One 200mg Modafinil tablet is absorbed in the human body after 30 minutes – 1 hour of taking it. The peak of modafinil’s blood concentration in the human body is usually 2-4 hours after 200mg administration and its half-life is 12-15 hours, depending on the metabolism, age, drug tolerance, and liver function. Individuals often take Modafinil nootropic to pull all-nighters (including shift workers) or to become their most productive selves when deadlines are pressing. However, there is no point in taking it if you don’t know WHEN to expect the Modafinil effects.
What Is Modafinil Half-Life?
Modafinil’s “biological half-life” is what nootropic users refer to when they speak about the drug’s half-life. According to Consultants in Nuclear Medicine, the half-life is the time needed for a drug’s concentration in a body or organ to drop exactly to half of the original concentration before biological elimination takes place.
Therefore, after one half-life, the concentration of the medication in your body declines to 50% of the initial concentration. When the second half-life has occurred, the concentration drops to 25% of the original dose. This process will continue until the original dose is no longer present in the body.
And just so we’re on the same side, News Medical has an excellent description of how your body metabolizes medications, including modafinil. As your body uses up the medication, the concentration of the drug proportionately decreases by half. Therefore, there is only 6.25% left after four half-lives. At this stage, the medication has limited therapeutic effects. Worth mentioning that newer versions of modafinil tend to have a longer half-life.
According to one research done by Cephalon Inc, the overall effective half-life of modafinil duration is around 15 hours for 1 dose of 200mg. While some users report feeling the drug “kicking” 30 minutes after taking it, others state they experienced the effects of modafinil after 1-2 hours of ingesting it. Therefore, medical practitioners recommend taking the drug roughly an hour before you need it (early in the morning or prior to starting shift work).
What Are The Benefits Of Long Modafinil Half-Life?
The main benefits of a long modafinil half-life are enhanced wakefulness, mild withdrawal symptoms, and extra energy when feeling fatigued.
1. Enhanced Wakefulness
One of the benefits of modafinil’s long half-life is that it stays active in the human body for a prolonged time, allowing the experience of wakefulness throughout the day. The best advantage of Modafinil is how long it lets you stay focused. It’s almost like boring and hard tasks become exciting and entertaining to do suddenly.
Research published in the National Library of Medicine found some interesting facts about the drug’s positive effects in unfocused younger people who do not have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The researchers stated that the participants found it easier to perform their daily tasks as modafinil promotes wakefulness and increased their energy levels.
Modafinil does not seem to make non-sleep-deprived people overconfident in their cognitive abilities and it improves their performance for logical reasoning by increasing their accuracy, vigilance, and response time. A research paper published in Scientific American found that some individuals convert to Modafinil completely since it improves alertness, a similar effect to coffee.
2. Reduced Withdrawal Symptoms (or anxiety)
Do other stimulants give you anxiety, leaving you feeling jitters and even overwhelmed? If that’s you, then taking modafinil might be just what you need. According to the National Library of Science, Modafinil is known to have only a few negative side effects when taken for therapeutic purposes compared to other similar effects offering medications like amphetamines. Moreover, modafinil overdose and tolerance are extremely rare. When using Modafinil as opposed to other stimulants, many users claim to feel far less agitated and aggressive, allowing for “smoother” and unbroken attention.
3. Energetic & Productive All-Nighters
Modafinil may be able to keep you awake and aware without the need to sleep for hours on end. The National Library of Science research found that modafinil can help keep or restore alertness and enhance cognitive performance in people who did not have enough sleep. There were only a few side effects observed during the study. At the right doses, around 200mg of modafinil dosage, it makes you feel productive and alert instead of sleep deprived.
What Are The Limitations of Modafinil Half-Life?
As you already know, no good thing is without its downside.If you are a first-time user of modafinil, you need to know some drawbacks of a long half-life of modafinil.
1. No sleep or disturbed sleep cycle
There is no doubt about it: Modafinil will likely disrupt the user’s usual sleep pattern as it cannot combat sleep deprivation.
You may suffer from sleep deprivation after using Modafinil as it shifts your sleep cycle. For instance, you may fall asleep after 2-3 hours of laying in the dark, if you’ve taken modafinil during the day.
As mentioned, Modafinil’s effects can last between 12-15 hours, which means that feeling alert and awake may continue longer than what you had planned. You should not use modafinil to stay awake for long periods of time. It is strongly recommended to get at least 7 hours of sleep every day.
According to research related to modafinil’s long-term side effects, modafinil can cause a type of sleep called slow-wave. This type of sleep is not enough for you to feel well-rested and is often found among cocaine users. What you need is a deep sleep to allow your body to rest and repair itself. If you keep taking modafinil excessively, your body will lose its ability to control the type of sleep it needs. Even one week of not getting enough sleep can have a big effect on your immune system and how well your brain works.
2. NEED to be productive
Before taking a dosage of Modafinil, make a list of the tasks you need to accomplish that day.
We recommend that you start working immediately after taking modafinil to keep your attention focused on your task. When modafinil works, users often describe feeling satisfied when they are productive. Therefore, if you want to relax after completing your task, you may still feel guilty for not working under the effects of modafinil.
What Is Modafinil Waking Drug?
According to The Korean Society of Environmental Health and Toxicology, Modafinil is a drug that promotes wakefulness and inhibits dopamine reuptake, meaning that it keeps you awake.
Patients with sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, usually take modafinil acid to reduce their excessive sleepiness and obstructive sleep apnea symptoms during the day. This improves patients’ ability to fulfill their responsibilities during working hours. FDA has approved modafinil treatment for a variety of medical disorders (narcolepsy, sleep work disorder, obstructive sleep apnea), and researchers are actively investigating it for any other potential uses.
Researchers at The Korean Society of Environmental Health and Toxicology have been testing it as a therapy for narcolepsy patients, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep disturbances, sleep disorders, obstructive sleep apnea, attention-deficit disorder, and patients suffering from schizophrenic cognitive impairment, such as hallucinations.
Because modafinil has been used to significantly improve alertness and reduce obstructive sleep apnea in military personnel, several people have started taking it as a lifestyle medication that is off-label, with many confirming that it benefits them in the following ways:
- Sharper concentration
- Prolonged alertness for 10 to 12 hours
- Improved memory
- Better mood
While it’s still not yet clear how the drug actually works, according to the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, the researchers have found aspects of modafinil that explains its mode of action.
Modafinil acid operates in the hypothalamus by activating the orexin-producing neurons. Modafinil interacts with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the cortex. These two reactions encourage the brain to be awake and inhibit brain activities that promote sleep.
We can understand why CEOs, business owners, surgeons, and students are using Modafinil to keep them awake to complete challenging tasks. Modafinil helps you stay focused for long periods of time, which might not be possible under normal circumstances.