Modafinil Dosing Guide | Uses, indications and microdosing

Are you curious to know what the perfect Modafinil dosage is?

One that provides all the benefits of cognitive enhancement...without the unwanted side effects?

You're not alone. Many smart drug users have been asking us what the optimal modafinil dosage is, ideally one they can use for long periods of time.

Which leaves several questions answered...

• Is it beneficial to start with the highest possible dose of modafinil and taper as needed if you experience side effects?
• Is there any merit to microdosing modafinil and gradually increasing the dose depending on your initial response?
• Or is there a “sweet spot” for Modafinil dosing that gives you all the benefits of this smart drug, without any of the side effects?

Here at Modafinil.space, our team has done extensive research on the latest Modafinil dosing protocols.

We've also personally tested all of these protocols, so we know which Modafinil doses really get results where it matters most: in the real world.

This article will set the record straight on how to start thinking about the right Modafinil dosage for your productivity needs.

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What is modafinil?

Before we discuss the ideal Modafinil dosage, let's briefly cover what Modafinil is and why so many people apparently swear by this smart drug.

Modafinil (trade name: Provigil) is a FDA-approved wakefulness drug which is used to treat narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea. It does not directly treat the conditions themselves, but rather the excessive daytime sleepiness commonly associated with these conditions.

The precise mechanism of action of modafinil is not fully understood.

However, this smart drug is believed to increase the production of several neurotransmitters in the brain, including [1]:

• serotonin
• histamine
• norepinephrine
• Glutamate
• dopamine

In the early 2000s, high achievers such as entrepreneurs, doctors, and CEOs began experimenting with Modafinil as a cognitive enhancer.

Healthy people who did not suffer from sleep deprivation found that Modafinil gave them a significant boost in mental performance [2]:

“Pharmaceutical intervention in the sleep-wake cycle was presented as a way to reduce time spent sleeping, a method to potentially 'eliminate sleep' entirely, and a tool to improve cognitive abilities.

Modafinil was hailed as the next “wonder drug” to hit the UK, with claims it could become the “pharmaceutical equivalent of the light bulb” by “extending the waking day”.

Commonly, modafinil is used by people in brutally competitive industries as a potential means to get ahead of the competition.2].

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Modafinil Side Effects and Safety Concerns

Modafinil shows great promise as a smart drug to improve mental performance. But are there any side effects associated with using “off-label” modafinil?

For a smart drug (or any drug) to be worth it, the benefits must significantly outweigh any potential risks.

Fortunately, modafinil appears to have one of the best security profiles of any drug in its class. The most common side effects of modafinil include [3]:

• Headache
• Nausea
• Anxiety
• Difficulty to sleep
• Dizziness
• Dry mouth/eyes

The good news is that these side effects rarely occur with the proper dosage, and when they do occur, they are mild in nature. Furthermore, intervention for these side effects is usually simple and tends to work immediately (for example, in case of dehydration, simply drink more water than usual).

In a variety of settings, modafinil is the preferred “drug of choice” over traditional stimulants because it has fewer side effects [4]:

"Modafinil is less associated with side effects such as excess locomotor activity, anxiety, nervousness or rebound effects than traditional stimulants... [Modafinil] is also more effective than amphetamine"

Of course, this all assumes that you are dosing Modafinil correctly and not intentionally abusing the medication by using it too much (and too often).

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Modafinil Dosing Guide | The basics

Ultimately, everyone will go through their own individual “Modafinil dosing” journey, but the end goal remains the same:

Find the perfect Modafinil dosage that allows you to achieve the highest level of cognitive improvement over the desired period of time, while minimizing the chance of experiencing unwanted side effects.

But this raises two main questions:

1. What dose of modafinil should I start with?
2. What criteria should I use to determine whether to increase or decrease my Modafinil dose?

Of course, we are not authorized to give medical advice, but we can speak from personal experience, so take this with a grain of salt.

For the first question, good results have been reported from 100 mg of Modafinil. We take it early in the morning, no later than 9 a.m. m., to prevent Modafinil from interfering with our normal sleep schedules.

(NOTE: It is important to avoid taking medications other than Modafinil or make significant changes to your usual routine. Otherwise, this could compromise the results [5]).

We will usually do this 2 or 3 times throughout the week, with each dose at least 48 hours apart. We find it important to evaluate how you feel while taking Modafinil and whether you are experiencing any side effects.

If we tolerate the initial 100 mg dose well (we don't get overstimulated and don't experience any side effects), we would increase the dose up to 125 mg first thing in the morning of the following week. Each week we would continue increasing our dose by 25 mg, depending on Our answer.

However, when we started to experience side effects and/or feel overstimulated, we reduced the dose by 25 mg over the next week.

Again, we would take stock of how the reduced dose of Modafinil affected our well-being and cognition.

He Neuroscience Education Institute provides dosing advice for people suffering from excessive sleepiness and fatigue [6]:

For drowsiness, more may be more: higher doses (200 to 800 mg/day) may be better than lower doses (50 to 200 mg/day) in patients with daytime sleepiness in sleep disorders.

For concentration problems and fatigue, less may be more: lower doses (50 to 200 mg/day) may be paradoxically better than higher doses (200 to 800 mg/day) in some patients.

As you can see, different users may need higher or lower doses of Modafinil to find the right balance between maximizing its cognitive benefits and minimizing potential side effects.

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Standard dose of modafinil with prescription?

Your perfect Modafinil dose may not be the same as the standard prescribed dose of the medication.

According to the FDA's official product monograph, Modafinil is prescribed at doses of 200 mg per day for all its approved indications, either in the morning or one hour before starting a work shift.7]. This is why:

"Doses up to 400 mg/day, given as a single dose, have been well tolerated, but there is no consistent evidence that this dose confers additional benefit beyond the 200 mg dose."

Modafinil comes in 100 mg or 200 mg tablets, as some patients find that a lower dose of Modafinil is all they can handle without feeling overwhelmed.

In general, most of the scientific literature has shown 200 mg is the ideal modafinil dosage for most users — especially people who use the drug as a nootropic.

Although 200 mg is considered the optimal dose of modafinil for most people, 400 mg of modafinil is considered the maximum dose for doctors.

For some people, taking such large amounts of modafinil may increase the risk of serious side effects, such as nervousness and nausea.8]

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Develop Your Personal Dosing Guidelines | 50-400 mg

If you're curious about Modafinil or interested in adjusting your dosage, here are some things we've noticed when trying different dosing protocols:

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Modafinil 50 mg dosage

For us, a Modafinil dose of 50 mg in the morning produced a mild increase in cognitive performance which lasted 2-3 hours maximum.

We found that it is feasible to take 50 mg of Modafinil for 4 to 6 days a week. On the contrary, when we take 100-200 mg of Modafinil per day, we limit ourselves to 2-3 days per week maximum.

It is notable that we did not experience any side effects with this 50 mg dose of Modafinil.

That being said, we would think that most users would not benefit from starting at such a low dose, unless they have a history of being overly sensitive to stimulants.

A Reddit user's testimonial best describes people who do very well on a smaller dose of Modafinil [9]:

“50 mg also works best for me by far. At 100-200 mg, I would feel overstimulated for a couple of hours, get a headache, then collapse and feel horrible for the rest of the day.

50 mg followed by one or two coffees and then lots of water is absolutely perfect for keeping me active during the day and then getting a good night's sleep at my usual time.”

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Modafinil 100 mg dosage

When we need a higher concentration during a typical “9 to 5” work day, then a 100 mg dose of Modafinil is probably appropriate. our ideal starting point.

This appears to be in line with previously published studies, where 100 mg of Modafinil was sufficient for most patients to notice significant improvements in their cognitive performance.10].

Due to modafinil's half-life of 12 to 15 hours, we noticed that the boost in cognitive improvement starts to wear off around 7 to 8 hours after taking 100 mg [11].

Some members of our team prefer to split their daily modafinil dose of 100 mg into two separate doses: 50 mg every 7 to 8 a.m. m. and the remaining 50 mg from 12 to 1 p. m.

If you take this dose of Modafinil and don't notice better concentration, keep reading.

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Modafinil 200 mg dosage

This is the standard dosage taken by most smart drug users who are serious about using Modafinil to become more energetic and focused for more than 10 to 12 hours.

As mentioned above, it is also the best "researched" Modafinil dosage and is officially recommended in the Modafinil product monograph for patients who are prescribed the drug.12]:

“The recommended initial daily dose is 200 mg. The total daily dose may be taken as a single dose in the morning or in two doses, one in the morning and one at noon, depending on the patient's physician's assessment and the patient's response.”

With 200 mg of Modafinil, we find that most users feel all of the desired cognitive benefits with little to no side effects.

We find that most Modafinil users do well with 200 mg Modafinil 1-3 days per week.

There doesn't seem to be much clinical evidence to suggest that taking more than 200 mg of Modafinil at a time produces additional benefits, or that splitting the Modafinil dose into two separate 100 mg doses makes a real difference.

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Modafinil 300 mg dosage

Unless we absolutely need an extra 1-2 hours of concentration, or plan to stay awake for more than 24 hours, we would not take a 300 mg dose of Modafinil.

Even when we took this dose early in the morning, we found extreme difficulty falling asleep before 3 or 4 a.m., and woke up feeling "a little hungover" the next morning.

This dose of modafinil has not been widely studied in the literature, but some of the studies make several suggestions that are in line with the observations.

In a study comparing different dose levels of modafinil with 100 mg of caffeine, using 300 mg of modafinil to overcome sleep deprivation reduced next-day cognitive performance [13]:

“Performance improvement with modafinil during night work varied by dose (200 mg > 100 mg; 300, 400 mg > 200, 100 mg, caffeine).

However, in the next-day performance study, the improvement was attenuated at the highest dose (300 mg) by greater disruption to previous sleep.”

However, in another study that administered modafinil to sleep-deprived French military soldiers for 64 hours, 300 mg of modafinil was the only dose that allowed them to maintain the same level of cognitive performance relative to baseline levels.14].

If you decide to use this dose of Modafinil, consider dividing the daily dose into two smaller doses: 150 mg early in the morning and 150 mg immediately after lunch.

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Modafinil 400 mg dosage

In order to improve cognition, we have found that using this dose has not resulted in any improvement in performance over our 300 mg protocol, even with a single 200 mg dose.

Doctors are advised not to exceed 400 mg of modafinil per day in patients suffering from shift work sleep disorders, narcolepsy, or sleep apnea.15].

We assume that there may be only a few cases where 400 mg of modafinil is required to improve cognition:

• An unusual metabolism whereby Modafinil is eliminated at a faster rate
• People who have developed a high tolerance to Modafinil (for whom we would prefer to recommend an extended break from Modafinil)
• Smart drug users who are extremely large

We experienced a greater severity and frequency of side effects with this dose: brain fog, chronic fatigue, difficulty concentrating, lower energy levels, etc.

Furthermore, the positive aspects of modafinil tend to wear off quickly, possibly leading to overconfidence in one's mental abilities [16]:

“A single dose of modafinil appears to have a cognitive-enhancing effect in cases of moderate sleep deprivation. "In repeated doses it does not appear to improve cognitive performance during a longer period of sleep deprivation, but only maintains wakefulness."

In summary, experience tells us that 400 mg of modafinil should be avoided unless there is a clinical need.

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Modafinil microdosing

“Modafinil microdose” can be defined as taking between 1/5 and 1/10 of the standard modafinil dose. In practice, 50 mg of Modafinil or less would be considered a microdose of Modafinil.

Many people who consider a 100 mg Modafinil dose to be “too much” may find much smaller doses more tolerable. They can still experience the positive aspects of Modafinil without experiencing any side effects.

On a Reddit forum discussing the benefits of microdosing Modafinil, one user chimed in with his success taking 12.5 mg of Modafinil daily [17]:

“With microdosing, there are no side effects either and using it on consecutive days tends to be more effective.

Simply put, my personal experience is that these things have almost saved me by allowing me to work continuously and productively with concentration, for a long period of time.”

Microdosing Modafinil may also be helpful if you suffer from liver problems or are 65 years or older.18].

If you are looking to start with extremely small doses of Modafinil and work your way up to a larger microdose, this program proposed by a smart drug user helped you find that 70 mg of Modafinil per day is your ideal dose.19]:

• Days 1-3: Take 25 mg of modafinil at the same time every day.
• Days 4-6: three day break
• Days 7-9: Take 50 mg of modafinil at the same time every day.
• Days 10-12: three day break

I would repeat the “three days on, three days off” cycle with progressively higher doses until I find the best dose of Modafinil.

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Lethal dose?

If you take a look at the official medication guide for Modafinil, you will find the following blurb in the "Overdose" section [20]:

“In clinical trials, a total of 151 protocol-specified doses ranging from 1000 to 1600 mg/day (5 to 8 times the recommended daily dose of 200 mg) were administered to 32 subjects, including 13 subjects who received doses of 1000 mg/day. or 1200 mg/day. day for 7 to 21 consecutive days.

In addition, several intentional acute overdoses occurred; the two largest were 4500 mg and 4000 mg taken by two subjects participating in foreign depression studies. “None of these study subjects experienced any unexpected or life-threatening effects.”

Side effects associated with a modafinil overdose typically include chest pain, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, hallucinations, excessive agitation, and general restlessness.

To put all this in context: the “LD50” of modafinil (the dose of a drug needed to kill 50% of all test subjects) in rodents taking it orally is 1.0 to 1.25 g. /kg [21]. So, for a 70 kg (~155 lb) man, you would need to take 75 grams of Modafinil for the smart drug to be considered fatal.

There is no record of anyone taking more than 12 grams of Modafinil in a single day.

If you follow our recommended dosage of 50-200 mg per day, then it is not something you need to worry about.

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Modafinil dosage | The verdict

You are now equipped with the information you need to determine the optimal modafinil dosage for your nootropic needs.

The research studies and observations on optimal modafinil dosing protocols are pretty straightforward, but here's a very quick summary of what we discuss in this article:

Users who do not have substance abuse problems and are new to smart drug use appear to do better with a 100 mg dose of Modafinil, gradually increasing up to 200 mg.

When using this protocol, many have reported increased cognition, concentration, and productivity, without many of the negative side effects.

On the other hand, users who are overly sensitive to stimulants and want to take Modafinil more frequently during the week seem to be better off with a daily microdose of 50 mg or less.

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