In a world where your every single move can have huge consequences on your life and career, people seek any kind of help they can get. They train, they give their social lives up, they become so preoccupied with what they’re doing that they can even forget to eat.







Being dedicated to something can be a good thing. Of course, that is someone’s personal opinion – is what you’re doing worth the sacrifice, and will it yield the desired results?

Many people argue yes. But sometimes, pure dedication is not enough. In the world of Esports where everything is changing so fast, in the game of the best of the best, you will see yourself wanting a mental boost. Dedication and training are the absolute most important part, don’t forget this. Nootropics or anything else will not help if you don’t know how to play. But being knowledgable, combined with stimulants and practice can make you a real superhuman for the time being. Enhanced reflexes, decision making, orientation, and general sharpness – you can get it all, only if you know your desired substances and how to use them correctly.

Disclaimer: We do not condone the use of illegal drugs. Not only is it really bad for your own health and probably future, but are (obviously) banned by the International Esports federation. Aside from them, prescription stimulants aren’t allowed either. You will have to get creative with what you have, and we will help you get started with some useful information.

Caffeine and Gaming

Caffeine is a substance that is represented in gaming a lot. It can be found in many sources like coffee, green or black tea. And, as most of you know, it is also the substance that energy drinks use to give you the desired effect.

Many energy drink companies market themselves towards gamers, creating a gamer-y aesthetic and advertising themselves as beneficial to their performance. But is that really true? We already know that the point of advertising is solely catching a certain audience.

The truth is, this is a constant debate between gamers and even scientists themselves.

In short, caffeine affects your brain by mimicking a brain chemical called Adenosine. This chemical’s main role is making sure that your nervous system doesn’t become overexcited, helping you stay relaxed, and at the end of the day, feel tired.

Caffeine basically blocks Adenosine from reaching your brain. This gives a stimulating effect, even stimulating the secretion of adrenaline and dopamine. As a result, you will get:

Higher alertness

You’ll be able to identify relevant information and react accordingly easier, giving you better alertness, accuracy, and engagement.

Enhanced perceptual memory

The speed your brain stores and recalls information is increased. This leads to you learning new strategies, skills, and characters faster.

Better overall state of mind

As we already mentioned, caffeine boosts dopamine, which puts you in a better mood. And, if you are in a good mood, you will be more engaged, will learn faster and communicate with your teammates better. Right?

Everyone is different and your nervous system can react completely differently to caffeine than mine. A person could experience mostly good parts of caffeine while not really noticing the bad ones. Another person, however, can feel little to no good effects but feel only the bad ones instead.

The bad effects would include:

Reduced working memory

If you experience this, you will have trouble processing and holding on to important information in the long run. The caffeine’s big stimulatory effect may fuzz up your brain and make it harder for it to keep up with the game.

Increases spontaneous muscle activity

Caffeine makes your body twitch! After drinking it, people often tap with their feet, twitch or overall have some symptoms that resemble anxiety. This is particularly bad when you are trying to aim.

Increases anxiety

If you are a naturally anxious person, it would be best for you to avoid caffeine.

Nootropics and Gaming

If you are unfamiliar with the term, nootropics refer to substances aimed to boost mental performance. They are not made specifically for gaming but have a wide variety of other good uses. They can help you study, they can help you relax, but in our case most importantly – they can help you game. Since we can’t cover all the nootropics by any means, we will list a few useful examples.

We were talking about caffeine and how it has both good and bad effects. Well, what if I told you that there is a nootropic in existence that greatly reduces the bad effects?

L-Theanine

It’s mostly found in teas, like green tea. I will not bore you with more scientific mumbo-jumbo too much, but L-Theanine inhibits the neurotransmitter Glutamate from binding to your brain. Glutamate rises during stressful moments, so this means that L-Theanine has a soothing effect, almost nullifying the bad effects of caffeine. This combination can be a real winner!

CDP-Choline

This is another great nootropic. This substance, otherwise called Citicoline is naturally present in every cell of your body. When you take it, it separates into cytidine and choline. This substance synthesizes another substance which makes up the outside layer of brain cell membranes.

Using this, it repairs damaged neuron membranes and heals your brain after intense gameplay sessions. Ultimately, this gives you better cognition, more brain energy, better brain blood flow and improves memory.

DHA (Omega-3)

DHA is a substance that a large part of your brain or even the retina in eyes is made of. This makes it almost essential for great performance. Not only this, but it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and this greatly helps with a common gamer problem, carpal tunnel syndrome.

So, not only will you have better learning, memory and faster thinking, you will also game with less pain!







Ginseng

Named Panax ginseng in Asian or Panax quinquefolius in American, this nootropic is steroid-like in nature. It increases protein synthesis in the brain and enhances neurotransmitters. It improves memory and quickens thinking, but it’s also seen to reduce mental fatigue many gamers experience.

L-Tyrosine

This is something that your brain really needs to form all catecholamine neurotransmitters. As this includes dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, it’s a hugely important supplement.

It generally helps you with creative flow skates and gives you inspiration and mental flexibility. of course, like the most other nootropics, it gives you an improvement in memory and quick thinking.

Summary

This is a toned-down version of a list of nootropics you can take to increase your performance. And while they do help you play much more efficiently, they are extremely useful even if you are not a gamer. Many people suffer mental issues that these nootropics could mitigate or even remove, and as a result, change their lives.

You can also check the results of our Twitter poll below and see how the public sees these substances:

Do not forget to take all of these substances in controlled portions. Taking too much of anything is harmful, including these. Use them responsibly and when they change your experience, give us a comment down below!

Related: What If Your Doctor Prescribed You a Game Instead of Medicine?