What is Modafinil?

Modafinil 200 Australia is a stimulant used to treat certain sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea. It is sometimes taken by people without a sleep disorder to improve alertness and concentration. It is not supposed to be taken to replace getting enough sleep, and it can be dangerous to do so.

Talk with your doctor before taking modafinil to see if it is right for you. Avoid taking this medicine with alcoholic beverages or other stimulants, especially if you have had a history of alcoholism or drug addiction. This medicine can also cause other side effects, some of which are serious.

The wake-promoting drug modafinil effectively counteracts the effects of overnight sleep deprivation on working memory, a new study suggests. The research, published in the November 1 issue of SLEEP, also found that modafinil enhances performance on some, but not all, types of cognitive tasks.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London administered either a single 200-mg dose of modafinil or placebo to eight medication-free men between the ages of 21 and 35. The participants completed a series of mental tasks while their brain activity was measured with fMRI. Those who received the modafinil performed better on the tasks than those who did not, but the benefits were only significant at a moderate level of task difficulty.

Previous studies have reported similar results. In one, a single dose of 400 mg of modafinil significantly reduced errors on the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST) and Stroop interference in healthy adults who were subjected to 85 hours of sleep deprivation (Wesensten et al, 2005).

In another, patients with major depression undergoing flexible open-label treatment ranging from 100 to 400 mg/day of modafinil added to their antidepressant regimen showed improved prefrontal cortex function as assessed by a number of measures including WCST error rate and the Stroop interference task (DeBattista et al, 2004).

These results are consistent with fMRI data showing that modulation of the dopamine D1 receptor increases working memory capacity in humans. However, not all studies have shown this effect, and there is some evidence that the improvement may not be solely related to increased activation of the dopamine system in the frontal cortex. For example, a pharmacological reduction of D1 receptors in the prefrontal cortex of rhesus monkeys impaired working memory and the ability to perform a delayed-response memory task.

In the study of narcolepsy patients, the cognitive improving effects of modafinil have been tied to a decrease in their P300 latency in the prefrontal cortex during the performance of an auditory T-maze task. This decrease is associated with an increase in cortical activation and a reduction in symptoms of fatigue in these patients (Sangal et al, 1999b).

While the findings of this latest study are promising, it was not designed to investigate how long-term use of modafinil affects the health and functioning of doctors. Larger studies examining the safety and efficacy of longer-term modafinil use should be carried out in order to better understand this important question.