Micro-Dosing: A Personal Journey to Calmness and Clarity
Context
About 4 months ago, I started micro-dosing for the sake of anxiety, focus, and overall mood. I tracked these metrics on a daily basis and saw a clear indication that micro-dosing was having a significant impact on all fronts.
It’s not an overstatement that microdosing has changed my life.
Effect
I find that micro dosing quiets the incessant voice in my head and allows me to be more calm and present.
The end of the day comes around and I often think “Wow, what a relaxed, calm day. I got a lot done, I enjoyed life, I feel good”
You can expect to feel calmer, not hallucinate at all, and do anything you’d do sober (such as drive). No need to refrain from caffeine or alcohol or anything but you may want to isolate micro-dosing as a variable (if you normally drink coffee in the AM, don’t stop)
I highly suggest you read this on Reddit to learn more about the effects.
Protocol
There are many different protocols that people use that you can read about at the sources below.
I’d suggest you start with 1 capsule every 3 days, taken first thing upon waking, 30 minutes before food.
The day you take it the effect is the most apparent.
The day after you’ll have a bit of an afterglow.
The 3rd day, there might still be an afterglow, though less pronounced.
This protocol will allow you to isolate the days when you microdose so you are aware of the effects
In general, it’s said - Start low, go slow, take time off.
This is a great starter’s guide.
Dose
Most people take 100mg capsules. You can start with 50mg in case you are sensitive. Order capsules at Schedule35.co
Fadiman (the grandfather of microdosing) spoke at the conference I attended, he said - If anxiety rising, the dose is too high. If anxiety lessens, the dose is good.
Note - a hallucinogenic full mushroom ”trip” is 2 to 3 grams. At 100mg you are taking 1/20th to 1/30th a full dose.
Tracking
As it’s said “Measure what matters”
I wanted to know that microdosing was making a difference so I measured what mattered to me on a Google sheet (see below). Not shown are the checkboxes for each day where I indicate if I microdose among other mindfulness and health tactics. Conditional shading helps visualize trends.
I track anxiety, focus, and mood. I’d suggest you track whatever is important to you on a scale of 1 to 7, everyday.
1 is the worst day ever.
7 is the best day ever.
4 is an average day.
Risk
Provided you don’t take prescription medication (if so read this interaction chart), there is basically no risk to microdosing. Worst case you’ll be slightly more anxious and distractable, as I was when I tried 200mg to microdose.
Read the Reddit link under the effect header on this page to learn more about side effects and risks.
Sources
This subreddit (which is linked throughout this page) is the best introductory source. I would spend 30 minutes reading their guides.
Let’s Connect
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