some help to increase focus. Others help to increase focus and reduce anxiety. Some can lift your mood, some can improve your memory. There are a number of different benefits that nootropics can offer. Here are just some of them:

• Increased focus
• Decreased anxiety
• Improved mood
• Improved memory
• Reduced social anxiety
• Increased motivation
• Overall cognitive enhancement

To figure out what the best nootropic is for you, first you need to figure out what benefit or benefits you're looking for. Once you know this, you can usually whittle it down to a few nootropics worth trying.

Everyone's brains are wired differently.

Let's say for example that you're hoping to increase focus while reducing anxiety. You do your research, maybe read a couple of articles in our Best Nootropic For series, and come up with a short list of nootropics that offer the benefits you're looking for. Aniracetam, fasoracetam, and ashwagandha make the list, as they're all known to reduce anxiety and increase focus.

Now comes the fun (yet potentially frustrating) part. To know for sure what the best nootropic is for you, you may have to experiment a little bit. You've figured out what the best potential nootropic is for you. But the only way to know what the best actual nootropic is for sure is to try them yourself.

Depending on your situation, you may want to order one nootropic at a time or you may want to order several. If you're on a budget, pick the one with benefits most inline with your goals. In this case, since your goals are increased focus and decreased anxiety, I think aniracetam would be a good pick. It has a lot of research to support both its safety and effectiveness at reducing anxiety and increasing focus.

So, you order some aniracetam capsules from a trusted nootropic vendor and try them. If you get the results you wanted, you can be confident that aniracetam is the best nootropic for you. But if you don't experience the benefits you were hoping for, don't get discouraged. Sometimes you have to try several nootropics before you find the one that's best for you.

Sticking with the same example, let's say you try aniracetam and it doesn't do anything for you. You try different dosages, try taking it with and without food, and it still doesn't work. Now it's time to move onto another nootropic. But at least you know that aniracetam is not the best nootropic for you.

Since aniracetam didn't work for you and fasoracetam is chemically similar to it, you decide to try the other nootropic on your list: ashwagandha. Let's say that, this time, it does work – kind of. You start taking the ashwagandha and notice that your anxiety levels are lower. However, you don't seem to notice and difference in your ability to focus.

Now this is where things can get tricky. You've found a nootropic that provides one of the benefits you're looking for, but not the other. You know what the best anxiety-reducing nootropic is for you. But you still need to find the best focus booster. This is where stacking comes into play.

What Is The Best Nootropic Stack For Me?

Stacking is when you take more than one nootropic at a time. This is common practice among experienced nootropic users. Like you in the example above, a lot of people are looking for more than one benefit. And it can be hard to find a single nootropic that provides all the benefits you're looking for.

So now the question goes from asking what the best nootropic is for you to asking what the best nootropics are for you. In other words: What is the best nootropic stack for you? Sticking with our example of wanting to increase focus and decrease anxiety, we already know that ashwagandha works. But it only works to reduce anxiety: not increase focus.

You do some more research and come up with a short list of nootropics that are known to increase focus. At the top of that list is modafinil. You know that it has mountains of research to support its safety and effectiveness, so you order some from a trusted modafinil vendor.

The first time you try modafinil, you breeze through the day's work like it's nothing. You're as focused as a laser beam, blasting through every item on your to-do list. You've now found the best focus-increasing nootropic for you.

Between the ashwagandha and the modafinil, you've found what you were looking for: more focus and less anxiety. When stacked together, these two nootropic provide all the benefits you were after. You can now confidently say that you've found the best nootropics – for you.

Conclusion

Asking what the best nootropic is would be like asking what the best color is. There's no single answer that applies to everyone. Our brains are all unique and we respond differently to different nootropics.

However, with a little effort you can figure out what the best nootropic is for you. Or, if there are multiple benefits you're after, you can figure out what the best nootropic stack is for you. It all depends on your individual needs as well as your unique brain chemistry.

Have you figured out what the best nootropic or nootropic stack is for you? If you have, feel free to leave it in the comments section below.

[Originally published on August 14, 2014. Updated July 16, 2020.]