I am proudly an all-brown beverage man. I say it often: I am coffee in the morning, bourbon in the evening, and Pepsi/Coke in between. I know what you’re thinking: What about water? Well, all of those are mostly water. And who wants to drink the same thing they bathe in? That sounds gross. All jokes aside, the coffee addiction is real, and I am not alone. Who thinks they can truly conquer a day without a hard shot of caffeine? I would get it in an IV if it were feasible to do on the subway instead of a cup to go. But that doesn’t have to be the only way you develop your productivity. Instead, you can look to the more natural and healthy methods to maintain and increase your effectiveness. I got my hands on some Magic Mind recently, one of the many different products that claim to elevate brain health, increase mental performance, and, of course, replace the coffee without losing the energy boost. But does it work?
The scientific hoolah
According to Magic Mind themselves, they provide a slew of ingredients to naturally boost your day. Lion’s Mane, Bacopa Monnieri, and Cognizin® support memory, mental clarity, and neuroplasticity for sharper cognitive performance. Ceremonial-Grade Matcha, Rhodiola Rosea, Cordyceps, and Vitamin B Complex deliver sustained energy and mental stamina without jitters or crashes. L-Theanine, Ashwagandha, Turmeric, plus Vitamins C and D promote calm, balance your stress response, and protect brain cells from inflammation. All of that sounds great. But does it work?
With all the studies out there on cognitive decline and the increased speed caused by high stress and demanding conditions of today’s world, it makes sense that Magic Mind would look to those studies and the ingredients meant to fight the effects of stress. A questionnaire was administered to people using Magic Mind in a retrospective survey conducted to assess the impact on the measures of stress, anxiety, energy & fatigue, as well as work productivity & performance levels. For the 82 people who filled out the survey, there was a 34.9% reduction in stress levels, a 28% decrease in anxiety levels, an 11.5% enhancement in attention, a 31.3% decrease in fatigue levels, and an 11.6% improvement in work productivity and performance. The outcomes also indicated that 57 of the participants had a lower level of stress, 67 of them had a lower level of anxiety, 36 of them reported improved attention, 67 of them had lower fatigue, and 41 of the participants had higher work productivity & performance by the end of the study.
Now, I am not the type to trust studies. Call me old-fashioned. Call me pessimistic. But I prefer to test these things out myself. So I got my hands on three of their formulas and tried them out.
My experience
As I have gotten older, I have started to drift from the usual “try harder” mentality when it comes to focus and/or mental fatigue. When I was in the Army, there was nothing that a strong cup of coffee, a Big Slam of Pepsi (am I the only one nostalgic for the liter bottle?), or a stiff drink could fix. Now, 25 years later, I am more sensitive to the effects of a rough night’s sleep and the jitters of coffee on an empty stomach. I started with the original formula, and I must be honest, I didn’t feel much after two weeks of use and still found myself needing the coffee. So, two weeks in, I swapped to the Maxx version and found my formula. I found myself feeling invigorated by the time I made it to the office, and I could knock out numerous tasks without having to keep going for another cup or bottle between them. Sleep was the next problem I had to fix. When I was eleven years old, I remember being told I needed eight hours of sleep a night to stay healthy. So I started. A few weeks into that, I remember staring at the ceiling and realizing that eight hours is a third of the day. If I lived to a hundred, I would have slept 33 years of my life away. That scared me, and I slept four hours a night until my mid-thirties. Now, my sleep is an utter disaster. Restless and interrupted. The sleep formula I tried got me to a place in two weeks where I could fall asleep faster and rest longer. Of the three, this one was the one that created the most value in my life.
Should you get it for yourself?
Before I give you any advice, I am not a professional. I am simply a bourbon- and coffee-infused creative with relative sleep deprivation and a zest for life. For me, I will stay with the sleep formula. There is something reinvigorating about rediscovering good sleep when you are deeper into the stresses of adult life. As for the other performance shots, I would tell most people that, if they are ready to replace the need for coffee with the desire for coffee, the daily performance shots have a good chance of changing your life. Before you dive in, do your research to see if formulas like this are right for you. If they are, hit the Magic Mind site to do your survey, and they will tell you what formula is the best for you.
