Why Outdoor Athletes Should Use Nootropics
The supplement industry is notorious for making up lots of crazy names for new ingredients and products, while not making it clear what they actually do. The exotic sounding "Nootropics", serves as an umbrella term for substances that enhance your mental cognition or mental clarity. The term Nootropics was first used by the psychologist and chemist Cornelius Giurgea in the early 70's, and has recently gained a lot of popularity with Ivy League students cramming for exams and Silicon Valley tech bros looking for a competitive advantage. But don't worry if you don't fall into one of these categories, adding nootropics into your nutrition plan could also be beneficial for you as an outdoor athlete.
While there's plenty of prescription "smart drugs" out on the market, we want to focus on more natural ingredients that provide benefits relevant to what you need during those long days outdoors. If you've spent time pursuing big physical goals, you've probably experienced the mental fog that settles in when your body and mind are nearing exhaustion. Dehydration, lack of fuel, and simple fatigue can all contribute to a loss in mental clarity, making it harder to focus and stay dialed in during those long objectives. But whether you're chasing a new race PR or are tackling challenging terrain in the mountains, keeping your mind sharp is a crucial part of your success.
At NOM Nutrition, our goal was to fuel both your body and your mind, which is why we turned to a range of nootropic ingredients when designing our formulas. We started with Ginkgo Biloba and Panax Ginseng, two naturally growing ingredients long famous for their benefits to your mental cognition and long term brain health. Working together, these two ingredients help to boost your memory, reaction times, and focus, all important pieces to your performance in the outdoors. Next we added in Alpha GPC, a chemical made in your body that sustains your memory and learning functions. Additionally, Alpha GPC has been shown to increase the power output of endurance athletes. In our DURING formula, we included N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine, an ingredient the works to increase the neurotransmitters of dopamine. This means that not only do you get a boost in motivation and memory, it also works to improve your motor control and stress response.
To truly nourish the moments that matter and to feel your best during your time outdoors, it's important to focus on both your mental and physical states. As an outdoor athlete, Nootropics are a category of substances well worth your time and research, and offer a range of potential benefits to improve your performance across a range of activities.
For more info on all of our ingredients, head here.
So fuel up and get out there!