A narcolepsy medication commonly used by university students to help focus before exams has been determined safe for healthy people, according to researchers who studied its short-term effects. Modafinil — which is a controlled substance in the United States, but has similar effects to ADHD drugs like Adderall — helps healthy users in the U.K. to improve their decision-making and problem-solving skills, and even has the potential to make people think more creatively. One study even showed that Modafinil users got more pleasure out of doing the same tasks. What's more, the drug has no major side effects and is not thought to be addictive, unlike medications like Adderall and Ritalin.
"We're not saying 'go out and take this drug and your life will be better,'" researcher Anna-Katharine Brem told The Guardian. "It is still unlicensed for healthy people — but it is time for a wider debate on how to integrate cognitive enhancement into our lives."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
'All too often, we get caught up in tunnel vision'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
2024: the year of legacy media failuresIn the Spotlight From election criticism to continued layoffs, the media has had it tough in 2024
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDAIn the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
-
California declares bird flu emergencySpeed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burgerSpeed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cowSpeed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and earlySpeed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
-
US bans final type of asbestosSpeed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
