Performance Lab Mind Review

Writer and Nootropic fan Alex Whybrow examines the benefits of this popular nootropic supplement, and details how it impacted his everyday life as a writer in our full Performance Lab Mind review.

Performance Lab Mind – An Introduction

We all want to perform a little bit better, don’t we? Whether it’s being able to concentrate more at work, have a bit of focus when we’re training, or be able to study for longer – especially if other areas of our lives are impacting how well we do things.

This is why nootropics are becoming increasingly popular. These little supplements harness the power of a variety of natural ingredients to give you better cognitive performance.

As a result of their popularity, there are now many different options when it comes to choosing the best nootropics, which can be slightly bewildering for us as consumers. Every single one promises fantastic results, but they all differ slightly – how can you tell which one is for you?

Performance Lab is a company based in Leamington Spa, England, and they have been expanding their portfolio of products for a while now.

Their products include Energy, Caffeine+, MCT (Medium-chain triglycerides), Sleep, Vision, Prebiotic, Omega-3 and Immune. Today though, we are focusing on their Mind supplement.

Though Performance Lab’s products all have varying combinations of ingredients focused on different elements of our bodies and lives, they are all geared towards discovering our best selves. The company prides itself on the amount of research it does, aiming to revolutionize the world of nutrition.

They use the phrase ‘Ultramodern Nutrition’. Everything about the company seems to be pushing for breakthroughs to give you the edge you didn’t know existed.

Let’s see how Mind stacks up when we put it to the test. I’ll be explaining the theoretical benefits of taking Performance Lab Mind, what ingredients are used to promote these benefits, some practical advice on how to take Performance Lab, and how I found Performance Lab Mind when I tried it.

Benefits Of Performance Lab Mind

So why should you consider taking Performance Lab Mind? What are the benefits? 

The focus of Performance Lab Mind is on long-term brain health, as well as brain performance. This differs slightly to many of its competitors, who design (or at least market) their nootropics on speed and focus.

Let’s take a look at each benefit individually.

Performance Benefits

Better Focus

No more sitting in front of your computer screen with a mental block – get more done with improved focus. This is particularly useful for the likes of students. With so many distractions in the modern world, the ability to focus is absolutely crucial.

More Motivation

Drive is what separates the good from the great. The ability to push yourself to go the extra mile, and to keep going when things get tough – that’s where success comes from. Performance Lab Mind is designed to help promote this.

Better Memory

Having a better memory helps all of us, throughout our lives – from remembering people’s names to recalling exact facts, figures or decisions. Even remembering the punchline to a joke!

A sharper memory can have a hugely positive impact on your everyday life, including your self-confidence.

Ability To Multitask

You know when you are in the middle of something and someone asks you a question that is irrelevant to what you are doing, and it completely derails what you were focusing on? By being able to focus your mind on more than one task, this won’t happen, and you can get a lot more done.

Coping With Pressure

No matter your professional or personal life, you are likely to find yourself in pressured situations. Exams, meetings, deadlines, finances, family responsibilities – all can negatively impact our mental health in time.

Not many people can truly cope well with pressure. It’s a tough emotion for our minds to respond to, which is where nootropics work their wonders.

Health Benefits

Brain Recovery

You know those days when you feel burnt out? Sometimes it can take a while to recover from – the next day you feel a bit fuzzy and distant, don’t you? Performance Lab Mind aims to aid your recovery from mental exertion, ready to go again.

Neural Regeneration

On a similar note, the Performance Lab Mind supplement aims to encourage neural regeneration, which in turn helps towards long-term brain health and mental clarity.

Optimization Of Brain Cell Membranes

Once again, this is essential for the long-term health of your brain, as well as enabling it to function better on a day-to-day basis.

Performance Lab Ingredients

So how does Mind aim to give you these benefits? It’s all in the ingredients. As a company, Performance Lab has put great emphasis on its ingredients research. 

On their website, they boast “Industry-leading ingredients made with advanced nutritional technologies that simply work better”. Can they back up that claim? Let’s take an in-depth look at the ingredients Performance Lab Mind has to offer.

Citicoline

Every living human and animal will have cells that include citicoline. It is naturally occurring in cell membranes, particularly those of organs, which is why it is seen as so important for the brain.

Citicoline is thought to increase the production of phosphatidylcholine, a chemical essential for brain function.

The theory is that the more citicoline you have, the more phosphatidylcholine is produced and therefore the better your brain functions.

This is a theory that is applied in practice – it is used to combat Alzheimer’s disease, bipolar disorder, and Parkinson’s, as well as other brain conditions.

The problem is though, that its effectiveness has never been categorically proven – though this is due in a large part to a lack of evidence. There is the general consensus that it does have some impact on brain function, but the extent to which it does is not clear.

It could also be the case that it only tends to work on deteriorating or damaged brains, as opposed to often fit, healthy brains of Performance Lab’s target market.

This doubt is all due to a lack of testing, rather than a lack of its effectiveness. As with many of the ingredients involved in nootropics, there simply hasn’t been enough research to draw any solid conclusions.

Performance Lab conducts its own research, of course. They claim that the Cognizin® Citicoline that they use in the production of Mind could improve brain cell membrane formation by 26% and brain energy by 13.6%.

Phosphatidylserine

Phosphatidylserine is another key component in a cell membrane. It is a fatty substance that protects the cells in the brain and helps to transmit messages between them.

As such, phosphatidylserine is seen as essential when it comes to enhancing the performance of your brain and protecting it from aging.

Protection, in fact, is a major part of what phosphatidylserine offers, as it is also seen to improve your immune system as well as help with stressful situations. Phosphatidylserine is, again, used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease as well as muscle soreness in athletes and multiple sclerosis.

Performance Lab’s research has suggested that phosphatidylserine helps to regulate brain chemicals (such as serotonin and dopamine) as well as to detect which cells are damaged and reduce stress. They also claim that phosphatidylserine dramatically increases brain energy, which benefits many brain activities such as memory, learning, concentration and mood balance.

L-Tyrosine

L-Tyrosine is one of the most common ingredients in this type of nootropic. It is a type of amino acid that we get from foods like meat, fish, eggs and dairy, and is seen as a ‘building block’ for protein.

With regards to the brain, L-Tyrosine is thought to have a close connection to dopamine, which is vital to the brain. It is the nice feeling we get when we achieve something or do something well. 

The theory here is that if we are well stocked with L-Tyrosine, we will be able to reward ourselves with that pleasant feeling when we do well, and we want it more. We are then able to concentrate, focus and stay motivated when we come up against a similar challenge.

While this still needs plenty of research to back it up, Performance Lab is confident that we can link L-Tyrosine to help with memory, mental processing and performance in stressful situations. The fact that this is such a common ingredient in nootropics suggests that Performance Lab are not alone in thinking that.

Maritime Pine Bark Extract

Usually found in areas near the Mediterranean, Maritime Pine Bark has an eclectic mix of potential health benefits.

It contains antioxidants that could aid blood flow, prevent infections, and reduce swelling. This has led its use to combat high cholesterol, ADHD, asthma, and memory.

As ever, there isn’t concrete scientific evidence to back this up, but the antioxidants within Maritime Pine Bark are generally thought to have an impact on declining brains, and its anti-inflammatory nature can help to prevent mental illness caused by swelling of the brain.

The NutriCaps^® prebiotic capsules are made from Pullulan, which is a water soluble polysaccharide; and Rice Concentrate (Nu-FLOW®), which is the outer layer of rice. The capsule casings themselves contain no gelatin or cellulose/Hypromellose (HPMC).

That is certainly what is believed by the team that created Performance Lab Mind – Maritime Pine Bark Extract is used primarily to prevent brain deterioration and optimize brain cell regeneration.

It is important to also note what Performance Lab Mind does not include. It is suitable for vegans, is non-GMO, non-irradiated, and contains no soy, egg, fish, shellfish, dairy, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, or other allergens. It is gluten-free, as well as free from caffeine, artificial colors, preservatives and synthetic additives.

How To Take Performance Lab Mind

The suggested dose is to take 1-2 capsules in the morning, on an empty stomach – so ideally first thing in the morning when you wake up. Your stomach will start to absorb the nutrients into your bloodstream quickly and get straight to work, transporting them around your body.

I recommend you start taking just one capsule a day for a while. It can be the case that nootropics like Performance Lab Mind can take a while (a couple of weeks or more) to really have an impact on your body and mind, so see how you get on with one.

Also bear in mind that if you do go up to taking two capsules a day, you are doubling the cost of your daily dose – you’ll need double the amount of capsules every month, which won’t be possible in everyone’s budget. Something to consider.

Using Performance Lab Mind – The Results

Before I get into the results that I found when I started taking Performance Lab Mind, I thought it would probably be helpful if I told you about myself. Everybody’s mind, lifestyle and responsibilities are different, of course, but I thought that if I shared with you what I required from a nootropic, it might help you to decide whether this is the one for you.

As you have probably guessed, I am a writer. I work freelance, for a number of different publications. This means that I am constantly switching the topic of my writing and the tone that I am writing in.

It also means that I have to actively search for clients, pitch work, invoice them, etc. I don’t love a lot of those aspects of my job, but they are important if I am going to grow my business.

The biggest struggle in my day-to-day working life is keeping my focus and motivation at peak levels. Focus to get as much work done as possible, and motivation to do all of those areas of the job that I don’t really enjoy.

I don’t have a boss standing behind me all day, there is just me. If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. I hope this gives you a decent picture of where I was when I started taking Performance Lab Mind, and why it appealed to me.

I’m not sure if you have seen the movie Limitless – but that was the (unrealistic) image I had in my mind when I took my first dose, just after waking up one morning. That I would head down to my office and all of a sudden I would be my best possible self.

I don’t need to tell you that this is not what happened, and for the first few days, I have to say I was starting to become a little unimpressed with the idea of Performance Lab – I hadn’t noticed any difference at all and all I was thinking about was the cost of my month’s supply.

Patience, of course, is a virtue.

Towards the end of the first week, I did start to feel something. Or rather, I noticed something – I had done all of my invoicing before the end of my month (usually a task that bleeds into the following month), without really thinking about it.

The following week, I had achieved so much more than I had anticipated, that I had started to reach out to some prospective clients with new ideas for work.

The noticeable change was that I was generally achieving so much more. My workload was clearing, providing more opportunity for me to switch off in the evenings, or work on building my business – or even a bit of both.

It was a strange adjustment – I didn’t actually feel any different at all, it just seemed like everything had suddenly become easier. I was working better, not longer, and I was getting more work done than I thought I was capable of.

I was really impressed by the change I saw in myself when I started taking Performance Lab Mind – it was exactly what I had been missing, and it has genuinely changed my life for the better.

One final point: the capsules themselves are very easy to swallow – around 2cm long, 00 sized. I know some people can find taking this kind of capsule quite uncomfortable, but I found with a decent glass of water, they were no trouble at all.

Pros & Cons

In order to establish the pros and cons of taking Performance Lab, I have taken into account more than just my own experiences. Speaking to people and researching on the internet, I aim to give you a broad picture, rather than just my opinions.

Pros

• Better focus – Being able to concentrate on difficult or more mundane tasks.

• Vegan – The impact on the planet places a burden on us all, so it is refreshing to see a completely vegan product on the market.

• Protection for brains – This is, of course, harder to quantify than some of the pros, but most of the ingredients are used to combat brain diseases and promote the regeneration of brain cells.

Cons

• Side effects – While relatively low in likelihood, you may experience some unpleasant side effects, including kidney problems. These, however, are rare.

• Expensive – This is a premium product, and it comes at a premium price. There are many cheaper alternatives to Performance Lab, but the results will obviously vary.

Verdict

We found that Performance Lab Mind is one of the most effective nootropics available on the market today. It contains a streamlined, targeted group of ingredients that we found to be incredibly effective.

Obviously this comes at a price, and this does represent one of the more expensive nootropics of this kind that are available. If you take the higher dose of two capsules a day, it’s worth investing in some of the bundle deals that can make it much more cost-effective (I’ve included a link below to help direct you).

In terms of performance, it will be difficult to find a nootropic that is better than Performance Lab Mind. I definitely recommend it – it holds its own amongst the best nootropics available today.