Do any medications increase wakefulness while decreasing anxiety?

[Acidrefluxboy]

Usually stimulant medications have a side effect of increased anxiety, but are there any that actually decrease anxiety?

 

[《Plasticity》]

As far as your typical "heavy duty" stimulants like amphetamine and friends... I can't think of any that I would personally recommend for reduced anxiety. Those that have decreased my anxiety (4-fa) typically made things much worse on the comedown and will probably make things worse altogether for others. IME the drugs with the best ratio of anxiolysis to clean, mental stimulation come from the nootropics family... drugs that improve cognitive health. I've been dabbling with nootropics for the past few months and I find that noopept along with a low dose of alpha GPC and a cup of mildly caffeinated green tea w/ chamomile synergistically put some pep in my step and prepare me for the days challenges.

Best part is there's no crash as well as a strong decrease in both anxiety and mild depression spells I may fall in to every once in a while. Although I find some nootropics inherently stimulating (mildly) they provide more of a mental stimulation than physical, although that increase in mental focus bleeds into the physical without any of the side-effects. A happy, anxiety free person will ultimately be more productive than the opposite. Alpha GPC itself has been touted as being mildly stimulating with positive effects on mood. At worst you would be ingesting one of the best sources of choline, a nutrient vital for cognitive health that only ~10% of americans get from diet.

Something more akin to traditional stimulants would be Modafinil (Provigil). Modafinil is a fairly unusual, mild stimulant that has been prescribed off label of mood issues such as depression and certain types of anxiety... performance anxiety seems to benefit most from it. However with that said there are also reports of increased anxiety from this medication as well. It seems like the type of anxiety is the determining factor on whether or not a drug will cause or relieve anxiety. For example I've known people who find adderall great for depression related anxiety. I can't think of typical stimulants that are inherently anxiolytic.

 

[Mycophile]

Green Tea and tea in general is good for this because the caffeine of course is stimulating but unlike coffee it has L-Theanine which is calming.

I would also say that Kratom can sometimes be stimulating but also anxiety reducing but some strains or dosages that are too high can also be sedating.

Probably the best "drug" that increases wakefulness and also decreases anxiety however is exercise.

Seriously, I know it seems cliche but if you want to have energy and also lower anxiety exercising hard is the best thing you can do.

 

[Epiper888]

Gabapentin/Lyrica works wonders for MY anxiety. It doesn't speed you up like amps but it can make you speed a little. But this goes away pretty quickly. They are weird drugs. A downer feeling and a upper feeling at the same time.

 

[EphemeralOutlet141]

I can vouch for green tea 100%. Also, look into GABA supplements from a drug store. Both of these have helped my anxiety immensely and a few cups of green tea is (IME) enough to keep me at a reasonable level of wakefulness.

 

[SuperHans68]

I read in a scientifc paper that tobacco is the ONLY substance that does these two to a reasonable degree. It was studied for this purpose because its so unique.

 

[Boiling in Acid]

if you want to have energy and also lower anxiety exercising hard is the best thing you can do.

+10!!!!

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Tramadol did both of those things for me until I got an opiate tolerance. it's one of the less addictive opioids, still very addictive though.

 

[Sdkurt9]

Kind of depends on how you know drugs affect you. Some drugs are supposed to make me drowsy but don't and vice versa. Lyrica may be a good one for your purpose.

 

[Boiling in Acid]

russian designer benzo named gidazepam/ just small thread resurection