32 compounds.

The world's most used stimulant. Wakefulness here is disinhibition: adenosine's brake is blocked, not a primary push on dopamine.

t½ 5h · onset 15m · peak 45m

A non-protein amino acid from tea. Increases alpha-range EEG and takes the edge off stimulants without obvious sedation at common doses.

t½ 1.4h · onset 25m · peak 50m

A full agonist at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Fast brain access, fast tolerance, and a half-life short enough that many users are always in mild withdrawal between doses.

t½ 2h · onset 10m · peak 30m

A small, promiscuous molecule. Positive modulator of GABA-A, antagonist at NMDA, and a dozen other actions. Eliminated approximately zero-order — a fixed amount per hour, not a half-life.

t½ 4h · onset 10m · peak 40m · zero-order

Partial agonist at CB1. Inhaled, the brain sees it in minutes; oral, first-pass makes 11-OH-THC and the curve is later, longer, and easier to overshoot.

t½ 22h · onset 30m · peak 90m

The pineal darkness signal. A chronobiotic first, a sedative second. Most commercial doses are supra-physiologic.

t½ 0.75h · onset 20m · peak 45m

An essential cation, not a drug with a peak. NMDA voltage-block, GABA support, and muscle relaxation — if you were deficient, you will feel more than if you were replete.

t½ 8h · onset 45m · peak 180m · chronic

Nonselective COX inhibitor. Lowers prostaglandins. Pain, fever, and — with enough chronic dose — gastric and renal bills come due.

t½ 2.2h · onset 20m · peak 90m

Central analgesic and antipyretic. Weak COX story, plus a metabolite (AM404) that talks to CB1 and TRPV1. The hepatotoxicity is glutathione math, not a mystery.

t½ 2.5h · onset 20m · peak 60m

A wakefulness drug that is not amphetamine. Weak DAT inhibition, orexin/histamine push, and a long half-life. Feels like 'permission to stay on' more than a rush.

t½ 13h · onset 30m · peak 120m

A monoamine releaser. Enters terminals via DAT/NET, reverses transport, and dumps vesicular stores via VMAT2. This is not 'more focus' as a slogan — it is more catecholamine in the cleft.

t½ 11h · onset 20m · peak 150m

DAT/NET reuptake inhibitor, not a releaser. Same catecholamines as amphetamine, different mechanism, usually a cleaner shorter IR curve.

t½ 3h · onset 20m · peak 90m

A short-ish triazolobenzodiazepine. Positive allosteric modulator of GABA-A. Anxiolysis, amnesia, and dependence live on the same receptor.

t½ 11h · onset 15m · peak 60m

A prodrug of psilocin, a 5-HT2A agonist. The curve is 4–6 hours for most people. The content of the experience is not in the milligrams.

t½ 2.5h · onset 30m · peak 90m

Ergoline 5-HT2A (and much else) agonist. Tiny micrograms, long hours. Receptor residence time is part of why it outlasts its plasma curve.

t½ 3.6h · onset 45m · peak 180m

A serotonin (and dopamine/NE) releaser. Empathy and thermoregulation live on the same pump. Neurotoxicity risk is not a moral lecture; it is SERT, temperature, and oxidative math.

t½ 8h · onset 30m · peak 110m

NMDA channel blocker. Dissociation, analgesia, and a rapid antidepressant signal in some people — three faces of the same pore.

t½ 3h · onset 20m · peak 40m

Partial μ-opioid agonist (mitragynine, 7-OH) with adrenergic color. A plant that is not 'just coffee' and not 'just morphine.' Dose-dependent: stimulatory then sedating.

t½ 7h · onset 20m · peak 50m

An adaptogen with modest RCT support for anxiety and sleep. Withanolides, GABAergic hints, HPA-axis effects. Not an acute intoxicant — chronic flag is on.

t½ 6h · onset 60m · peak 180m · chronic

Phosphocreatine buffer in muscle and brain. Saturation pharmacokinetics. One of the most evidence-heavy supplements, and almost none of that evidence is an acute curve.

t½ 3h · onset 60m · peak 120m · chronic

A mushroom sold for nerve growth factor. The NGF/BDNF story is interesting and mostly not yet a human dose-response curve.

t½ 6h · onset 60m · peak 180m · chronic

A secosteroid hormone precursor. Weeks of half-life for 25(OH)D. Logging a daily capsule is a ritual; the biology is a serum level.

t½ 336h · onset 240m · peak 600m · chronic

Glutathione precursor, glutamatergic modulator (cystine-glutamate antiporter), and the antidote for acetaminophen overdose. Two careers, one molecule.

t½ 6h · onset 30m · peak 90m

Inhibitory amino acid. Glycine receptor agonist in spinal cord/brainstem, and obligatory co-agonist at NMDA. People take grams for sleep.

t½ 1.5h · onset 20m · peak 40m

First-generation H1 inverse agonist that also blocks muscarinic ACh receptors. The sleep is real; the anticholinergic tax is also real.

t½ 8h · onset 20m · peak 90m

GABA-B agonist (and some GABA-A / VGCC color) with a delayed onset that tricks people into redosing. Dependence is common. Not a supplement in any serious sense.

t½ 5.5h · onset 120m · peak 300m

SSRI. Acute plasma PK is not the antidepressant effect, which depends on receptor adaptation over weeks. The plotted curve is plasma occupancy.

t½ 26h · onset 120m · peak 360m · chronic

NDRI (and VMAT2 / nAChR complexity). Activating. Lowers seizure threshold in a dose-dependent way. Not serotonergic in the SSRI sense.

t½ 21h · onset 45m · peak 180m

Kavalactones with GABA-A, sodium/calcium channel, and noradrenaline-reuptake effects. Traditional drink, modern extract, and a liver-warning history that is still argued.

t½ 9h · onset 25m · peak 90m

Caffeine's slower, milder cousin in cacao. Adenosine antagonism plus PDE inhibition, longer half-life, less CNS punch milligram for milligram.

t½ 7.5h · onset 30m · peak 120m

A Russian adamantane actoprotector (Ladasten). It does not reverse DAT. It upregulates the enzymes that make dopamine, slowly, and the acute curve is a delayed plateau — not a caffeine spike.

t½ 11.2h · onset 90m · peak 210m