Three things to know before trying tDCS

A 12-month retrospective

You may have recently come across this article in The Economist about tDCS and Brain Hacking, and may be considering giving tDCS a try for yourself. While tDCS does have observable effects upon neurons in cell cultures as well as upon behavioral outcomes in clinical trials, this research is still in the very early stages. Researchers are figuring out what protocols can produce specific results, and following these protocols may lead to similar results, but it takes a lot of time and effort to understand how to do this for yourself. Having used tDCS for over a year, I’ve had a chance to look back and reflect upon my experiences, and hope to share a few insights that maybe helpful to know before diving in further.

1) tDCS is not a magic bullet

It takes a significant investment of time and effort to use tDCS effectively. I did not have a background in biology or neuroscience, but fortunately I could learn a lot from resources and other people in the community on-line. I’ve probably spent well over a thousand hours over the past year consuming books, articles, and published studies on the brain’s composition and workings. When I decide to try something new, I do so in very small steps, and take careful note of the outcomes.

Also, tDCS by itself is only part of the equation when it comes to making real and lasting changes to the brain. I’ve found that tDCS works well in conjunction with the following:

· Regular Exercise

· Meditation

· Hyperthermia (due to increased BDNF)

· Intermittent fasting (also increased BDNF)

· Supplements for brain health

· Neurofeedback

2) tDCS doesn’t work for everyone, so it may not work for you

Like many prescription drugs, the effects of tDCS are partly dependent on your unique genetic profile and the resulting chemical and physiological environment found within you. In the future, we may be able to determine how effective interventions like tDCS would be based on one’s genetic profile, but at the moment, the only way to know whether tDCS would have a significant effect on you is to try it for yourself. The problem for many is how to tell whether it’s working or not. For those who want to use it for things like cognitive or mood enhancement, the results may be quite subjective and dependant on environmental or other factors.

In my experience, the best way to determine whether tDCS was effective was through stimulating the visual cortex and playing a vision training game called Ultimeyes for the iPad. I came across this study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18491714) when I first started reading about tDCS and thought I would try it myself. After just one session, I could clearly see the difference in my ability to perceive low contrast objects in the app, and this carried over to recognizing features and objects outside as well, and especially in low light conditions.

3) tDCS is more effective when done in conjunction with the specific activity you wish to develop

As I mentioned earlier, the research on the brain and the effects of tDCS are still in the early stages, so we don’t yet have a complete picture of all the mechanisms of action. One hypothesis is that tDCS is like running with weights on your ankles, making it harder to perform at your normal baseline for activities that depend on the cortical regions and pathways being stimulated. Since the brain is redundant and adaptive, it can compensate for this added noise by forging new pathways to make sure the right signals get through the noise and are picked up by the intended recipients. Thus, this additional compensation mechanism may lead to the increased capacity or bandwidth of these neural networks in the future.

Many people liken tDCS to a cup of coffee due to its stimulating effects, but this analogy is not entirely true. tDCS can increase attention and learning when applied to the prefrontal cortex, but it’s also shown to help improve sleep in patients who suffer from chronic fatigue when applied to the motor cortex. Also, I have noticed that I have a much greater sensitivity to the stimulation, rather than a tolerance that most people develop when drinking coffee over a long period of time. I started out using tDCS for 20–30 minutes a day everyday for the first six months, and have dropped down to once a week for 5–10 minutes, while still maintaining the same level of effects.

As always, I hope this is helpful. ☺