Hey there, MikeJ, Aniracetam is one of my personal favorite racetams. All the racetams are cholinergic which means they will upmodulate your acetylcholine production. Acetylcholine is the primary learning and memory molecule in the brain. The primary reason most people supplement racetams is to improve their memory and aid other learning tasks, but for me what makes Aniracetam special is how it is also very “pro-social.” I deal with some occasional anxiety and social phobia and some of the metabolites of aniracetam are GABA-ergic (GABA is the primary “calming” compound in the brain, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter). It’s dopaminergic as well as being a weak to moderate AMPAkine though, so it’s motivating without being overtly “stimulating” if that makes sense. Metabolites, btw, in case you weren’t familiar, are when a chemical you ingest is broken down and becomes another compound.

If you’re going to supplement with racetams, make sure you supplement with a choline source. The best choline source for the job (in my opinion) is Alpha GPC. It’s one of the more costly solutions but well worth the price. You might want to get a 50% GPC because pure GPC turns into a messy goop at room temperature in normal humidity. When you stimulate more acetylcholine production but don’t have enough choline for your brain to produce it the result can be brain fog, headaches, etc. In other words, the last thing in the world you’re shooting for lol.

Some other popular noots for learning and memory are, well, any other racetam, but also noopept a peptide with similar action to the racetams or bacopa monnieri (a cholinergic that works in a different manner to the racetams but with similar effects). Since bacopa is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, it makes the acetylcholine degrade slower rather than stimulating more being made. Since the mechanisms of action are opposing, I don’t use them at the same time, but it can be a great choice for when you’re cycling OFF racetams.

Hope that helps!