Is Microdosing Really All It’s Hyped up to Be?

It’s been described as a new job enhancer, mood booster, and even as a way for tired moms to actually enjoy playing with their kids. The secret? Microdosing — taking tiny amounts of psychedelic drugs to reap the benefits, without getting high. Microdosing has been the topic of debate for several years . The debaters, much like with any biohacking trend, are split evenly into fans and stout deniers. Like with any wellness trend, productivity hack and otherwise new cure-all, the question needs to be asked — is it all a bunch of bull-?

I decided to talk to some microdosers about their experiences, and look at some of the science behind using psychedelics for self-improvement. I contacted 20 microdosers from online forums, to have a conversation with the people who swear by this habit, and ask them some questions about what it’s all about.

“Let’s talk about what microdosing is and the misconceptions about it”

“I think people go into microdosing with high expectations of what is going to happen. To be honest everyone is different and will have very different experiences depending on how their life is. I personally just like to tell people who are interested that it is an experiment and to just go see for themselves what the benefits and downsides to it are.”

“And how has it actually helped you guys?”

“I feel like I can be my best self, all the time. I’m more focused and use all my skills to their fullest.”

“It didn’t help me with productivity as much as I thought it would.”

“Same here. I’m not saying that it doesn’t help a lot of people with productivity, but I’m just as productive and even just as creative when sober.”

“Before microdosing, my anxiety was ruining my memory and career. I no longer have the normal ‘pangs of dread’ so I feel it has given me my life back beyond anything else.”

“How much is a microdose?”

“Less is more in microdosing. I do 2.5ug. My wife loves a 4ug dose about 2–3 times a month…”

“So it’s anything between those amounts? Is there a dose that’s too small?”

“A misconception I see is that you won’t see any benefits or effects under 4ug, but I do.”

“I’ve seen far too many comments on here about heroic microdoses. People thinking it’s about being able to be functional while perceptibly high. And I just say ‘No, that’s called lightly tripping’ — the exact opposite of what this is about.”

“So do you sometimes do it just to get high?”

“I’d love it if the general public thought that microdosing has NOTHING to do with getting high….but in fact, it seems there’s a pretty big overlap between people who microdose and people who wanna get high.”

“How do you prepare a dose, and make sure it’s the right amount?”

“I will sometimes feel like a dose is hitting me much harder than it should, and other times I don’t feel anything at all.”

“You need to start grinding your shrooms in a coffee grinder because different parts of the mushroom will have different levels of psilocybin so you’re not getting an even amount if you take it in parts”

“I agree, everything changed when I started grinding mine”

“Have you ever had a bad microdose?”

“When I microdosed my first time on a day I had work I accidentally went above threshold, had an anxiety attack, couldn’t function normally and called in sick”

“I feel really dizzy and anxious every time I take a dose, I’m wondering if my mushrooms could be moldy. Last time, I checked and they had these blue streaks.”

“The blue streaks are psilocybin, but yeah they can get moldy and make you feel bad. How do you usually take them?”

“In a cheese sandwich so I don’t taste it.”

Moldy shrooms, anyone? It seems there’s a lot to think about when microdosing, but to truly understand the effects of psychedelics like psilocybin can have, I read into some of the research that has looked into that.

What does the science say?

While there has been some research into microdosing, the evidence for the benefits users claim is largely absent. Although the evidence for microdosing is on the whole scant, one study found that microdosing psilocybin led to an increase in convergent and divergent thinking — skills used in logical solution finding and mental flexibility and thinking “outside the box.”

There hasn’t been much to go on, and single studies are hardly fool-proof. There is, however, another area where we might see psychedelics make an entrance.

Psychedelic drugs have resurged in the past decade as candidates for a whole new type of therapy in psychiatry and beyond. Most notably, research findings point to potential therapeutic benefits in mood disorders because of the serotonergic activity of psilocybin and LSD. SSRIs, traditionally prescribed for depression, rely on the same biochemical mechanisms. There’s evidence that naturally derived medication such as psilocybin could be safer to use than currently approved treatments.

The takeaway

On the whole, it seems that psychedelics are worth exploring as therapies for mood disorders. But it seems that there’s little confirmation outside of tightly controlled studies, under strict conditions that would be extremely hard to maintain in a home setting without the right equipment to control dosing and drug purity. Not to mention professional guidance. If you want a verdict, you’re not gonna get one this time around.

The answer to whether or not microdosing actually works is: it might, but it could also lead to unwanted effects. If there’s something to be learned here, it’s that some trends are not what they’re hyped up to be, and maybe sticking to mindfulness is your best bet while we wait for the science to catch up.