In the psychedelics world, microdosing means consuming a dose too small to cause hallucinations or otherwise affect normal cognitive functioning. It’s a popular trend that’s been gaining traction, particularly with people who want to take LSD or psilocybin mushrooms, but it remains relatively new and less well-understood. According to the 2021 Global Drug Survey, 1 in 4 people who reported using psychedelics used them at this low-dose level.

How to Start Microdosing Mushrooms: A Beginner’s Guide

But it’s unclear whether this trend actually improves mental health. And many experts say it’s important to differentiate between this sub-perceptual mushroom craze and full-dose psilocybin, which can cause intense, often traumatizing experiences that can last for weeks or months.

How to microdosing mushrooms, a person who takes a low-dose mushroom — sometimes called a “social” or “museum dose” — would consume less than 0.5 grams of the hallucinogenic Psilocybe cubensis strain. This is far below the “heroic dose” of five grams, which was referred to by Terence McKenna as a way to get high and experience psychedelic effects.

But the lower doses can still have a profound effect on a person. And some users report that this experience can be beneficial, boosting mood, focus and creativity. That’s why UC San Francisco psychologist Charles Woolley is running one of the first trials of naturally-derived botanical psilocin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) on healthy volunteers with the aim of testing its impact on cognition, mood, and brain activity. The goal is to determine if it can help reduce anxiety and depression and boost self-esteem, and to assess how safe and effective it might be at reducing these symptoms in real time over the course of a year.