Hay Festival 2013: Leading neuroscientist warns against 'smart drugs'

Barbara Sahakian has warned about the dangers of buying cognitive-enhancing medicine - the so-called 'smart drugs - from the internet. Talking at the Telegraph Hay Festival, Sahakian said: "Many students and professionals are using the drugs to get a competitive edge, perhaps the best performance in an exam, but many of them are buying them off the internet and that is very dangerous way to buy what are prescription drugs. Many are made in contaminated conditions, even made in someone's garage at times, and could be just a compound made under dangerous conditions in say, China or Mumbai.

"You just don't know what is actually in these pills. They have not been tested as they would be by pharmaceutical companies and you are not getting something that is safe."

Sahakian, whose new book is called Bad Moves: How Decision-Making Goes Wrong, said that one of the effects of the modern 24/7 lifestyle is that more people are taking 'smart drugs' to do well in their studies and in their work.

She said that there has been a huge increase in stimulant use, which has doubled over the past decade. A recent study in America revealed that 16% of healthy people had taken smart drugs such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) which are used medically to treat conditions such as ADHD, psychotic behaviour and narcolepsy - and Sahakian, a consultant and researcher at Cambridge's Addenbrookes Hospital, said that students look at the benefits of taking drugs that cognitively enhance their brain.

A study by the Academy of Medical Science showed that there was a 10% improvement in memory function - and the drugs can increase motivation for doing tasks such as revision. She said that even some academics use smart drugs to counter the effects of jet lag when they are travelling to busy conferences.

But she was keen to point out the dangers for young people of taking drugs. The brains in young adults can still be developing up to the age of 25 and there have been no long-term studies in the side-effects for healthy brains.

She also said that there is danger that young people are being "pressurised into taking the drugs" and that they overuse because of the concern that the effects are wearing off. She said then it disrupts sleep, which is counter-productive because sleep is a time when the brain consolidates our memories.

She told a packed house at Hay's Wales Stage that "life-long learning, education and exercise" are good ways for neurogensis increase in the brain and that in reality only those in their twenties are at the cognitive best. "The rest of us are just eroding," she said with a smile.

Keep up to date with the Telegraph's coverage of the Hay Festival 2013.

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Hay Festival 2013: Leading neuroscientist warns against 'smart drugs'