Methylphenidate (MPH) is not an amphetamine, but it basically functions like one. It is obviously a stimulant, and out of curiosity I also explored how to use it in this way. Normally, I take MPH in order to become more focused. When I am my non-medicated self, I have the problem that I sometimes get so bored by my environment that I yawn uncontrollably or, in extreme situations, even fall asleep. In contrast, on MPH you can talk to the most boring person imaginable and you will still fully pay attention to him or her. (This makes me wonder whether this drug may work wonders for picking up women.) However, I was more interested to see what would happen if I am sleep-deprived or exhausted and take some MPH.

Let me first state that I did not exaggerate when I wrote that I sometimes, albeit rarely, even fell asleep because I was so incredibly bored. This happened a few times in a social setting, think of chicks wanting to introduce you to her friends. She wants to show you off to them, yet you find their conversations so inane that you neither want to contribute nor listen to them. If I recall correctly, this happened just twice to me. However, yawning is a bigger problem, not because I am tired but because I am bored due to a lack of intellectual stimulation. Of course, on MPH you are not going to yawn a lot.

My experiment was set as follows: do not get enough sleep by simply rising early, and then take some MPH. The effect was quite startling. Whereas I normally would have expected to not be fully awake for a few hours, I was at my perceived peak performance within the time it takes for the effects of MPH to kick in. This was surprising because it would also have been plausible to just feel less sleepy or less alert. Instead, the effects of sleep deprivation were completely gone. Of course, you should not expect to not need to sleep if you use MPH this way. In fact, as the effect of MPH wore off, after the usual four to five hours, I suddenly felt very sleepy again. I have no intention of using MPH in this way, but it is good to know that I could get a good four to five productive hours even if, for whatever reason, I did not get enough sleep the night before.

You may also be familiar with days during which you are very busy, not just mentally but also physically. As a consequence, you may feel tired if not sleepy even in the afternoon already. With MPH, you will return to peak performance quickly. The effect is quite similar to taking it after not having gotten enough sleep the night before. In both these situations, you simply stave off sleep for a few hours. However, I can see the potential for harming one’s health when doing this consistently, i.e. not getting enough sleep for days or even weeks, and taking uppers to remain highly productive. This is just a hunch, though, but I am sure that there is classified military research on the long-term effect of stimulants in a context of sleep deprivation.

Lastly, there is the issue of remaining too alert to fall asleep. You obviously should not take MPH close to bed time. I have not experimented with this before, not am I going to. However, even when I take it in the evening, at around 7 P.M. or so, I remain alert far longer than I otherwise would. In fact, I just did this today. At the time of writing, about four and a half hours later, the effect has started to slowly fade, but I am far more alert than I otherwise would be. My bedtime will probably be at least one hour later than usual.

I have a suspicion that a significant number of people would be interested in using MPH as a stimulant. Amphetamines are used for this very reason, and this is really big business. All heavy users of amphetamines I know, which are not that many, have aged prematurely. Surely, if you use MPH recklessly in this way, you are going to head down the very same path. Just get a solid eight to nine hours of sleep per day and you should be fine. Nonetheless, it is great to know that I carry literal energy capsules in my pocket. It almost feels like I am in a video game.