Microdosing psychedelics provides benefits for many of the most common complaints of working a 9 to 5 schedule and fits the schedule perfectly!

Microdosing psychedelics appear to be one of the newer health trends taking the world by storm. It is quickly becoming evident that there are many positive benefits people can receive from psychedelics. Over 2/3’s of Canadians (a vast majority) work a 9 to 5 schedule. However, questions remain with many people as to how psychedelics can be incorporated into people’s lives who work a normal 9 to 5 work schedule? I have worked a consistent 9 to 5 schedule for well over a decade now, and I fully realize how monotonous, fatiguing and stress inducing this schedule can be. I have now microdosed psilocybin, off and on, for over a year and these are my thoughts.

Working a 5-day, 9 to 5 schedule fits perfectly with probably the most widely used microdosing protocol. The Stamets Protocol recommends that users microdose, with breakfast, for 5 days and then take 2 days off as a break and to reset your tolerances. This obviously correlates perfectly, allowing users to microdose Monday to Friday while taking the weekends off to reset.

Some of the most common complaints about working a 9 to 5 schedule are that it can be monotonous, boring, fatiguing, stressful, anxiety inducing, and even make one feel uncreative or lead to having trouble focusing. For me, I have found that microdosing has greatly reduced the amount of stress and anxiety that I feel and gives me an incredible boost of energy during the day. By feeling less stressed and anxious, and having that extra energy to power through some of those difficult days, microdosing has really helped me become more productive and more engaged with my work and colleagues. The boring tasks do not seem as difficult to focus on, and I notice that tasks that I used to despise I was able to focus on, complete the work, and move on to my more interesting and rewarding work.

I have found these effects have lasted even during weeks when I was not microdosing. One fascinating property associated with microdosing psilocybin is neurogenesis, meaning, the ability for the brain to form new neural connections and new neurons. The brain can essentially start to rewire itself. This has been studied in scientific studies and is a crucial reason why so many people believe psychedelics can help people with serious afflictions such as PTSD and end of life trauma. Psychedelics allow these individuals to rewire their brain by creating new neural connections (neurogenesis). 

To me, the “normal” person working a 9 to 5 job, I believe a similar phenomenon has occurred.  This has allowed me to set aside the stress and anxiety I felt when I would even just think about work and has allowed my brain to effectively rewire itself to be able to cope with the most difficult aspects of living the 9 to 5 life in a rigid and demanding job. Microdosing psilocybin can be fully integrated into the 9 to 5 life, and it appears that many of the benefits of psilocybin are likewise beneficial to living a productive and happy life.

– Matt // MindfulMeds