The Science of Microdosing

What is Microdosing?

Microdosing involves taking very low doses of psilocybin mushrooms or truffles at regular intervals, typically over weeks or months. Psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound, is found in over 200 species of fungi. As a psychotropic agent, it can influence mood, behavior, thoughts, and perception. Btw, coffee is also a psychoactive agent and the most used one in the world.

How Microdosing works

Microdosing is all about sub-perceptual doses, and by that we mean you can carry on with your day as usual, while enjoying subtle benefits like a brighter mood, more energy, heightened creativity, relief from menstrual discomfort, and reduced anxiety. And that’s just scratching the surface…

What does Microdosing feel like?

You will not feel high. Microdosing is designed to be sub-perceptual, and most people simply feel a slight boost in mood, like on a really good day. However, though subtle on the surface, brain scans reveal how powerful practising microdosing really is. That’s why we emphasize mindful microdosing, it’s about noticing the gradual shifts within and working with this earth medicine.

The growing evidence of Microdosing

Positive results from microdosing are becoming hard to ignore. A recent Australian study with over 4,000 participants highlighted microdosing's benefits, including:

Lowered depression and anxiety
Decreased alcohol consumption
Enhanced creativity and focus

Psilocybin and neuroplasticity

At its core, microdosing psilocybin boosts neuroplasticity, which is your brain’s ability to form new connections and adapt to change. This state of openness encourages new ways of thinking and feeling, which over time can become lasting habits.

How psilocybin affects your brain

Psilocybin primarily affects two functions in your brain: it balances your serotonin, which you may know as the "happy hormone," but which is a much more complex hormone than that. About 90% of our serotonin production occurs in the gut, and it regulates many crucial body functions. It governs our mood, response to stress, sleep, digestion, hunger, body temperature, nausea, wound healing, bone health, sexual desire, and more.

Quieting the overactive mind

If words like self-sabotage, negative self-talk, insecurities, and anxieties are familiar to you then you are going to love this. Psilocybin lowers something we call the DMN (default mode network). The network is the “autopilot mode” for the brain, allowing us to conserve energy. This network is primarily active when your mind is wandering, engaged in self-reflection, or processing internal thoughts. An overactive DMN can trap you in negative thoughts or self-doubt, leading to excessive rumination and feelings of inadequacy.

As the DMN quiets, you may find yourself more engaged in your surroundings, more engaged in your work and more engaged with people you love. By breaking the cycle of negative thinking, microdosing facilitates a more grounded and positive outlook on life, empowering you to embrace new experiences with self confidence.

Regulating your fear center - calming the Amygdala

Imagine walking into a crowded room where you need to give a presentation. For some, this idea of public speaking triggers a rush of anxiety, sending the amygdala, the brain's threat-detection center into overdrive. Thats because this part of the brain perceives the situation as a threat, heightening your stress response and making it difficult to think clearly.

Microdosing can help regulate the amygdala's activity. By calming the amygdala, microdosing allows you to approach challenges with resilience and clarity, empowering you to navigate difficult situations more effectively minus the panic and self-doubt.

Building new pathways

Microdosing encourages new neural connections, improving communication between brain regions. This "cross-talk" blends your creative and logical thinking, helping you to not only to set intentions but to take action toward them with clarity and determination.

A path to personal growth

Microdosing creates the conditions for real change. It helps develop mindfulness, emotional resilience, and self-compassion. With the right mindset, you can break free from limiting beliefs, establish new positive habits, and discover a life of authenticity, which is really the biggest self love flex of them all.

Unsure where to start?

We get it, so for you to get startet we created the 5-week Mindful Microdosing Program, and the Complete Radical Wellbeing, written and narrated by world-leading psychologist and mindfulness expert Dr. Shauna Shapiro and neuroscientist Dr Amir Lotfi.