- Fast and discreet shipping!
- Ordered before 16:00, Shipped today
Addiction, to a substance or behavior, is a complex condition that is difficult to treat. Smoking, overeating, gambling, drinking, online shopping, snacking, drugs, it could be anything you are addicted to. Quitting, that’s hard as hell. It has to do with the reward system in the brain, ingrained behavior and the feeling that you can’t do without that behavior or the drug. Microdosing is not a panacea, but it could make quitting an addiction just a little bit easier.
An addiction has a very negative impact on your life, both socially and financially and on your health. That goes for any addiction. Even if you are only addicted to certain behaviors (like shopping, gambling, or sex), at some point it will impact all parts of your life.
How does that work exactly? Addiction affects the way your brain works, both in terms of cells and neurotransmitters. These are signal substances that convey messages. In addiction, it is mainly dopamine that plays a role. This substance ensures that we experience a feeling of satisfaction. It gives the same feeling as when you have accomplished something well. That’s the brain’s reward system being activated. When you use drugs or another addictive substance or perform the addictive behavior, more dopamine is produced. And you want to experience that feeling again and again.
It is precisely because of the powerful connection with the reward system that an addiction is difficult to break. The addictive nature of drugs and the like makes you think you can’t live without the substance or that behavior. Life isn’t worth living then. However, psilocybin seems to be very promising in the treatment of addictions.
Psilocybin is the mind-expanding substance in magic mushrooms. It causes hallucinations, but is non-addictive and one of the safest psychoactive substances. Scientists are very interested in psilocybin, as it seems that it can help with various mental disorders, such as depression, PTSD and anxiety. And so is addiction.
The brain is enormously complex and we still do not understand all of its structure and workings. What we do know is that certain areas are connected and that your thoughts often follow fixed patterns. What a psychoactive substance like psilocybin can do is reduce activity in certain areas and promote it in others. It stimulates creative thinking and connections between parts of the brain can become more dynamic. If you take a normal dose of mushrooms, for example, you will be tripping. During such a trip your perception changes and you can gain deep insights into your life. This can cause you to stop needing an addiction or just have no interest in it.
Because mind-altering substances can have such a special impact on the brain, there is a lot of interest in the possibilities of psilocybin in addiction problems. At Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, Matthew Johnson researched the use of psilocybin in tobacco addiction. He indicates that tobacco is a good topic for this study. It is the leading cause of preventable mortality worldwide. In addition, 70% of smokers would prefer to stop.
Fifteen people participated in the study. This is not microdosing, because normal doses of psilocybin were used. On average, each participant smoked 19 cigarettes per day for 30 years. Each had usually averaged 6 failed attempts to quit. Participants received 15 weeks of smoking cessation therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy, during the study. In addition, a dose of psilocybin was given at week 5, week 7 and week 13.
So this dose was strong enough to trip. The participants therefore stayed in the clinic all day and listened to music. The researchers advised them to do introspection (self-examination) while tripping.
It was found that 6 months after treatment, 80% of the participants no longer smoked. It’s a small study and there are more factors at play that influence smoking. But the researchers believe that the psilocybin played a major role in this. The percentage of people who quit smoking was much higher in this study than in other therapies. Usually the success rate there is only 35%.
One participant says he feels liberated from the grip cigarettes had on him. “Cigarettes are just not important now,” he says. But the experience didn’t just affect smoking. It has changed his life, for example how he views life and death. He gained enriching insights.
In the above mentioned research normal doses of magic mushrooms were used. However, a more practical way to enjoy the benefits of psilocybin is by microdosing. You do not take a full dose, but a tenth of it. You can feel the subtle influence of psilocybin, but you will not experience hallucinations. This has the advantage that you can continue to do your normal daily activities.
There have been no studies on the positive effects of microdosing on addiction. However, you can find user experiences. Microdosers are enthusiastic about microdosing for mental problems, including addiction was given as a reason for doing so. 44% said that microdosing helps with mental problems and that it makes them feel better about themselves. It can have a positive effect on your self-confidence, concentration and creativity.
Would you like to use microdosing to support you in your attempt to get rid of your addiction? Then use the truffles from Microdosing XP. In this handy package you will find 6 individually wrapped microdosing truffles, so you are always sure you are taking the right dose.
