Question: What are the chances of a drug like the one from limitless being produced? not sure how many of you have seen this film

Fiona Hatch answered on 12 Mar 2012:

Definitely seen the film, I thought it was awesome. Unfortunately as far as science is concerned with the brain we’re not that close to the drug in limitless. Scientists are working on ways to stimulate the brain with drugs, but as the brain is so complex it is very difficult to find out what drugs do and whether there are bad side affects that cause your body damage.

There are many brain stimulants. There are two types, external and internal. Many of the external people use on a daily basis. For example caffeine is a stimulant and works on the brain nerves/synapses which can make you more active, more awake and you will generally function better. But excessive consumption or continuous consumption (a bit like in the Limitless film) can have bad side effects. One of the side effects of a lot of caffeine (or coffee) is that your hands will start to shake, or if you become addicted to coffee and forget to drink it, this can cause some people very bad headaches.

Internal stimulants are ones produced by your body, which includes the hormone adrenaline which usually comes about due to a shock/scare and your body goes into a “super” state where it can do a lot more than it normally could. Most stimulants will have the same affect, it will increase your heart rate, so that your brain gets more blood and oxygen, it will be able to think faster and better; so for about 1-3 minutes after you’ve been shocked/scared by something you will be able to think fast and get yourself out of that situation. So like in the Limitless film where his girlfriend (or ex girlfriend at that stage) is hiding behind some stones and was told to take the drug to get away from the killer, our bodies naturally produce our own stimulant in a situation like that, and its known as adrenaline. But as with all stimulants continuous use of this drug is bad, this is why your body only produces it for a very short time, as your heart cannot cope with beating so fast and hard. Other situations that may cause it is sports (like races when your nerves increase), some computer games cause it to increase and similar hobbies; this is why they can become addictive.

Another set of stimulants are the illegal stimulants. These are the drugs commonly talked about in the media and include things like amphetamine, cocaine and opioids. These produce a similar response to adrenaline, but have severe side affects and damages your health a lot – this is why they are illegal.

As in the film Limitless, all stimulants are severely addictive, that is why so many people smoke and find it hard to quit, as the stimulant Nicotine is in cigarettes. And that along with the tar found in cigarettes is why they are so bad for you. Also this is why some people really enjoy sports and do it often as they get an adrenaline boost from it, or computer games can become addictive for this reason too.

So we know there are stimulants that can cause our brains to think faster and for our bodies to become super human for a short amount of time. But for longer periods, we are finding that continuous use is really bad for the body and brain, and can cause death.