Smart drug does not help students get higher grades

ADHD drug Ritalin, which seems to be very popular among students, has no effect on concentration, memory, learning ability or feeling of fatigue, a study performed by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel shows.

For children and adolescents with ADHD, ritalin (methylphenidate) can help improve the ability to concentrate. It has no effect on healthy people though.

Thinking that you have taken Ritalin, however, can be beneficial for students without ADHD. For the Brussels’ experiment a group of students took Ritalin and the other half a placebo. The students knew that they had be given one or the other but not which pills. Oddly enough students who thought they had taken Ritalin pills remembered on average 108 of 200 words that were displayed to them. Those who thought they had swallowed a placebo, remembered only 72 words.

According to previous research by Erasmus University, more than 7 percent of Dutch students use Ritalin now and then. They do not take it for medical reasons, but for the fun of it or to boost attention during an exam period.

Surveys in the United States show that up to 20 percent of  students and scientists are using ‘smart drugs’ to improve their brain’s alertness and (study) performance.

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