Benefits of Microdosing LSD: Benefits & Challenges

Wanting to try out microdosing psychedelics, but wanting to know about the benefits of microdosing and challenges of this practice? Luckily, the information that is available on microdosing psychedelics is only growing each day. The list of benefits seem to differ from individual to individual. The same goes for the list of challenges. Although the list of benefits seems to be significantly longer than the list of challenges, we are going to briefly go over both.

Since the list of benefits varies so much depending on who you ask, we are going to discuss a few of the main benefits. Please keep in mind that you may not experience these specific benefits from microdosing, however, I cannot go over every single befit that can be reported or else this article would be miles long. Perhaps that is an article topic for another day!

In this article, we will be using LSD as an example when discussing microdosing.

Let’s get into it!

What is ‘microdosing’?

Before we go any further, you may be wondering what exactly is microdosing. Essentially, microdosing is when an individual ingests a micro-amount of a substance. Nowadays, this substance is often psychedelic. Of course, you can technically microdose any substance, however, when you hear the term ‘microdosing’ being discussed, it is most likely about microdosing a psychedelic substance. You can do this with a range of different psychedelic substances.

You may be wondering, why on Earth would someone take a tiny amount of a psychoactive substance? What is the point?

To get the effect of microdosing, you need to take a non-psychoactive amount. Let’s use LSD for example. If you take the standard 100-150mcg blotter of LSD, you will experience a mind-blowing, reality-altering, impactful experience. The effects will last anywhere from 8-14 hours and it may even change your life forever!

While taking a ‘full’ dose of a psychedelic substance can hold absolutely amazing benefits on its own, what you can achieve from taking a micro-amount is very different. If you wanted to microdose, you would take 10mcg of LSD (for a rough example) instead of taking a ‘full’ dose of around 100-150mcg of LSD. This 10mcg of LSD is so small that it is non-psychoactive. This means that it will not result in a ‘high’. Thousands of individuals take micro-amounts of psychedelics like LSD multiple times a week, and often before they head to work.

It may sound risky, however, microdosing is a non-psychoactive amount, that being said, there is not much risk actually involved. However, it is often suggested to try your first ever microdose over the weekend, until you figure out the ultimate dosage for your desires.

Benefits of Microdosing LSD: The Top 3

As stated above, I am only going to highlight the ‘key’ benefits that most people get out of this practice. Please keep in mind that everyone’s microdosing journey is completely unique for many reasons. To keep things extremely simplified, let’s look at 3 of the most ‘common’ benefits that microdosers receive.

Increased Focus/Concentration
This is, by far, the most commonly reported benefits of microdosing LSD. Brain fog or general lack of locus is something that most of us do or have experienced. If you have experienced a lack of focus, then you know how challenging it can be to complete a task when you are struggling to concentrate on it. Lack of focus can really get in the way of many things in our lives.
When LSD is taken in larger doses, it is known to be very stimulating. Microdosing LSD, as you can imagine, is known to slightly stimulate the brain. This slight brain stimulation is what is believed to help increase the focus of microdosers.
Boosted Creativity
In a world where social media seems to be taking over, expanding reach of all forms of art is ‘easier’ than ever. Because of this, more young individuals are going after their dreams of making money via their passion; art. We all know that one of the many challenges that artists face is keeping their creative juices flowing. This can be very hard, especially during a ‘creative drought’ or, ‘creative rut’.
One of the benefits of microdosing LSD is that it promotes neuroplasticity. This benefit is linked to boosting your creativity. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to form/reorganize neural connections, especially in response to learning and/or experience. This means microdosing may help our brains learn, adapt and make new connections with more ease.
That being said, microdosing is known to help you ‘think outside the box’ and create new unique creative concepts. This is why it is meant to help people everywhere boost their creativity!
Self Motivation
Let’s talk about productivity and how important it is to maintain a productive lifestyle.
The last, but still very useful, benefits are producing self-motivation. Microdosing is known to give you that ‘get it done’ attitude that many naturally have. Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky and many find self-motivation very hard to initiate. If you have this attitude about what you are doing, you are naturally more likely to be productive.
I know that when I successfully practice a productive work ethic, I am ten times more motivated about whatever it is that I am doing. Personally, I struggle with this aspect of my life a lot. My work revolves around a very tight schedule. If I let my productivity slip for even just one day, it can really mess up the rest of my week and disrupt my workflow, getting in the way of meeting deadlines.
Microdosing has really been a game-changer for me in this aspect. If you struggle with this, you may want to give this practice a try and see if it helps you as well.

Challenges you may face when microdosing:

Although there are not many challenges to list as this practice is pretty risk-free, there are a few we can go over.

First off, one of the main challenges you may deal with is legality. Unfortunately, the world is not ready to normalize using psychedelics. There is still a huge taboo around psychedelics and society has not yet fully accepted the possible benefits that psychedelics have to offer. However, do not let that discourage you. I believe the microdosing movement is going to play a large role in normalizing the usage of psychedelics. Luckily, if you live in one of the few countries that allow it, you may be able to purchase legal microdosing products.

Dosage: Always start small

Another challenge you may face is dosage. If you are illegally purchasing you psychedelics, an accurate dosage is not always ensured. This is why it is recommended (if you can) to purchase your microdosing products from a trusted, legal vendor. If you buy a tab of LSD off the street and attempt to cut it into 10 tiny pieces, a lot can go wrong. However, if you purchase legal psychedelic microdosing product, they will be separated into exact dosages, ensuring you are ingesting the exact desired amount.

Another point to be made in regards to dosage: Always start small. For example, if you hear that 10mcg of LSD is the believed to be the ‘optimal’ dose, try starting with 5mcg if you can. If your microdoses come in the form of a pill with no split to break it in half, try using a pill cutter so you can start small and work your way up. Always start small-baby steps!

Before you even consider microdosing, make sure that whatever substance you are microdosing is not known to have a bad reaction with any medication you are already taking. Microdosing is not suggested to those who take prescribed meds. If you are breastfeeding or pregnant, it is also not recommended.

That being said, it may be worthwhile to keep a journal for the days you microdose. That way, if you find some days something just isn’t sitting right with you, going back in your notes and noticing any patterns is possible. This can be very helpful.

To use myself as an example, when I started microdosing I kept a journal and documented every day I did and didn’t microdose to simply keep track of my schedule and any progress in my journey. I noticed that some days I would feel over-stimulated, although I was not exceeding my regular 10mcg dosage. I had no idea why some days I would feel completely normal and others I would feel anxious from what felt like overstimulation.

Upon realising this, I took a look back at my notes. In my notes I included how much sleep I got the night before, any major event that was taking place in my life at the time, and what I ate/drank that day. By looking back at these documentations, I was able to see what was causing this, what seemed like random, overstimulation. I noticed that on days when I would microdose and drink more than one cup of coffee, I was left feeling anxious.

I am a big coffee drinker and I have always been able to have up to 3 cups of coffee without feeling one bit anxious. However, a mixture of more than 1 cup of coffee and 10mcg created unwanted anxiety for that day. I have some friends that experience the same issue, whilst I have other friends that can drink just as much coffee as they normally would and microdosing wouldn’t overstimulate them. Now I simply make sure that I limit myself to one coffee on microdosing days. On other days, I enjoy as much as I please.

This is a great example of personally optimizing your microdosing journey. Although this is not a serious risk, I personally would suggest keeping track of any foods/liquids you take during this journey to minimize any possible discomfort.

Let’s wrap it up!

Of course, there is a lot to consider and look into before introducing this practice into your life. With almost everything, both benefits and challenges are present. Although this statement may be slightly biased as microdosing has worked so well for me – I feel that the benefits far outweigh the challenges. If you live in a place where microdosing products are legally available, it doesn’t hurt to give it a try as the challenges for you are very minimal.

You may even discover benefits you weren’t expecting to find – it is up to you when choosing a path to down.