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My Experience With Modafinil: Review and Beginner’s Guide

In this article, I share my experience taking Modafinil from Afinil Express, and explain the best way to use Modafinil as a study drug.

I’ve been taking Modafinil for a few years now, and it’s truly an amazing drug that makes work fun and enjoyable. That may sound like hyperbole, but you don’t need to take my word for it.

Thousands of other people around the world are taking Modafinil (and they’re pretty vocal about its benefits).

But stick around because there’s tons of great nuggets throughout. I cover everything from:

• The basics of Modafinil
• How people get their hands on it
• My experience taking Modafinil for the first time
• How Modafinil and sleep affect your productivity
• My thoughts on whether Modafinil helps you lose weight (with a shirtless pic)
• How Modafinil and caffeine interact
• How and when you should take Modafinil
• (and when you should not take it)

I had a blast writing this and I hope you enjoy it as well.

So here we go, let’s start with the basics.

What is Modafinil?

Modafinil is a mild stimulant that has the ability to keep you awake, mentally alert, and productive for long periods of time without sleep. Consequently, it can provide a huge advantage to students, businesspeople, and anyone that needs to get more work done than normal hours allow.

The first section of this article looks at the initial effects of Modafinil upon my mind, body, and habits. All of these observations were recorded sporadically during the first few weeks after I began taking the drug.

The idea was to document my perception of Modafinil’s effects while I was still getting used to it. Consequently, the observations recorded appear in an unedited form and may not be 100% accurate.

The next section of the article presents Modafinil’s effects on me in a more edited, elaborated, and reasoned form. The observations listed here are a better guide to what you can expect if you decide to try Modafinil for yourself.

In the final section of the article, I describe what I consider to be the three best ways to use Modafinil if you plan to try it out for yourself.

My recommendations are based upon the observations mentioned in this book, self experimentation, and trial and error. They should work well with you, but you will still have to experiment and see what works best for yourself.

Good luck! Now let’s begin…

How Most People Get Modafinil

Most people get Modafinil through a prescription written by a doctor.

However, it is also possible to obtain Modafinil off-label on sites like Afinil Express, which operates through a clandestine global network and uses a cyrptocurrency called bitcoin. That may sound like something out of a spy movie, but it’s quite true.

I’m not advocating illegal sale of Modafinil, just passing this information on only for what it may be worth.

My Initial Observations of Modafinil’s Effects (first 2 weeks)

When you are tired, Modafinil can make you feel better than you feel when you are not tired, even if feeling tired means operating on only 2 hours of sleep. It takes anywhere between 35 minutes to 2 hours to feel the full effects of Modafinil.

The time it takes to feel Modafinil varies so much because of a few factors, such as: how much sleep you got the previous night, whether your stomach is empty or full, and whether or not you’ve built up a tolerance to the drug.

A list of observations based on my experience (while on Modafinil):

• When you aren’t tired, Modafinil makes you slightly jittered, though not to the extent of preventing your ability to work. You want to work, but your thoughts go so fast that you can feel uncomfortable.
• Modafinil makes it harder to interact with people. You don’t feel awkward, shy, or uncomfortable around others and your conversation flows more eloquently than usual. However, most conversations bore you and you have little interest in people (this Vice article explains it well).
• Modafinil makes you feel confident, but it does not make you feel happy. However, if you feel sad and grumpy when you get tired, Modafinil will alleviate bad moods caused by lack of sleep. Your problems and worries still remain while under the effects of the drug (though like Adderall and other drugs, Modafinil can mask the effects of unhappiness in the short term.)
• Modafinil makes you more productive and able to work for longer.
• Modafinil keeps you awake, but you are still prone to make typical sleep-deprived errors. However, since you are more alert with Modafinil, you are much more likely to catch your errors soon after you make them.
• Modafinil does not prevent your eyes from getting tired if you are sitting at a computer for a long period of time.
• Modafinil amplifies the effects of caffeine.
• It’s easy to underestimate the effects of Modafinil once you take it regularly for a little while. Tolerance actually builds quite slowly.
• As a general rule, assume that Modafinil will keep you wide awake and productive for 12 hours; this means that if you take it at 4 in the afternoon you will be going to bed at 4 in the morning. You can expect Modafinil to last up to 16 hours if you have some caffeine while under its influence.
• Modafinil produces the urge to check and recheck the solutions to math and science problems. You also will compulsively edit any written work; you will read each sentence again and again to ensure perfection.
• Modafinil makes you less interested in sex.
• Sleeping issues / dosing schedule: if you take it at 5PM and go to bed at 6 AM; wake up at 7:30 AM then you take another one and you go to bed at 12 PM that night.
• You can work all night and your mind will be resilient, but your body will still feel fatigued from working so long and avoiding sleep. Taking breaks to eat and drink water is vital and helps maintain your focus and avoid side effects like pressure headaches.
• To get you started, it is a good idea to take Modafinil with a cup of coffee, but only if you normally consume caffeine. Taking a 5 Hour Energy on Modafinil will make you extremely jittery and is not advised.
• When used to prevent sleep, you will find that your days tend to blur together. You feel productive but you also feel somewhat cut off from the world.
• The results are pleasant and lie somewhere between Adderall, caffeine, and fasted zen-like focus.
• Modafinil takes 2 hours to work and then prevents sleep and enhances productivity for 12-14 hours. If you need to get started on a project immediately, I recommend having a small to moderate amount of caffeine with your Modafinil.
• Modafinil can be used both to enhance productivity and remain mentally alert when sleep deprived.
• Modafinil limits my ability to do creative work. Creative work is anything that requires lateral thinking or high-level strategic decisions for my clients and my businesses.

That’s a lot to take in… (I wrote most of those thoughts on Modafinil), but it captures 99% of my experiences thus far.

Besides, sometimes the best way to record your observations is to let them flow freely.

Now let’s untangle each of those observations a bit so we understand how and why Modafinil behaves as it does.

Starting with one of my favorite things: sleep.

How does Modafinil affect sleep and productivity?

However, the amount of sleep you have determines the extent that Modafinil is able to enhance your productivity. If you have a full night’s rest and take a Modafinil in the morning, you will be super productive all day. as you would be if you both received a full night’s rest and took Modafinil.

If you take Modafinil after 2 hours of sleep, you will be slightly more productive than you would be if you got a full night’s rest and didn’t take Modafinil. But, you will be no where near as productive as you would be on a full night’s sleep plus Modafinil.

Here’s a chart that shows how Modafinil affects productivity (in the context of being sleep-deprived versus well-slept):

These are just relative numbers and no where near exact, but they give you a good idea of how productive you would be in each scenario.

Productivity also varies by how much modafinil you take, your diet, and whether or not you’re using caffeine. But again, these are relative figures based on my own experience.

Modafinil does not totally prevent sleep deprived errors, but it reduces their frequency and makes you much more likely to catch them as you make them.

The ability of Modafinil to reduce sleep deprived errors depends on the amount of sleep deprivation you are facing. If you haven’t slept at all for 24-48 hours, you will make some mistakes that Modafinil cannot prevent.

However, if you get only 1-4 hours of sleep, taking a Modafinil in the morning will prevent you from making sleep deprived errors during the day. With Modafinil, it is possible to take a difficult math test on only 2 hours of sleep, make no careless errors, and earn an A.

Keep in mind that our ability to recall information from memory is state-access dependent. Meaning, if you’re in a good mood and something happens to you, you’re more likely to remember what happened when you’re in that same good mood in the future.

When it comes to studying for exams, if you study on Modafinil then you will remember more information during your exam if you take Modafinil beforehand.

Ultimately, Modafinil will increase your productivity and performance when sleep deprived pretty much as long as you keep taking it consistently. However, once you allow the drug to wear off (12 hours), extreme exhaustion sets in and your body will try to makeup for lost sleep.

After using Modafinil to stay awake for over 48 hours, I finally had time to sleep, and when I did, I slept for 13 hours straight. This is probably because sleep debt builds up in the brain, and the only way to pay off the debt is to get some sleep.

How long can you stay focused on Modafinil?

A long time…

Modafinil enhances your productivity by making you able to work longer and more consistently.

Without Modafinil, I work for hourlong sessions separated by 20-30 minute breaks, and by 45 minutes into my worksession, my attention starts to drift. I can also usually only manage 6 or 7 of these hour-long work sessions per day.

However, Modafinil allows me to concentrate for a full hour or more, and I can do as many hour long work sessions as my time allows.

I can take a Modafinil pill in the morning and work productively for 10 to 12 hours sessions. That said, Modafinil is not quite as powerful as Adderall; with Adderall I can do 7 to 8 two-hour long work sessions (14-16 hours of continuous work) and not lose focus.

Modafinil is extremely effective at keeping you mentally alert. However, its effects on the energy of your body are minimal to non-existent.

It also does not prevent your eyes from becoming fatigued if you are reading or staring at a computer for hours on end. With that in mind, it’s easy to stare at the computer screen for too long, forgetting to take breaks or stick to a pomodoro schedule.

Friends often tell me that my eyes are bloodshot, probably because of computer-related eye strain and dehydration.

Consequently, it is important to remember to eat, drink, and take regular breaks from your work when you are staying awake using Modafinil.

Modafinil and weight loss – my thoughts

I believe Modafinil has caused me to lose weight, though since I do not know what my body weight was before taking it I cannot say for certain.

However, a few weeks after I began taking Modafinil regularly, veins in my arms became very prominent and an outline of a six pack began to appear.

I’ve always been pretty thin, but not this thin.

I made no deliberate changes to my diet and exercise routine since I started taking Modafinil, so I believe that any weight loss effect I experienced resulted from a decrease in appetite and an increase in caloric expenditure due to an increase in time spent awake.

Modafinil and caffeine

Modafinil amplifies the effects of caffeine. When you take Modafinil with caffeine, only use the amount of caffeine. When you take Modafinil, only use the amount of caffeine you would normally use on a given day. For example, you can have your morning cup of coffee, but nothing else. If you have extra caffeine when under Modafinil’s influence, you will be so jittery and anxious that it will be difficult to work productivity.

Also note: I typically take ¼ to ½ of a Modafinil pill. This equates to 50 to 100 mg. On days that I drink caffeine, whether that be coffee or green tea, I only take 50 mg in the morning and this is the perfect dose; I’m productive all day and don’t feel any anxiety whatsoever.

Modafinil tolerance – the elephant in the room

Tolerance to Modafinil builds quite slowly, though I suspect it does build. I thought after a few weeks of taking it that I could have a pill at 6:00 PM and go to bed at 2:00 AM, but I was wrong and ended up not being able to sleep until 7:00 AM.

While I have not experienced any tolerance yet, and the studies show that Modafinil is relatively non-addictive and doesn’t induce much of a tolerance, I find it hard to believe that any drug does not create some tolerance.

Consequently, I only take Modafinil when I really need it.

How Modafinil makes you feel

In terms of how Modafinil makes you feel emotionally, there’s really nothing I’ve found quite like it. Modafinil does not produce the euphoric feeling associated with stimulants like caffeine or adderall, but it does boost my mood and completely prevents the sadness that can result from sleep deprivation. It makes you extremely confident and relaxed, yet also extremely uninterested in sex and human connection.

However, when you do interact with people you often come across as more charming and funny than usual. It’s cliché, but the best way to describe the feeling Modafinil produces is this: you feel cool. In terms of comparing the feeling Modafinil produces to the feelings produced by other drugs, the closest equivalent would probably be the feeling produced by Nicotine.

Being up all night can feel kind of strange in and of itself, as you often end up spending long periods of time alone. Your days also tend to blur a little bit together.

Important point: like sleep debt, the necessity for real human connection is a deep need we all share. So foregoing it by taking modafinil only causes a “buildup” of need for connection. Many people (myself included) address this by taking more Modafinil, but you can only go so long without normal socializing and regular sex before you start to go crazy! Keep that in mind.

The 3 Best Ways to Use Modafinil

There are three ways that I currently use Modafinil, and these are the three ways that I recommend to others.

1. Use Modafinil to be exceptionally productive. When you wake up in the morning, take 50 mg of Modafinil (1/4 tablet) or 37.5 mg Armodafinil (also 1/4 tablet) with coffee or with breakfast. Have any morning caffeine that you would normally have. It’s fine to have caffeine laterin the day as well, though be careful because it takes less caffeine on Modafinil to make you jittery. You should have an exceptionally productive day and be able to fall asleep at a normal time. If it’s in the afternoon or evening that you need to boost your productivity, take a Modafinil pill with a cup of coffee. The caffeine will start to work within a few minutes and get you going until the Modafinil kicks in 1-2 hours later.
2. Use Modafinil to compensate for a lack of sleep. This is especially relevant for students. Modafinil will let you study all night, get 1-3 hours of sleep, and perform as well on a test the next day as you would have if you had gotten a full night’s rest. Just have a Modafinil pill with breakfast and your normal caffeine. This also applies to the morning after drinking. Modafinil is a quick way to get over a hangover, and can turn an productive day (or several) into a happy work day where you get a lot done. Don’t use it as a crutch, though. Going into a night of drinking thinking “I can drink more because I’ll take Modafinil in the morning” is a sure way to put yourself through a lot of pain. I’m speaking from experience.
3. Use Modafinil to Stay Up for 36-48 Hours. You can effectively use two 200 mg Modafinil pills to say up for 36-48 hours and remain alert, competent, and productive the entire time. To do this, simply take one Modafinil pill at 7:00-8:00 PM with a small cup of coffee. This will allow you to work productively all night. Stop at some point in the night to have a meal. Remember to take brief breaks and rest your eyes. When you would normally get up to go to work or school, have another Modafinil and your morning coffee. This will keep you going until the next night. If you need to stay up until 12:00PM or later the next night, drink small amounts of coffee or energy drinks regularly every 2-3 hours) once you reach mid to late afternoon. You will fall asleep at 8:00 to 9:00 the next night if you do not. When you go to sleep after using Modafinil in this way, you can be fine with only 4-6 hours of sleep, especially if you use a third Modafinil when you wake up. However, if you let it, your body will sleep for 12-13 hours to make up for the sleep that you missed, and it’s probably a good idea to let your body get the rest it needs.

A few notes:

When I speak about a Modafinil pill or tablet, I refer to a 200 mg pill or tablet from Sun Pharma (like the ones you can buy from Afinil Express), not a 400 or 300 mg pill.

You should never use Modafinil every day. You should only use it if you need it (ie, in situations where you have a ton of work and/or studying to do).

Modafinil seems to be relatively safe for long term use, but it seems likely that some tolerance to its effects will develop if you use it daily.

You don’t want to need Modafinil in the morning to wake up just like you need your coffee or tea. Also, because of how it works in the brain, it is possible to use Modafinil to go without sleep for a very long period of time.

However, I have never gone for much more than 48 hours without sleep and do not recommend using Modafinil to avoid sleep for longer than this amount of time.

Final remarks

Modafinil works great, but there are other smart drugs that you can take. All of these are able to be obtained legally and cheaply online.

Furthermore, they are all non psychoactive and actually make your brain work better. This means better memory, enhanced eloquence, quicker thinking, and more mental processing power.

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Medical Warning: Be very careful when taking Modafinil. Stay within reasonable dosing limits. If you have any problems that you believe may be Modafinil related, speak with your doctor immediately. I am not a doctor and nothing in this book constitutes medical advice.

Legal Disclaimer: Modafinil should be safe if used appropriately. However, everyone’s body is different, and the effects of a drug on one person cannot be used to predict with certainty the effects on another. The author assumes no responsibility for the consequences of taking Modafinil. This book assumes that you have a prescription for Modafinil, which is the only legal way to obtain it in the United States.

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