If the world of nootropics had a best sellers list, Noopept and pramiracetam would easily make the top 5. Both supplements can do great things for your memory and cognitive abilities, and are the default go-to choices of millions in the nootropics community (yours truly included). If you’re trying to pick just one, you may have your work cut out for you.
Benefits Comparison
Noopept
Noopept is a balanced and immensely popular nootropic. Its biggest claim to fame are its memory and focus improvement abilities. Backed up by many scientific studies and countless user testimonials, it can significantly help with memory formation, consolidation, and retrieval [1]. Noopept makes processing information much easier and faster, and memory lapses a thing of the past.
It has two other big benefits. Noopept can stabilize the mood. It can reduce anxiety and feelings of irritability [2], and may even be a useful tool for fighting depression. Noopept can also give long-term neuroprotection. It limits oxidative damage to the brain, preventing not only age-related cognitive decline but also slowing down the damage caused by Alzheimer’s or dementia [3].
An extremely potent supplement, research puts Noopept between 1000 and 5000 times stronger than the original nootropic Piracetam [4]. This potency means you can take a much smaller dose to achieve the same effect, making this a very affordable cognitive enhancer. Noopept is also quite possibly the fastest-acting nootropic available, only needing minutes to achieve its full effect.
Pramiracetam
Not to be outdone, pramiracetam is just as well known for its ability to improve memory, focus, and concentration [5]. It gives memory formation and retrieval a huge boost by stimulating the regions of the brain responsible for those functions. It makes learning faster, smoother and, in my opinion, more enjoyable.
By improving blood flow to the brain, pramiracetam also increases the amount of oxygen the brain receives and allows better metabolization of its primary fuel source, glucose. The results are more mental energy, clearer thinking, and much-improved alertness.
And when it comes to stacking nootropics, it’s hard to beat pramiracetam. It can be stacked with just about anything. But, even more importantly, pramiracetam can act as a very powerful potentiator, meaning the effects of whatever you combine it with are increased, and sometimes significantly so.
Side Effects Comparison
Noopept
Unless you push the dosage boundaries of Noopept, you can expect very few if any side-effects. When side-effects do occur, they can include any of headaches, dizziness, increased irritability or restlessness. If you take Noopept too late in the day, you may also experience insomnia.
All side-effects can usually be alleviated by reducing the dosage. Headaches specifically can be reduced by taking Noopept together with a choline supplement like Alpha GPC.
Pramiracetam
On the whole, pramiracetam is a very well tolerated supplement, even at dosage levels at the high end of the scale. The most common side-effect, which is not that common at all, is a headache. I have also seen reports of increased feelings of agitation or nervousness when taking pramiracetam, but these are super rare.
Just like in the case of Noopept, headaches can be eliminated by supplementing with choline. The other issues tend to go away when the dosage is brought down.
My Verdict
This really is a tough one. For me, choosing between Noopept and pramiracetam is almost like picking which of your children is your favorite (which I hear is tough, not having multiple kids myself). I have used both nootropics extensively for many years, and with both, I keep coming back for more. What makes the decision even tougher is that Noopept and pramiracetam work oh so well together when combined in a stack.
If you told me that there’s one and only one nootropic I can ever use, I would probably go with Noopept. It’s a great all-rounder, that improves memory, stabilizes your mood and protects your brain in the long run. It is incredibly fast acting, so when you need it now, now, now, it will deliver. You also can’t dismiss how affordable it is. Bang for buck, it’s hard to do better than Noopept.
On the flip side, if I needed to build a nootropic stack, pramiracetam would unquestionably be a part of it. Not only does it play nicely with just about every other supplement, but it is also a powerful potentiator and increases the effects of the other components.
So in the end, which of these two powerhouse nootropics you go with may depend on exactly what you plan on using it for. Ultimately, you can’t go wrong with either, but unless you’re planning on stacking, I suggest you go with Noopept. It just has too many good things going for it to turn down.
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