Having varying experiences with nootropics, I have landed on Piracetam as my choice nootropic. It is likely that everyone’s chemistry is different and what works for you may send me crashing and burning like NASA’s Cassini when it runs out of gas. In my junkyard of failed trials you’ll find Noopept, Aniracetam, and Caffeine/Theanine. All of them had an effect, some effects very interesting and enjoyable, but the final outcome was a net loss. Piracetam is different.
The upside of taking my usual daytime doses of Piracetam is that I get very creative, articulate, and expressive, but the downside is that I lose a lot of ability to focus and listen to others. While on it, my mind is very active and wants to be creative, and therefore drifts into its own thing rather than focusing on incoming information. Due to this, I began to wonder if that might help me out while sleeping. After all, your brain needs to do some work while you sleep and maybe that ability to articulate will help with the sleep process.
Some quick online searches showed that I was not the first to do bedtime Piracetam dosing. Many people have done it with good results including lucid dreams, but they warned that initially it might keep you awake. Start low, and work your way up if necessary. So, that’s what I did.
Just before bedtime, I take about 600-700 mg of Piracetam with 3mg of melatonin to ensure that I get my z’s. For Piracetam, 600 mg is an extremely low dose. People often dose 4.8 grams per day and even go 10-20 grams per day. Since I tend to be a lightweight with these drugs, my daytime doses are normally around 1400 mg. But for the nighttime, I started at 600 mg, and the results have been amazing.
To start with, the effects don’t wear off like morning dosing does. Piracetam is said to have a 3-4 hour half-life and you should keep dosing all day if you want the continued benefits, but with a single bedtime dose, the effect goes on all day. It’s as though I am not feeling the Piracetam, but rather it is changing something in my brain, which I feel for an extended period of time.
What do I feel? I have an intensity and alertness in the front of my brain and eyes that just makes me focused. It’s not a rush, not jittery, not hyped, just very awake and strong. Finding words is easy. Visualizing things becomes easy. I am able to recall conversations better and visualize things previously seen with greater ease. Working memory has also improved, which is the ability to navigate back and forth within a conversation.
In addition to those points, I need less sleep. While melatonin normally makes me slow to wake up, the grogginess is virtually non-existent when taken with Piracetam, and I even wake up earlier.
These benefits went on steadily for five days, and even increased over time, at which point I took a day off. Today, well, last night, I have restarted the bedtime dosing and the benefit is still there, although decreased. It looks like it builds up over time so I will keep it up and hopefully continue enjoying the benefits.