Topline
Though college students are known to use prescription stimulants or “smart” drugs to enhance their productivity—including Ritalin and Adderall—a new study finds that using these drugs while not suffering from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder decreases productivity and increases the amount of time needed to complete tasks.
Misusing prescription stimulants like Adderall can hinder productivity. (Photo by Vince … [+]
Key Facts
Scientists gave 40 participants (between the ages of 18-35) 30 mg of methylphenidate (MPH, or Ritalin/Concerta),15 mg of dextroamphetamine (DEX like Adderall), 200 mg of modafinil (MOD) or a placebo at four different testing sessions that occurred at least a week apart from one another.
Upon receiving their dosage, the 17 male participants and 23 female participants were made to perform different tasks to test their problem-solving skills, reaction time, spatial planning and working memory.
The study found that taking these “smart” drugs decreased participants’ performance of difficult tasks and problem solving.
The drugs enhanced participants’ motivation, but increased the amount of time they spent solving a problem by 50%, with scientists saying they “spent almost as much time on the easiest instances under MPH as on the hardest instances under a placebo, without any corresponding improvement in performance.”
While under the prescriptive stimulants, scientists reported people’s efforts increased while the quality of their efforts decreased, meaning they did more, but their decisions were not as calculated as they were random.
Scientists observed a reversal effect where those who performed above average with a placebo performed below average with MPH, DEX and MOD.
Key Background
ADHD includes disorders where one’s neurological development is impacted by a lack of attentiveness, over-impulsiveness and hyperactivity. MPH, DEX and MOD are medically prescribed drugs to assist those with ADHD. Adults with ADHD makeup 4.4% (10.5 million) of the U.S. population, according to 2022 data. Both MPH (sold as brands like Ritalin) and DEX (sold as brands like Adderall) regulate dopamine–the neurotransmitter responsible for reward, motivation, memory and learning–in sections of the brain used for carrying out functions like decision-making and emotional regulation/processing. MOD (sold as brands like Provigil) helps with sleep and alertness. Researchers included it with the expectation that it would increase participants’ efforts and overall performance. Eligible participants were required to have no history with drug use, psychiatric or neurological illnesses, heart conditions, high blood pressure, pregnancy and glaucoma. The night before their session, participants were advised against consuming alcohol or caffeine.
Tangent
In a 2011 report that analyzed studies of stimulus’ impact on non-prescribed people, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found mixed results. They concluded stimulants can enhance learning and, for some, working memory. But in a third of the studies they analyzed, no healthy young adults experienced any cognitive improvement with the drugs, and some even experienced impairments. In assessing college students’ non-medical use of prescription stimulants, a 2017 report found no cognitive improvement in learning or memory when using stimulants compared to a placebo.
Big Number
45.2%. That’s how many young adults aged 18-25 misused prescription stimulants in the past year, according to a 2021 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Advisory.
Tangent
Since October 2022, DEX–which when combined with amphetamine salts makes Adderall–has been a part of the Food and Drug Administration’s running list of drugs in shortage. The FDA cites an increase in demand as causing the shortage. Bloomberg News reported manufacturing delays and labor shortages at the country’s main supplier of Adderall, Teva, who Forbes estimates has $14.9 billion in revenue, a couple months earlier.