Modafinil

Modafinil is the most popular smart drag among students and scientists, it is used for military and medical purposes, for its intended purpose (the fight against drowsiness). Sold as tablets, the action lasts about 12 hours.
You can buy modafinil with discrete packaging:

Modafinil Effect

Partially blocked reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine and glutamate, increases their production.
Action in the style of drugs such as cocaine / amphetamine. In the short term, the combination of generating and blocking the reuptake of these catecholamines suggests a frenzied drive, stimulation, tunnel vision, when it’s easy to focus on any thing, even when everything is moving/jumping/flashing around. In simple terms, such a person is difficult to distract, he is collected and focused.

Increases the level of histamine. No sleep.
Probably few people know that most medications for allergies and rashes are antihistamines. Histamine develops and strengthens the body’s response to a stimulus. Antihistamines, as the name suggests, suppress it. Modafinil on the contrary increases its production making the body more sensitive and irritable. A high level of histamine completely destroys all sleepiness. Therefore, it is believed that modafinil is primarily for narcoleptics who constantly want to sleep.

Increase your IQ. And here is the link.
This is one of the effects that is under-studied. IQ is related to Acetylcholine, but modafinil has little or no effect on acetylcholine. Perhaps there is a substance that changes under today’s drug, causing an indirect improvement in the functioning of the brain, its cognitive functions. And it is difficult to say how this may turn out in 30-40 years. IQ increases especially strongly in people with a low coefficient of brain development.

Improving short-term memory. On this point, most likely, the truth lies in the influence of the dopaminergic system. After all, it is dopamine and its receptors that are responsible for concentration, and mindfulness.

Modafinil side effects

In modafinil, side effects show themselves relatively more often than in most other nootropics, however, it is also stronger, in effect, most. The most common side effect is headache, approximately 34% of all modafinil side effects.
Exhaustion of the body. Regular lack of sleep and relief with modafinil can lead not only to an imbalance of the body, but also to various depressions and psychoses.

Modafinil IQ study: http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Cognitive-effects-of-modafinil-in-student-volunteers-may-depend-on-IQ.pdf

Research of effects on mood, fatigue, cognitive performance and body temperature.
The essence: 3 groups of people, 1-I received a placebo, 2-I-modafinil in a dosage of 300 mg, 3-I-amphetamine (d-isomer) in a dosage of 20 mg.

In the group with modafinil and with amphetamine, short-term memory, logical thinking and reaction significantly improved compared to placebo. The frequency of side effects was the highest in amphetamine, much more often than in modafinil. But modafinil was also more painfully tolerated than placebo. And an important note! All the components for this study were created in normal laboratories, by normal pharmacologists.

Summary

• Modafinil is a controversial substance. A strong nootropic with frequent side effects.
• The basis of its action, its effects-an increase in dopamine, norepinephrine, histamine + incomprehensible under-studied effects.
• The most frequent side effects: headache and reduced resistance to allergies. It is much safer than narcotic psychostimulants, but it is also far from “glycine”.
• In some countries, it is sold without problems.