Creating A Nootropic Stack

Most nootropics have a decent cognitive-boosting effect taken on their own. But the best of their effects are often achieved when a nootropic is taken with a secondary one that complements and potentiates its effect - as known as, stacking. Thereby making the best of both worlds and creating a synergistic effect.

Most nootropics have a decent cognitive-boosting effect taken on their own. But the best of their effects are often achieved when a nootropic is taken with a secondary one that complements and potentiates its effect – as known as, stacking. Thereby making the best of both worlds and creating a synergistic effect.

Whether for memory support and protection or for focus and information processing for a specific task, project, or test or to maximize your brain’s potential because you’re a smart nerd; stacks are very customizable.

And so they work for everyone no matter the result they are after.

That is, of course, after they have had an understanding of how the ingredients work, interact, synergize, or react.

What’s A Nootropic Stack?

In short, a nootropic stack is a combination of two different nootropics taken together in a combo, “a stack” to potentiate and leverage one another’s unique effects and lead to better results than either one of them taken on its own.

Stacking is a technique of approaching and using supplements.

Think of big companies such as Now Foods, for example. One of their trendy products is a Calcium, Magnesium, and Zinc – a stack that has all 3 combined together in one tablet to get you the benefits of all 3 in one tablet — which, btw, worsens the absorption, but that’s off-topic- s

Stacking is following the same technique of using two or more nootropics together that boost each other effects. Thus leading to a more significant boost in your cognitive function.

They may not seem intriguing or exciting, but one would only come to understand and appreciate those stacks after having experienced them. The difference can be as different as your first nootropic experience ever.

There are two ways that you can get started with nootropic stacking, either with a preformulated product, or by creating your own stack.

Preformulated Stack

One choice is to buy a “pre-formulated stack” from a supplement brand with filled pharmacies in the last few years. Usually in the end aisle, dusty, and with very, very fishy names and packages. 

Although to be fair, very, very rarely, you do find gems in those dusty aisles. But still, feel sorry for whoever was responsible for the product marketing. 

The idea is creating one capsule of anywhere from 2 to 10 ingredients, push them in together into one serving capsule, and sell it based on how good of a salesman the distributor is. 

The one upside aspect of looking at it is the ease of access, use, traveling with, etc. If you would only be carrying one bottle instead of, let’s say you stack 3 individual nootropics, you’d be taking 3 different capsules instead of one. Many people, myself included, like the comfort that comes with 1 capsule instead of 6.

The downside of it is that you cannot experiment and analyze individual ingredients’ pros and cons. There could be one ingredient that works magic for you. 

You wouldn’t figure out which one is not only because it’s a preformulated mixture but also in making such products; each ingredient has a very low dose. Much lower than the typical, effective dose. 

If you take L-Theanine, for example, 200-400mg once a day, and you enjoy the effect it produces. 

In a preformulated product, L-Theanine would be in a minimal dosage, often less than half of the effective dose. 

But because they have to mix several ingredients into one, it would be dangerous and illegal to keep it high. So they end up compromising on all ingredients.

Many companies are getting into the industry every day, some good, some bad, and some very bad. Make sure you find a reputable company when choosing a preformulated nootropic. 

I have only tried one of those preformulated products after a long hesitation. And I have to admit that despite all the skepticism I had, it actually had a profound effect on me. I have been taking it ever since if I’m on the go or traveling and don’t have access to my typical stack. Only in such times, it’s Mind Lab Pro – to the rescue. 

Developed by a reliable company, and their formula is well-crafted. I have to update my thoughts on that since the very first time I tried it somewhere around 2017. 

Creating your own stack

Customizing your own stack gives you full flexibility to be creative as you want and to make changes to the stack components and dosages as you see fit.

Designing your own stack is also more economical because you purchase individual ingredients in a larger count and have the ability to mix and match to your liking. Rather than a mass-manufactured one with many added expenses related to marketing and packaging, ending up either retailing at a very high price or failing to cover the product cost. 

Those who understand and appreciate their nootropics for the positive results they’ve gotten from them would almost always choose to design their own stacks instead of going after whatever markets better: the choice and the value.

The downside of creating your individual stack is the main obstacle new excited people often face due to the massive amount of information all over the internet, with each giving different and unrelated false reports based on their bro-science. So when the well packaged, the 10-in-1 product comes across, it would be their product of choice. Hassle-free. Research free.

There are several popular stacks in reputable websites to read and learn from (I will link them at the footnotes). A straightforward article on the topic would save you a lot of time, effort, and money by giving you an excellent overall understanding before getting the 30t of Limitless Energy Stack that sells for 1,500 AED each.

If you would still, instead of going for an all-in-1 solution, I have only tried. I would only try, and thus only recommend one single product, Mind Lab Pro. I can’t recommend nor say any word about any other alternatives as it wouldn’t be fair given I haven’t tested it/them myself. 

However, if you do the research and are willing to adjust your supplementation dosages until you get the effects you want, creating your stack is the way to go. 

NOTE: If you plan to make your stack, many nootropics come in bulk powder form. You’ll need an accurate scale to measure your doses. You may refer to this article that explains how to measure nootropics. 

Before Creating Your Own Stack

Before You Start Designing a Custom Stack, It would help if you ask yourself a few questions like:

  1. What do I want to do with this stack?
  2. How much am I willing to spend?
  3. When and how often am I willing to take this stack?
  4. Is this a stack I need to take overtime to get effects from?
  5. Am I willing to deal with any adverse effects from this stack?
  6. Is this stack safe?

Answer these questions, and expect your answers to change as you research more and more in the nootropic world and realize the possibilities with these supplements. And then to the next point:

Research, research, research!

Research is the most essential part of the process when it comes to creating your own nootropic stack.

If you haven’t done so yet, you should take some time to read research and articles and guides, even some anecdotal reports, to some of the more common nootropics such as Piracetam, Aniracetam, Oxiracetam, Pramiracetam, and Noopept.

Despite many users of nootropics worldwide and studies and anecdotal reports, they are still new compounds – taking the time to understand the basic mechanisms of the popular ones’ actions is a wise idea and will come to serve you much in the long run.

Understanding how one nootropic works could be an instant-winner, and vice versa. Picking two that work on the same pathways, in the end, would only be a waste of money and effort.

In contrast, you could choose two nootropics that actually complement one another and work together very well, producing a synergistic effect that will boost cognitive function to a new level that had not felt before.

Another essential part of researching is looking at studies and experience reports from people within the community. It goes without a saying, from the bible of medical research, Pubmed.

It is the most useful and exciting vault for learning about certain compounds tested by professional practicing doctors, and often in world-class hospitals and university labs.

For the best place for anecdotal user experiences, Reddit’s Nootropics subreddit is the one-stop-shop for everything. From stack advice to studies and claims to new discoveries, and on and on.

Dosage and Safety

It’s important to remember that more isn’t always better. 

Let’s use coffee as an example.

Say you go out and drink an entire pot of coffee at once. You will feel pretty terrible unless you have superpower-like tolerance to caffeine.

, A sip of coffee won’t have any notable effect on you. 

Most people need a cup or twenty two to get the desired outcomes.

If you are going to start a nootropic stack, you need to keep this concept in mind. 

  1. Always start with the lowest effective dose or minimum effective dose – a low dose to see how a particular nootropic effects and whether or not you like the effect before taking higher doses. Discard all the megadosing things you hear about. Safety comes first. 
  2. Start with the MED (minimum effective dose). If necessary, increase the dosage while observing how you react to it and when it seems to be working well. 
  3. The best approach in building your stack is getting to know the individual ingredients. And getting familiar with them, and from there, crafting something that works perfectly for you. 
  4. Once familiar with one, start stacking with another one (based on recommendations and science, of course, not based on “common sense” – because even that is not quite common now). In no time, you’ll find yourself mix and matching, observing, analyzing, and hardly able to differentiate yourself from any science professor you’ve come across in your lifetime.
  5. Nootropics are considered safe, but prevention and precaution go a long, long way.

It’s also recommended to talk to a medical professional if you want to be sure that it is safe for you to take a specific nootropic if you are already taking other medications.

How to Build Your Own Nootropic Stack

The possibilities are endless. But let’s start and keep it simple.

Caffeine + L-Theanine Stack

Sometimes the simplest stacks are the most effective.

For example, stacking two nootropics you’re probably already very familiar with, caffeine, which is found in coffee, and L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, is a highly glorified stack the nootropic community.

Taken together, usually at a ratio of 2:1 of L-theanine to Caffeine, results in a boost of mental energy calmed by the relaxed focus from the L-theanine. No shakes, jitters, and any of the annoying side effects of drinking a double espresso – twice.

It’s a perfect example of how two different nootropics can work in harmony with one another and produce beautiful effects.

Taken As Needed:

  • 200 mg L-Theanine
  • 100 mg Caffeine

A Beginner’s Nootropic Stack Example

Taking things a step further would be stacking racetam nootropics such as Piracetam with a choline supplement source – another excellent starting choice.

Starting with a choline source alongside a racetam will help you in many ways, mostly due to being:

  1. Accessible – Only two nootropic supplements are involved.
  2. Cheap – This combination is inexpensive compared to more advanced nootropics.
  3. Safe – Both have a high safety threshold.
  4. Synergistic – Tcomplementment each other well.
  5. Room to grow – It’s a good foundation that can be built upon for something more advanced.

An example of stacking the pair can be:

Morning

  • Fish Oil
  • Multivitamin

Afternoon

  • 4.8 g Piracetam
  • 300 mg Alpha-GPC

An 8:1 ratio of PiracetamPiracetam to choline is often recommended. That would be like 800mg of PiracetamPiracetam to 150mg of Alpha-GPC. 

However, some recommendations vary from a 3:1 ratio to as little as a 50:1 ratio. 

Choline and Piracetam have been shown to have a synergistic effect.

You can start with any racetam, really. The older ones tend to be the better option due to the extensive research on them and their low side-effect profiles.

It will also be a good baseline to compare other nootropics to overtime. 

It’s a perfect introduction to the racetam family of nootropics. 

From there, you can dive deeper and try all different ones – there is up to 9 so far that I am aware of – and counting!

An Alternative to the Beginner’s Nootropic Stack

Oxiracetam is another popular choice to build a stack around. Here’s what a starter-stack could look like:

Morning

  • Fish Oil
  • Multivitamin

Afternoon

  • 750 mg Aniracetam
  • 300 Alpha GPC
  • 500 mg Lion’s Mane Mushroom

An Intermediate Nootropic Stack

Daily in your life, you likely don’t do the same thing all day long, every day of the week. 

Most likely, you set aside time to study, go to class, exercise, go to work, work on your side projects, and in between it all, sleep.

All these different activities have different mental demands and prerequisites to engage in. 

Some are well-suited to increased brainpower from nootropics, and others don’t require a boost. 

Sometimes you need to get in the zone before your final exam. 

You are way too hyper from caffeine or the like and need to get to sleep, don’t ruin your sleep cycle for the important lectures you have the next day.

Maybe you need an extra push for your morning or evening studies. Or need an extra night of sleep after partying and studying for three days straight.

It wouldn’t make sense to take something to give you that extra boost all the time. 

Not only would you be overdoing it, but you wouldn’t get or be able to enjoy the same effects.

Nootropics are fast-acting and not suitable for long-term use – at least many of them. 

The ideal “mini-stack” should be one that is:

  • Fast-acting and potent. Not something that takes a couple of weeks to start building up before you get to experience any results. 
  • Not something you could take all the time. For instance, Huperzine A can cause acetylcholine tolerance if you take it for an extended amount of time, which would decrease the effects of your overall stack.
  • It is related to a particular effect. This could be a heightened focus and attention or a relaxant that promotes restful sleep.
  • Synergistic. Or stackable. 

Usually, something with a different action mechanism than the primary nootropic makes a tremendous functional stack ingredient because it will increase all the associated compounds’ effects.

Here is an example of how an experienced nootropic stack regimen may look. 

As you can see, it has daily components for morning and afternoon and some intervals for special occasions or as needed.

Morning

  • Fish Oil
  • Multivitamin

Afternoon

  • 750 mg Aniracetam
  • 750 mg Oxiracetam
  • 300 mg Alpha GPC
  • 500 mg Lion’s Mane Mushroom

Intense Study or Focus Days

Continue taking your average stack as usual, but consider adding:

  • 500 mg Ginkgo Biloba, up to 2x per day
  • 100 mg L-Theanine (if feeling jittery)

Immediately Before an Exam/Test/Interview

Right before a mentally demanding circumstance such as an exam, the following nootropics can work wonders:

  • 10 mg Vinpocetine
  • 200 mcg Huperzine A

Sleep Stack

Around bedtime / your natural sleep cycle:

  • 100 mg 5-HTP
  • 530 mg Valerian Root

Remember, you should only try a stack this complex once you’ve started getting comfortable with the basics of nootropics and stacking.

But there you go. We’ve now covered the fundamental progression of a beginner’s nootropic stack to something more complex.

There are 1000’s of different variations of this you could do. This is just an example of how you can get more creative with your stack and progress from a novice to a more advanced user.

Welcome to the bright side!

Final Thoughts

Everyone’s brain chemistry differs in one way or another. No two brains are identical. Therefore, what works for a person might not work for another – at all. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment (safely) change up your stack. If something isn’t working, change it up. 

You might need to change the dosage, the frequency, or remove/add a complimentary into the mix. 

Of course, don’t make changes every day; you’ll never know what change you made is the one that is causing the difference in your nootropic stack.

If you feel like you need to amp up your stack a bit, I recommend trying one of three options. 

These are more advanced options, so try out some prior advice before going with such stacks. The average beginner might not know enough to take such a variety and still analyze and see how they work together. 

You can:

  1. Swap out piracetam for a different racetam, such as aniracetam, oxiracetam, or pramiracetam.
  1. Change your choline source. Try CDP choline or centrophenoxine for different benefits and effects.

Add another nootropic supplement to the mix. A Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) promoting nootropic. Lion’s Mane Mushroom would be a fantastic choice for long-term benefits.

Further Ideation

If you find the process enjoyable, browse through for more ideas and inspiration.

The key is to do your research and see what works best for you.

As always, never hesitate to reach out to us for any questions or concerns; we’ll be happy to assist you in your quest!