the.com/stimulant
chemistry's gas pedal, mashed by everyone from monks to fighter pilots to your barista
means A substance that speeds up activity in the body or nervous system, boosting alertness, energy, or wakefulness.
from From Latin 'stimulare,' to goad or prick, which itself comes from 'stimulus' — the actual word for a pointed stick used to drive cattle forward. The image is exact: a stimulant is a chemical jab in the ribs. The medical sense of a drug that 'pricks' the body into action arrived in the 18th century, but the goading goad had been poking livestock for two millennia first.
- oldest fix
- Coffee and tea predate written productivity advice
- war fuel
- WWII pilots flew on amphetamines, both sides
- caffeine count
- World's most consumed psychoactive drug, by far
- plant defense
- Caffeine evolved to paralyze and kill insects
- medical irony
- Stimulants calm ADHD brains instead of revving them
amphetamine — fda-approved drug (adderall) for adhd since 1996, most prescribed stimulant in us
caffeine — found in coffee (95mg per cup), tea, energy drinks; world's most consumed psychoactive substance
cocaine — derived from coca leaf, schedule ii controlled substance; major stimulant drug of abuse
nicotine — alkaloid in tobacco; highly addictive stimulant affecting ~1.1 billion smokers globally