Your Next Productivity Breakthrough Is One Supplement Away
All the productivity tips in the world couldn’t get me to focus after 1 pm. This supplement did.
Believe it or not, productivity isn’t always a time management issue. Several aspects of your life influence your focus and motivation, and not all of them can be fixed with distraction blocking and Pomodoro sprints.
For me, time management techniques only worked in those days when I felt fully awake, enthusiastic, and ready to GTD. But when my mood is low and my energy depleted, tasks take longer, and my carefully planned schedule goes off the rails.
It’s normal to have less-than-perfect days, to look back at your day in the evening and realize you didn’t get much done, and to take it easy once in a while. But personally, these fluctuations make it difficult for me to build habits and make consistent progress.
I was in that mental space when I learned about Brainzyme — a nutritional supplement that claims to improve your focus, mood, and energy to help you get more done. After trying it for a few days, it became another tool in my daily routine to help me focus and get more done in those days when fatigue and low mood threaten to derail my plans for the day.
In this article, I’ll explain how I assessed the risks and benefits from my personal experience, the positive impact it had in my daily life, and the supplement’s limitations.
Before we start — please check with your doctor before taking any supplements, including Brainzyme, if you’re already taking medication or other supplements, or suffer from a medical condition.
What’s Brainzyme?
Brainzyme is a line of nutritional supplements designed to improve your mood and brain function and boost your energy levels.
Unlike other so-called “smart drugs,” Brainzyme is not a prescription drug. Instead, the supplements contain ingredients like L-theanine — commonly found in green tea — , guarana seeds — which contain caffeine — Ginkgo Biloba, vitamins, and minerals.
The combination of L-theanine and caffeine causes green tea to give you that energy boost without negatively affecting your mood, unlike coffee.
The company offers a range of three supplements formulated to achieve different results.
According to their website:
Focus Elite provides a stress-free focus and energy boost with positive mood, memory, and brain health support. Focus Pro provides a strong focus and energy boost with motivation and memory support. Focus Original provides a calm focus and energy boost.
But before I tested these claims, I still had to assess the risks and benefits of the supplement in my health.
Risk assessment
Before you take any supplement, it’s crucial to consider any potential risks.
The only side effect reported on Brainzyme’s website is increased thirst, and a quick look at the Trustpilot reviews shows it is indeed a common occurrence. One reviewer reported experiencing worse moods than before, which the Brainzyme team attributed to dehydration and recommended drinking more water.
However, while the ingredients in Brainzyme are considered safe, it’s important to consider if any of the ingredients could have negative interactions with other medications or worsen any existing health conditions.
Let’s have a look at the principal ingredients in the Brainzyme supplements and some potential side effects:
Guarana seed
The caffeine in guarana seeds might worsen some health conditions such as anxiety, high blood pressure, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Also, pregnant women are advised to reduce their caffeine intake, as consuming over 300mg of caffeine (about 3 cups of regular coffee) may increase the risk of miscarriage. It can also have negative interactions with medications for seizures, asthma, and depression.
Ginkgo Biloba
Gingko is not recommended for people having epilepsy, as it may worsen seizures. It has negative interactions with medications for diabetes, anticonvulsants, anticoagulants, and antidepressants.
Bromelain
Bromelain is an enzyme extracted from pineapple. It may cause allergic reactions in people who are allergic to pineapples, and it may interact with some antibiotics.
Iron
While iron is an essential mineral, excessive amounts of iron in the body may cause serious health issues. If you’re already taking an iron supplement or have a condition that causes excessive absorption of iron from food, consult with your doctor before taking this or any other supplement containing iron.
In my case, I have no allergies nor any medical condition, so the risks seemed very low. My only concern was my decreased tolerance to caffeine. While I’m still able to tolerate green tea, coffee brings out the worst side effects of caffeine consumption — restlessness, jitters, irritability, and sleep disturbances. However, this didn’t seem like a serious enough or long-term risk in my particular case.
With this in mind, I placed my first order of a 1-month supply of Brainzyme Pro.
Taking the capsule: Positive effects on focus, energy, and mood
At 8:30 am on the day after I received my order, I took the first capsule, on an empty stomach and at least 30 minutes before a meal, as recommended. I did something different, though — the recommended dose is two capsules a day, but I started with one because of my high sensitivity to caffeine.
After about half an hour, around 9 am, I could feel my energy levels surging. It was like drinking a very strong cup of coffee, but without the unpleasant side effects many people experience — anxiety, shakiness, restlessness.
With the energy boost, something unexpected happened: all the negative inner talk I experienced while writing was gone. It was easier to stay focused on my writing instead of getting sidetracked by the self-doubt that comes from perfectionism. A couple of hours after taking the capsule, writing became effortless. Second-guessing yourself takes up a lot of mental space, it appears!
Did I get distracted now and then? Of course. In fact, the gains in focus and motivation were not as noticeable when I had to do more boring or repetitive tasks. I still reached for my phone, daydreaming, or looking up something unrelated online. But I found it easier to notice myself getting distracted and returning to the task at hand.
Because I only took one capsule, the effects wore off after midday, but I did feel an improvement in my mood throughout the day.
In the following days and weeks, I took two capsules early in the morning and reduced my caffeine intake by switching to decaf coffee and herbal tea.
Over time, I’ve stopped feeling the initial surge of energy shortly after taking the capsules, but the improvement in concentration and energy is still there.
Dehydration, motivation, and other considerations
After reading reviews pointing out feeling more thirsty than usual after taking the capsules, I fully expected to experience it myself. But I didn’t feel an increased thirst at all. And, in a way, I wish I did.
At times, I noticed some fatigue and a low mood in the afternoon and early evening. My productivity would drop after lunch — despite still feeling the effects of the capsules, my concentration lagged, and I wasn’t getting much done anymore.
It wasn’t until I did the research for this article that I realized I wasn’t drinking enough water, as recommended by Brainzyme.
It can be more difficult to remember to drink water if you’re never thirsty. Now, I’m using my Fitbit hourly step goal reminders as a cue to grab my water bottle and have a sip. In my experience, staying hydrated prevents those post-lunch crashes.
The headaches I sometimes get when I don’t take the capsules are a powerful indicator that, like any other caffeinated product, the body builds tolerance over time.
On its website, Brainzyme claims the supplements help increase motivation. But in my experience, this hasn’t always been the case.
An improvement in mood and energy levels can have a positive effect on motivation when it’s already there, but a supplement alone can’t create motivation where there isn’t any. I didn’t feel more motivated to do tasks I didn’t find rewarding — getting started was still a struggle, and I still got distracted often.
Takeaways
Brainzyme worked for me, and it has become part of my routine most days. The supplement does have a noticeable positive impact on my energy levels, making me more productive. I was in a slightly better mood, more aware of distractions, and better able to get back to work when I lost my focus. However, it didn’t increase my motivation to do those tasks I’d rather not do, and it didn’t keep me from checking my phone more often than I should while doing those tasks.
It’s important to remember that supplements are a quick solution. They can’t fix the underlying causes that make you feel fatigued, unfocused, or unmotivated. They can’t solve the negative impact that lack of sleep and exercise or poor nutrition have on your body. Nor can they make a boring job more fun. So, while brain supplements help, taking care of your physical and mental health should still be a priority.
Also, Brainzyme is not a magic pill. No supplement is going to make you love a job you hate. What it does is eliminate physical barriers to productivity like fatigue and mental fog. The rest is up to you.
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