Today, there is a lot of pressure for students to excel, especially at a school like Penn State where the academic level is high. In high school, many students around me were taking adderall to boost their chances of succeeding. The majority of these students were not prescribed to the drug but managed to get it from friends who were. Adderall is a drug that is meant to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder(ADHD), a disorder where someone cannot stay focused and lacks the ability to comprehend information easily. Adderall is a stimulant that is meant to help someone suffering from the disease focus. It is a combination of both amphetamine and dextroamphetamine which are stimulants for one’s central nervous system. As a result, adderall triggers the fight or flight systems in one’s body and causes increased blood pressure, sweating, and more.
https://recoverynavigation.com/what-is-adderall/
When someone who does not have this disorder takes adderall, it can cause jitters, anxiety, and the inability to sleep. There is definitely an academic enhancement as a result but it does not last. When combined with another stimulant, it can be very dangerous to take adderall. Other stimulants are things such as coffee, certain alcohols, and other drugs.
In addition, adderall is considered a Schedule II controlled substance, which means that it is very easy to get addicted to. When someone is a patient in need of the drug it isn’t as much of an issue but for people who don’t need adderall to function properly, there is a high risk of becoming dependent on it and addicted as well.
In a study done in 2016, an increased amount of hospital visits was looked at to see if this was due to an increased amount of adderall use. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, found that the use of adderall in adults has gone up by 67.1% and emergency room visits due to adderall went up an astonishing 155.9%. This may be due to the fact that snorting adderall has become a new trend for some people. Snorting the drug has major health effects such as respiratory problems, irregular heartbeats, and toxic shock. When doing this for a long time, there can be problems with one’s brain function. Also, combining adderall with the use of alcohol can cause severe problems for the user like death from alcohol poisoning because adderall enhances how intoxicated someone is.
The message here is clearly that there are plenty ways to succeed without having to take adderall. I suggest:
-Studying for exams
https://www.oxfordlearning.com/tips-for-easier-studying/
-Going to class and participate
http://californiahumandevelopment.org/raise-your-hand-for-daca/
-Getting rest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laiza-king-/6-ways-to-improve-your-sl_b_10223580.html
Being that I actually have ADHD and I am prescribed adderall I guess I don’t know what it is like. From what my doctor has told me though, it is essentially speed, but as for me, it just makes me “normal”. I think that kids shouldn’t be using adderall to study and to preform well on tests. Instead, if they really want to get an edge and to make school a little “easier” than they should take smart pills. Adderall is not healthy for you if you don’t have ADHD or ADD. Students become addicted, thinking that they need adderall to preform well on tests, and if they don’t have it, then they won’t do well.
I was drawn to this post immediately and was actually considering a blog on the topic myself, to learn more about Aderall. I thought you provided excellent background and reference data that helped me understand the conditions which require the need for the drug. Reading that Aderall can cause jitters, anxiety and the inability to sleep is helpful and good data points that will surely determine that I will not take the substance, since I already sometimes have difficulty falling asleep. Check out this site if you have trouble falling asleep too, (from my blog post, check it out!) http://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/stress-anxiety/breathing-three-exercises/.
A paper http://medicineabuseproject.org/assets/documents/NPSFactSheet.pdf prepared by the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, provided good reference to experimental research as well as implications and practice suggestions for students, parents, health care providers and college administrators.
I feel that this was a very smart choice to write about considering how prevalent this issue is in college. I can definitely see that this drug can be dangerous when combined with other substances such as alcohol, or ingested through snorting. However I am curious as to whether if it is really that bad when taken by itself by someone who does not actually need it. I thought that for the most part it seemed pretty harmless but after reading this blog and this article I am beginning to question that thought. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/02/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-adderall.html
This is a very good topic, especially for college. There are so many people that take Adderall even if they don’t have ADHD or ADD. I can understand the appeal because it will help them to focus and get more work done, but ultimately it is not a good thing to do. It can be bad for your health, so it is a much better idea to just work harder and study more to do well, you don’t need a pill to have success. I know a bunch of people who have used Adderall and at first they just used it for tests, but now they use it sometimes even if they aren’t doing work. Ultimately it is not a good idea to use it even once.
I really enjoyed reading this post. Today you see students taking adderall that is not proscribed to them as a study tool. Adderall is actually pretty bad for you especially if abused.
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/neuroscientist-meth-virtually-identical-adderall-how-found-out
This is a great article that show how adderall highly similar to the type 1 drug, Meth. Adderall contains similar compounds as meth and can see similar effects from using the drug. As adderall is becoming more popular on college campuses that something show be done of some type of force to be taken? Young adults do not comprehend the dangers and similarities adderall has to meth. I feel as if something should be done to facilitate the situation. Do you?