Recent Microdosing Research in 2024 - The Stamets Stack

Research on psychedelics and microdosing is still relatively new, but it has been increasing. Some recent studies have focused on one of the most popular regimens for microdosing psilocybin: the Stamets Stack. If you've seen our Intro to Microdosing post, you'll be familiar it - the Stamets Stack recommends a schedule of 4 days on followed by 3 days off.

The protocol is named after Paul Stamets, a respected mycologist and advocate for protecting humans and their ecology. He promotes the use of medicinal mushrooms to improve immunity and abilities in our communities.

He recommends combining the small dose of psilocybin with Lion's Mane and Niacin. The Lion's Mane is thought to help with neurogenesis and the Niacin helps with the absorption of the supplements to the brain and other extremities.

To support this stack, Stamets has pointed to studies that show Psilocybin can cause neurogenesis. Lion's Mane has also been shown to cause neurogenesis, improve memory, and maybe even protect against Alzheimer's. Overall, if you're considering microdosing for the cognitive and performance benefits, this dose might be for you:

• 0.1g psilocybin mushroom powder
• 50mg of lion's mane
• 100mg of niacin

Since 2020, Stamets has been collecting anonymous data from a massive citizen science project called microdose.me to track the effects of microdosing this stack. He and his collaborators published two articles in Nature about the data and its implications:

In 2021: Adults who microdose psychedelics report health related motivations and lower levels of anxiety and depression compared to non-microdosers

In 2023: Psilocybin microdosers demonstrate greater observed improvements in mood and mental health at one month relative to non-microdosing controls

The project is still collecting anonymous data to further refine its conclusions! If you want to contribute as either a microdoser OR non-microdoser, you can sign up at microdose.me.

The studies so far suggest that microdosing can bring massive relief for depression, anxiety, and increased mood. In future studies from this project, they plan to measure whether healthy participants also see improvements in their moods and abilities through visual, cognitive, and hearing acuity tests.

Stamets' hypothesis is that this stack can bring benefits to most humans, because it promotes neurogenesis. The "tap test", typically used for people with Traumatic Brain Injuries, is a test that measures the speed of your reflexes. Stamets believes that the stack can improve the speed of your reflexes, which can be a good indicator of your brain's health. Early data suggests that people who used the Stamets Stack increased their tap test scores from 48 to 68 taps (per 10 seconds) in only one month! This is an increase in motor and brain performance that could benefit not just athletes and musicians, but all of us. Although the data is still being collected and validated, these are exciting early results.