Does Microdosing actually work?
The research of Psychedelics has mostly focused on clinical angles (PTSD, Depression et cetera) using large (macro) doses under supervision of a psychiatrist. Yet fewer studies have investigated microdoses of psychoactive compounds, despite its popularity as a believed cognitive upgrade. I myself, as is fashionable of late, have done a little research of my own.
This idea of using compounds as smart drugs is not new. The movie Limitless is often suggested to be based on the drug Modafinil (otherwise known as Provigil), and the use of amphetamine based pharmacological compounds for studying is so widespread at this point, to call it fringe would be disingenuous. Over the years, psychedelics in particular, have been used for the belief they may enhance productivity, creativity and cognitive flexibility — but how legitimate is this claim really if there are few scientific studies which validate it? In technology, the space I’ve worked for all of my career, microdosing psychoactive compounds was frequently suggested as a performance-enhancing-drug of sorts, a cognitive edge in a domain where edges can mean billions, but could this have all been a hallucination in itself?
Over the years, I’ve gone through periods of micro dosing (both LSD and Psilocybin) to see if it would improve all kinds of cognitive functioning, and had some mixed results. My experiences, obviously, were all anecdotal — there was no real way I could…
