It's called Modafinil and it's in a class of drugs called
eugeroics. It's a stimulant in the same vein as caffeine and adenosine, but the
difference in how it works the brain means it doesn't have the same
side-effects that the others do.
The way caffeine and Adenosine work is that they block certain
receptors in the brain that react to dopamine, which makes it slow down. This
means, for example, that coffee does not give you energy, but rather, doesn’t
let the brain realize it needs more energy. This is why people crash after
caffeine. The effect goes away and all the tiredness catches up to you.
Modafinil doesn't have that problem.
No one really knows how it works yet, but it seems that instead of
blocking the brain's dopamine processing, it just slows production of dopamine.
On top of that, it also prevents the re-uptake of another neurotransmitter
called noradrenaline, which triggers sleep.
The end result, and one of the most mysterious, is that modafinil
doesn't trigger sleep debt. People who stay awake for a day or two on modafinil
don't report a need to catch up on sleep after the effect wears off. They can
sleep the normal amount!
by: V. Levana
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