Coffee is great, but caffeine on its is only so effective. Plus, it’s important to remember that caffeine is a stimulant, which can result in a serious energy crash for some people, not good when aiming to hit an important deadline or wrap up that make-or-break product launch. That’s why the BrainWiz team has been testing out a scientifically-supported, fatigue-fighting nootropic stack that’s perfect for last-minute pushes and daunting deadlines.
The result? By stacking Rhodiola Rosea and Smart Caffeine, we’ve been able to power through heftier workloads and stress while mitigating the crash and fatigue that often comes as caffeine wears off.
The first part of the stack is actually two ingredients: the body hacker’s favorite combo of caffeine (stimulant) and L-theanine (calming amino acid). It’s a common combo, and Natural Stacks’ Smart Caffeine blends both for a straightforward ingredient list and 2-to-1 proportion of theanine to caffeine. L-theanine has a calming effect without feeling like a sedative, and when taken with caffeine, it tends to increase perceptions of alertness while reducing the chances of jitters. For us, it’s a “smoother” feeling of energy.
The second second half of this potent stack is Rhodiola Rosea, an “adaptogen” famed for its ability to fight mental tiredness, the symptoms of stress, and even physical fatigue. Derived from an herb used in several traditional medicine practices, Rhodiola is often paired with caffeine in some high-profile nootropic supplements, and we often take it with our morning coffee. (In fact, a few supplements like Neurofuse combine rhodiola with caffeine and l-theanine.) It can be powerful on its own, and in this stack, it’s a tool we’ve used to combat the stress of deadline situations. It also doesn’t take much, and most effective doses are between 100 and 600 mg of the extract (which normally has between 1 and 3% rosavins and 1 and 2% salidrosides). More then 600 mg might actually be less effective for some users.
So there you have it: Smart Caffeine and Rhodiola Rosea are one of our favorite combos for working under a deadline. It doesn’t take much, and we recommend staying within the manufacturer’s recommended dosages, or even on the lower end when stacking (just one pill each of Smart Caffeine and Solaray’s Rhodiola was plenty for our testers; we don’t like overdoing it on caffeine in any stack!).