What are the side effects of brain-boosting drugs?
People who take brain-boosting drugs risk obvious problems if they overdose. Brain-boosting drugs also have important interactions with other drugs or substances a person may be using. For example, Provigil has not been tested in people who drink alcohol. Patients with Provigil prescriptions are advised to avoid drinking alcohol. The most common side effects reported in the Nature poll were headaches, jitteriness, anxiety, and sleeplessness. About half of those using these drugs reported these side effects, which were often serious enough to make people stop using the drugs. But even the proponents of cognitive enhancement admit that too little is known about the long-term use of brain-boosting drugs in healthy people. The Nature editorialists call for more research.
