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Fuel your focus with IPS Mind

How Does Stress Affect the Brain? 

Stress is the body’s natural response to any challenge or demand, whether emotional, physical, or mental. But when stress sticks around for too long or gets too intense, it can mess with your brain – especially the part responsible for memory, focus, and decision-making: the prefrontal cortex (3; 2). 

Under short-term stress, your brain actually performs better for a while because stress chemicals like dopamine and noradrenaline (known as catecholamines) give you a temporary boost (2). But if stress continues, those chemicals get used up faster than your brain can make them, leading to a crash in performance – this includes poor memory, reduced attention, lack of motivation, and mental fatigue (4;5). 

How IPS Mind Can Help

1. L-Tyrosine: The Stress Buffer

L-Tyrosine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in foods like cheese, eggs, meat, and fish. It’s a building block for the neurotransmitters dopamine and noradrenaline – the very chemicals your brain burns through during stress (1). 

When your brain runs low on these chemicals, you start to feel mentally drained. But supplementing with L-Tyrosine has been shown to: 

  • Prevent depletion of noradrenaline (20; 21)
  • Support working memory and improve motivation under stress (22; 23)
  • Boost performance during tasks that require intense mental effort (1)


Essentially, L-Tyrosine helps you stay sharp and focused when your brain is under pressure.

2. Brain Chemicals That Keep You Focused

Let’s break down what dopamine and noradrenaline do in everyday terms: 

  • Dopamine helps your brain decide what’s worth your time. It keeps you motivated, helps you stick with tasks, and improves your working memory – your brain’s “mental notepad” for holding and using information (17).
  • Noradrenaline helps you stay alert and attentive. It regulates both short-term focus (like paying attention during a conversation) and long-term focus (like concentrating on a project over hours) (11; 8). Low levels are linked to daydreaming or “mind wandering” (16).


Studies show that when noradrenaline drops, people report difficulty concentrating and become less responsive to important information (25). Tyrosine helps prevent this drop, keeping your mind engaged (20; 18). 

When Does IPS Mind Work Best? 

IPS Mind doesn’t act like a stimulant – it works best when your brain is actually under cognitive stress. That means it’s especially helpful during: 

  • Long study or work sessions
  • Problem-solving or multitasking situations
  • Mentally draining meetings or presentations


In other words, IPS Mind may help when you need it most – not when you’re already calm and relaxed (1). 

Conclusion 

By supporting your brain’s natural chemistry, the IPS Mind may help you stay mentally sharp, motivated, and focused – especially when you’re under pressure. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or anyone facing mentally demanding tasks, the IPS Mind can be your ally in keeping your brain at its best. 

References 

  1. Jongkees BJ, Hommel B, Kühn S. (2015). Effect of tyrosine supplementation on clinical and healthy populations under stress or cognitive demands—A review. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 70, 50–57.
  2. Květňanský R, Sabban EL, Palkovits M. (2009). Catecholaminergic Systems in Stress: Structural and Molecular. Physiological Reviews, 89(2), 535-606.
  3. Sandi C. (2013). Stress and cognition. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 4(3), 245–261.
  4. Lehnert H, et al. (1984). Neurochemical and behavioral consequences of acute, uncontrollable stress: Effects of dietary tyrosine. Brain Research, 303(2), 215–223.
  5. Mahoney CR, et al. (2007). Tyrosine supplementation mitigates working memory decrements during cold exposure. Physiology & Behavior, 92(4), 575–582.
  6. Goldman-Rakic PS, Muly EC, Williams GV. (2000). D1 receptors in prefrontal cells and circuits. Brain Research Reviews, 31(2–3), 295–301.
  7. Muly EC, Szigeti K, Goldman‐Rakic PS. (1998). D1 Receptor in interneurons of macaque prefrontal cortex. J. Neurosci., 18(24), 10553–10565.
  8. Cohen RA. (2014). The neuropsychology of attention. In Springer eBooks.
  9. Robertson IM, et al. (1997). Performance correlates of everyday attentional failures. Neuropsychologia, 35, 1373–1383.
  10. Huang H, Li R, Zhang J. (2023). A review of visual sustained attention: neural mechanisms. PeerJ, 11:e15351.
  11. De Martino B, Strange BA, Dolan RJ. (2007). Noradrenergic neuromodulation of human attention. Psychopharmacology, 197, 127–136.
  12. Jouvet M. (1969). Biogenic amines and the states of sleep. Science, 163, 32-41.
  13. Robinson TE, Berridge KC. (1993). The neural basis of drug craving. Brain Res Rev, 18, 247–291.
  14. Berridge CW, Waterhouse BD. (2003). The locus coeruleus–noradrenergic system. Brain Res Rev, 42, 33-88.
  15. Yu AJ, Dayan P. (2005). Uncertainty, neuromodulation, and attention. Neuron, 46, 681–692.
  16. Jin CY, Borst JP, van Vugt MK. (2020). Distinguishing vigilance decrement and mind-wandering. Eur J Neurosci, 52, 4147-4164.
  17. Westbrook A, Braver TS. (2016). Dopamine and cognitive effort. Neuron, 89(4), 695–710.
  18. Colzato LS, De Haan AM. (2014). Food for creativity: tyrosine promotes deep thinking. Psychological Research, 79(5), 709–714.
  19. Steenbergen L, Sellaro R, Hommel B. (2015). Tyrosine promotes cognitive flexibility. Neuropsychologia, 69, 50–55.
  20. Brady K, Brown JW, Thurmond JB. (1980). Behavioral and neurochemical effects of dietary tyrosine. Pharmacol Biochem Behav, 12, 667-674.
  21. Lehnert H, et al. (1984). Effects of dietary tyrosine under stress. Brain Res, 303, 215-223.
  22. Thomas JR, et al. (1999). Tyrosine improves working memory in multitasking. Pharmacol Biochem Behav, 64(3), 495–500.
  23. Colzato LS, Jongkees BJ, Sellaro R. (2013). Working memory reloaded with tyrosine. Front Behav Neurosci, 7.
  24. Tandon R, Keshavan MS, Nasrallah HA. (2008). Schizophrenia: Epidemiology and etiology. Schizophrenia Research, 102(1–3), 1–18.
  25. Clark C, Geffen G, Geffen LB. (1986). Role of monoamine pathways in attention and effort. Psychopharmacology, 90, 35–39.