Qualia

Click Here For Our Review of Qualia

Our review was written after a few months of use of Qualia to determine how it worked for us and whether we recommend it.

Are Nootropics Legal?

Lots of people think nootropics are illegal because they equate them with smart drugs. Smart drugs are usually prescription drugs and are only illegal if you use them without a doctors prescription. Meaning, you buy them off the internet from somewhere in India. Usually that’s reserved for these guys who need a focused edge all the time.

“I can’t believe I left my Modafinil at home!!”

Nootropics are over the counter supplements that are totally legal. Never fear, you don’t have to buy a bunch of bitcoin and surf the darkweb using your roommate’s laptop to buy your nootropics.

Should You Be Careful With Nootropics?

Are you scared of trying nootropics? I know I was. Before 2015, the craziest substance I had tried was high doses of vitamin C when I was sick. Ok, maybe I smoked some pot a long time ago, but the statute of limitations is over on that one.

I’m very careful with what I put into my body and I work very hard to only eat and supplement things that improve me and make me feel good and perform well.

Would nootropics change my brain? Would something bad happen and make me stupid, or anxious or, gasp, different?

Nootropic sounds like a long scary word that’s better left to scientists and “people who decide to spend their lives living at college”, I mean academics (ahem).

But really, a nootropic is just a substance that can help us think and perform better. It can help us feel more like us. Just the smarter, happier version of us. Kind of like if you went on vacation and it was just perfect and the hotel comps you a bottle of expensive champagne and chocolate and leaves it in your room, with a masseuse as you lay down on the massage table facing the ocean, the breeze lulling you to sleep….. I digress. But you get the picture.

When you want to perform well and improve your mood, nootropics are said to do that.

However, if you’re under 25 years old, you brain is not fully developed. In this case, I would say lay off the nootropics in college and before. If you want to be smarter and do better on tests, get more sleep and try to stop thinking about hooking up with a hottie for a few minutes and just focus. You have all the hormones and neurotransmitters you need at this time. Enjoy.

For those of us older than 25, with our fully formed brains, we can experiment with nootropics.

Yes, I was scared to try nootropics and it took me a few months to warm up to the idea.

Should You Try Nootropics

Many people either think they don’t need nootropics, which nobody really needs them per se, but they can still be really helpful, or they think nootropics don’t really work. “If these things actually work, how come I’ve never heard of it?” Well, you’re hearing about it now!

I don’t know if you should try nootropics. I never heard of them till I turned 38. I didn’t try them till I was 39. Are you an experimenter like I am? Then you might want to try them out

Are you

adventurous
anxious
stressed
overwhelmed
groggy in the morning
scared you can’t learn what you need to in short time
interested in being more creative, athletic, empathic?

Then maybe it’s time for you to try something that’s said to improve all those conditions.

I’m glad I tried them and I’ll use nootropics throughout my life, and especially when it really counts, like my TEDx speech.

Do Nootropics Work

Nootropics work.

Not all nootropics work the same for every person. This is just like medications you get from a doctor. You know those really long warning statements and side-effects you can get? Well, that means the pharmaceutical doesn’t work the same for everyone. Some people get the side effects, some don’t. Some pharmaceuticals work for some people, and some people have to work with their doctor to find one that works for them.

Same thing is true with nootropics. Some work better for certain people, some don’t seem to work at all, and some people find they work so well they can’t imagine life without them.

A Qualia Nootropic Story

While I was at Paleo f(x), one of my good friends TJ mentioned a new brain supplement that had just come to market. Knowing that I love nootropics and all things cognitive enhancing, he offered me some. Thaddeus also received a stack of pills to pop the next day and try out. This isn’t just one little pill trying to do all things and failing because you just can’t stick enough nutrients into one little pill. No. This is a stack of capsules and tablets, 8 in all, to be taken at two different times. Part A and Part B.

After taking Qualia one time, Thaddeus and I were both thoroughly impressed and excited to try it on a more long term basis because of its reported ability to detoxify and positively influence more brain functions with longer use.

This article will look at why Neurohacker Collective created Qualia, the reported benefits and science behind it, and also what Thaddeus and I experienced from the one time we supplemented with it.

First off – The three biggest issues that I have with nootropics are:

They may work great while you are taking them, but once you stop, you lose most of the benefits, and so they become just a temporary solution to whatever aspect you are using them for.
Most nootropics or “smart drugs” work by increasing one thing in the brain but then depleting or neglecting another causing imbalances and even negative consequences.
Hyped up marketing like “the secret limitless pill” are marketed to us while containing mostly fillers and low quality ingredients.

Neurohacker Collective seems to address all three of these issues and much more with “The most advanced nootropics stack in the world.” They do make some bold claims, but they seem to be able to back them up with TONS of research and are very open about all of their ingredients and the science behind them.

Why Qualia Was Created

To understand the why, we first have to look at the who:

We are Neurohackers. We come from a variety of backgrounds – some scientific, some entrepreneurial, some formal, a lot learned through direct experience and trial and error. What we have in common is a shared understanding of the potential of Neurohacking and a shared commitment to the principle of Empowered Responsibility.

No, Neurohacker Collective isn’t some offshoot of the hacker group Anonymous, even though I’m sure many of them would love this product.

They are essentially a group of people that are passionate about understanding and upgrading the mind and body to a point where we can truly experience optimal performance at the highest levels.

Neurohacking is described as the

intentional use of technical means (including practices like meditation) to change the physical layer of subjective experience (e.g. our brains, our neurology, our bodies) in desired directions.

We have all heard that we only use a small portion of our brains, but there is quite a bit of variation of views on this. What I believe is that we have only learned to harness a small part of our brain’s potential and capacity. If we could unlock even a little bit more, there is no telling what could be accomplished. That is the goal of neurohacking and why Qualia was created. To begin taking our consciousness to the next level!

The era we live in has so much potential and at the same time, so much danger. We have access to unlimited amounts of information and the ability to instantly learn about anything we can imagine. The bad side of this is that we have so much going on inside of our brains and throughout our daily activities that we become overloaded, subject to chronic stress and ultimately disconnected from reality. With all of the wonderful things technology has given us, the side effects are increasing amounts of oxidative damage, negative chemicals, pollution, stress and exposure to things that can cause major damage to the brain and body.

Mass marketed products promise this or that, but its very hard to distinguish the good from the bullshit. Qualia seems to approach this issue full steam ahead with their transparency and attention to detail on every one of their claims and ingredients.

Here are the promises that they make.

We strive to provide the most accurate information in an open and honest fashion for the purpose of empowering our community.

We bias only towards truthfulness and clarity. If someone does a better job than we do at anything, we will not only defer to them, we will actively help them achieve success.

We only provide products where we can deliver a categorically superior solution to anything currently in the market.

We strive to provide the highest quality possible in every aspect of our products: the best science, the highest quality ingredient sourcing, the best delivery mechanisms, the highest quality information and customer service, etc.

We strive to create a healthy, mutualistic, long-term relationship with our community, based on real value, care, honesty, respect and an enduring commitment to our promises.

Benefits

With over 40 different ingredients there are way too many benefits to talk about in this article but we will touch on a few of the ones I feel separate this supplement from the rest.

Long Term Benefits

The first issue with nootropics that I mentioned earlier was that they can be great when you need them, but once you stop taking them, you lose the effects. They don’t affect your cognitive function long term. Qualia attempts to address this issue in three different ways.

By regulating your existing brain chemistry and existing processes and structure.
By ridding the brain of harmful toxins, chemicals and inflammation. At the same time it repairs previous damage caused by exposure to these things and possibly from physical trauma with strengthening you brain protecting it from future damage.
By encouraging your brain to upgrade itself by increasing neurotransmitters, building new brain structure and also improving the blood and oxygen flow within the brain.

It is through this process that we are able to permanently improve and repair our brain. This not only helps us during day to day life, but could have wonderful effects on cognitive decline related conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia.

Balance

The second issue I mentioned was that with most nootropics, you are essentially “robbing Peter to pay Paul” when it comes to the functions and nutrients in the brain. You take something that creates a spike in a certain type of neurotransmitter or function, which in turn can create a potentially harmful imbalance or reduction in other necessary aspects.

Qualia addresses this by including multiple different compounds that together work synergistically to improve your cognitive function as a whole. This increases the neural processes across the board so you gain the maximum benefit without neglecting any other aspects.

As much as I hate to use the term multi-vitamin, this is essentially a multi-vitamin for your brain. It provides almost all of the nutrients your brain needs to operate at more than optimal levels.

Great Ingredients

Many of the ingredients are things that I take in single supplements, so that cuts down on how many separate things I have to buy.

Most supplement companies use less effective forms of certain nutrients because they are so much cheaper. This is not the case with Qualia.

Magnesium Threonate

Take for example magnesium. Magnesium must be bound to something else before it can be adequately absorbed. One of these binders is oxygen, which produces magnesium oxide, which is the most common for of magnesium sold, but has been shown to have one of the lowest amount of bioavailability.

The form of magnesium used in Qualia is one of my favorite. It is also the most expensive. Magnesium threonate effectively crosses the blood brain barrier and has been shown to improve learning abilities, working memory and both short and long term memory.

B12 – Methylcobalamin

The most common type of B12 in supplements is cyanocobalamin. There are a few problems with this form though. Besides not being as easily absorbed, it also contains the cyanide molecule. While from a toxicity standpoint, the amount is small and from a toxicology point, viewed as insignificant, your body will still need to remove and eliminate this compound.

I’d rather not put something toxic in my body, even if I know it will be able to eliminate it easily. I’d rather save my liver and detox systems for things that I can’t avoid.

Methylcobalamin is absorbed better and stored in higher amounts in your tissues than cyanocobalamin. It is also the form of B12 that you find in nature and is not bound to a known toxic substance like cyanide.

These are just a couple of the high quality ingredients in Qualia. If you want to take a look at the rest of the ingredients and the reasons why those ingredients are included, check out their formula page.

One Day Review

This is only a review of taking it for one day. We will be writing a larger review once we both take it for a complete month so stay tuned for that.

Thaddeus and I both tried it when we were at Paleo f(x) and definitely felt the effects.

For reference, this supplement is taken in two parts. For a maximum dose, you take 3 capsules on an empty stomach, and then 5 tablets with food afterwards. If you are new to some of these ingredients or nootropics in general, we recommend taking a smaller dose and seeing how you feel from that.

Chris

I took the first step right before we left our AirBnb to head to the conference. Once at the conference, I grabbed some free Bulletproof coffee and a few snacks from the vendors so that I could take step two.

I started to feel the effects about 30 minutes after taking step two. I don’t know if this was when step one was kicking in or if they both started kicking in at the same time.

Improved Social Anxiety & Interactions

The immediate thing that was noticed was a lessening of anxiety related to social interactions. I started to talk to complete strangers and felt I was much more present and aware while having conversations with people. I ended up having a really deep conversation with two of the vendors there and sharing our own personal journeys to where we are today.

This was a constant thing I felt all throughout the day. Many people even mentioned how much they enjoyed our conversation and that they looked forward to staying in touch in the future.

Unparalleled Focus

Another big thing that I noticed was how easily I was able to focus on things. Whether I was talking to someone, watching a speaker, or when I just picked up a book to scan a few pages, I felt and almost tunnel vision like focus that nothing could distract me from. At the same time, I also seemed to have a much larger area of awareness. It was almost as if my senses had been slightly increased so that I was aware of things much quicker than usual and my peripheral vision even seemed to increase a little bit.

Improved Memory & Verbal Recall

I’m quite used to nootropics having a positive effect on these things, but not to this level. I found it much easier to remember the names of people that I met briefly in passing and also quite vividly remember their faces and the content of the conversations I had with them.

I also had much easier time speaking about complicated topics and was able to better articulate what I was trying to say. While engaged in a discussion with a few different people about the function of our three “brains” one woman asked if I ever did any public speaking because I was doing a great job of explaining it. This has never happened to me before. In the past, when talking about something fairly complicated, I have struggled to be able to describe or explain the concept. I usually have a lot of those instances where I know what I was to say, but have a hard time putting it in to words.

There are many other things that seemed enhanced throughout the day, but I will wait to mention them until I can be sure that they were in fact a result of Qualia and not from some of the other great foods and supplements that I tried later that day.

Thaddeus

Mind Explosion

Part 1 – I downed the supplements with some water at the Air BnB. We headed out the door to the conference. Rolling up to the Bulletproof booth, I pulled out Part 2, filled up my large travel mug with Bulletproof coffee and downed part 2. Bam. A half hour later my mind exploded.

Actually, it felt like I had downed 5 strong cups of coffee and I was a but jittery. I don’t take a lot of nootropics and have only recently started experimenting with them. This stack seemed almost too much for me. I decided to take part in the fitness competition and banged off some medicine ball throws and jumps. After the exercise I felt amazing. Jitteryness gone I moved on to the biofeedback session I had signed up for. During the training session in the classroom and in the hands on session afterward I felt amazing. My mind was firing on all cylinders. I was calm and felt comfortable and outgoing.

Setting a New Athletic Record

After the biofeedback session I headed over to the fitSCORE area to do some deadlifts. The record was 71 deadlifts in 2 minutes lifting your own body weight. I had tried this the day before and made 49 in the time allowed. I was determined to hit 71 today. Qualia flowing though my mind and body, I set up and went for it. 72 deadlifts later I had set the new Paleo f(x) record!!! I don’t know if that was due to the supplements or all my training or both. But I can say that I felt amazing the whole day and can’t wait to use this supplement on a more long term basis.

Conclusion

As I mentioned before, after trying Qualia for a month, Thaddeus and I will do a complete review of our experience. If you want to dig deeper in to the science behind this product and it’s ingredients, check out their formulation and science page.

I am looking forward to experimenting with this supplement and the possibility of, as the creators put it

Upgrading the Hardware Consciousness Runs On

The concepts of neurogenesis (the ability the brain has to grow new cells) and neuroplasticity (the ability the brain has to rewire itself to adapt and overcome problems) are still in their infancy stages, and I think products like these, combined with a large amount of citizen scientists like Neurohacker Collective and you and I will be fundamental in increasing our understanding of consciousness and the brain.