Let’s get right to it: how many of us have secretly hoped for a pill to clear our minds from cloudy to brilliant? Huge promises abound from every supplement store, all fighting for a place in your medical cabinet. Claims fly right at you, boost memory! Outsmart your friends at trivia night. Sleep through unlocking Einstein’s secrets! People become tempted by WholisticResearch, which makes sense.

Turn those bottles over, though, and the ingredient list can get a bit weird. At Scrabble, the names Bacopa, Ginkgo, lion’s mane, phosphatidylserine, L-theanine would all be winning. Someone swearing by a concoction of powders and softgels is constantly around. Perhaps your chatty relative believes omega-3s made him wiser, while a friend reports Ginseng changed her from scatterbrained to sage. Ask a scientist, though, and you could simply get a courteous “maybe,” combined with a glance indicating, “more studies needed.”

Let’s discuss the components with some real data bitwise. Caffeine? Absolutely. The preferred choice for lazy brains all around. It helps you plow through sleep deprivation—at least momentarily, and sharpens your reaction times. Combined with L-theanine from tea, it tends to clear your head without causing jitters. Not precisely a formula for genius, but occasionally more sharp than a tack is sufficient.

Other supplements most often show a spotty image. While many of these treatments function about as well as a sugar cube, some studies suggest that others like Bacopa or some B vitamins might bump memory up a level for elderly people. There is a definite placebo effect; if you think you are onto a winner, your mind occasionally tags along for the ride.

Let not dazzling labels divert your attention from fundamentals. If you’re underslept, eat drive-through dinners every night, and believe “hydration” refers to coffee refills, miracles won’t happen. Your mind will function better if you have a regular sleeping routine, lots of leafy greens, avoid doomscrolling, and go for a walk in the park. Though occasionally the picturesque path pays off, people love short cuts.

One crucial heads-up: simply because they arrive in a pill bottle does not make vitamins benign. Some can create unpleasant side effects in excessive dosages or combine poorly with drugs you now use. Better still, talk to someone whose job it is to assess those hazards.

Are brain pills then the solution? Most of them could simply be a glittering diversion from what actually works. If only one could pop from a capsule based on everyone’s birthday! Stay with excellent habits and the proper quantity of coffee until then. Your brain will thank you by not, at least not as frequently, revisiting that embarrassing seventh grade memory.