Many are familiar with the “study drug” adderall, whether they take it for medical purposes, to study, or to get ahead in their classes. This drug increases the activity of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and dopamine and helps one focus while stimulating the central nervous system. The drug has some very mild side effects, one of which being loss off appetite, but why does this occur?
Since adderall increases the amount of dopamine released in the brain and dopamine helps send signals when the body is satisfied from food, the adderall is sending messages to the body is full when it actually is not. This then can lead to weight loss because a person will not eat if they’re not hungry.
Chemically the drug tells you you are full when you’re not but it may be suppressing your appetite in a different way. Sometimes someone can be so focussed on what they are doing that they forget to eat. They can be so focussed on trying to do work rather than realize that they have not ate in hours. At this point, however, they do not magically become hungry, they will realize that yes their appetite has been suppressed.
Adderall also speeds up metabolism. The stimulant increases blood pressure and heart rate, which increases energy. So, people taking the drug will have a higher level of physical activity. So will the suppression of appetite, and increased physical activity, many will abuse this drug for weight loss.
I agree with everything that was in this post mainly because i wrote a very similar blog on the effects of “study drugs on the body”. However i did not find that the drug is used for weight loss. I found study drugs were mainly used for studying, rarely used as a way to lose weight.
Interesting post. I gained a research based interest in these sorts of drugs after a dinner with family and friends one night. My family was having dinner with my grandparents and some of their friends. One of my grandparents friends was a Rothschild who spoke about his contributions towards adderall and other ADHD drugs. He did the very initial testing on adderall and determined that less than one percent of people should be prescribed adderall because of it’s effects on the body. This sparked interest in me because I did some research and came across these CDC statistics regarding ADHD and ADHD medication. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html
This topic is extremely interesting, as I have been wondering this question myself. In my high school, believe it or not, girls would actually go on this drug to try to lose weight! I found this disgusting, but others seem to accept this weird fad. I have had friends who have taken addrall unprescribed for a test, while they were on the drug, they did not feel any hunger or appetite to eat all day. I could not imagine what it would be like to be on this medication and never even have the appetite to eat at all. I also can relate to your point on people using this pill to increase their physical activity. With the combination of an intense workout, and little to no food intake, yes weight loss will occur, but unhealthy weight loss. The body cannot physically function without nutrients in its system. As a result, people who take part in this horrifying trend actually are hurting themselves in the long run. You might find this article interesting, it explains the horrors of using unprescribed drugs for weight loss. Enjoy!
http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/04/using-adderall-for-weight-loss-an-insidious-strategy/