Education / Research

Microdosing Mushrooms Benefits: What the Studies Found

Last reviewed

Microdosing is where personal experience and lab results sit furthest apart, which makes it one of the most interesting questions in the field. Many people describe steadier mood, better focus, and more creativity. The first studies with placebo groups have now reported, and they are more cautious.

Every study below links to its source so you can read it yourself.

What the studies found

Small or open-label trials

A big self-blinded study: microdose and placebo groups both improved

In a citizen-science study, 191 people ran their own blinded microdosing experiment, using a placebo they could not identify. Most took LSD, and fewer took psilocybin mushrooms. Over four weeks, both the microdose and placebo groups improved on several measures, and there were no significant differences between them.

Worth knowing

Participants set up the protocol themselves and chose their own amounts, and nobody verified what the capsules contained. Microdosers were a self-selected group with optimistic expectations, and well-being rose only in the microdose group, though the difference between groups was not significant. It shows that expectation matters a great deal. It does not show that microdosing does nothing.

Small or open-label trials

A placebo-controlled study: real effects, no clear change in mood

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 34 healthy people, a small dose of dried mushrooms produced measurable effects, including a drop in one brain-wave measure and different ratings of how people felt in the moment. It produced no clear shift in mood or creativity on the days tested. The effects were clearest in people who correctly guessed what they had taken, and a few thinking tests showed small changes toward poorer performance.

Worth knowing

Healthy volunteers, with two dosing days a week for two weeks. Many results were not corrected for testing many things at once, about three quarters of people could tell which they had taken, and the potency of the mushrooms varied. It cannot say what happens to people who microdose for months.

Case reports and surveys

Surveys: better mood and focus, plus some discomfort

In one analysis of 278 people's own accounts, mostly from people who microdosed LSD, improved mood and focus were the benefits mentioned most. Some people also reported physical discomfort or more anxiety.

Worth knowing

Self-selected, recruited mainly from Reddit, self-reported, and with no comparison group. Surveys like this point researchers to questions worth testing. They cannot say what caused what.

What this means

So the honest answer today is that nobody knows yet how much of what people report comes from the mushroom itself, how much from the intention and routine around it, and how much from the two working together. Those are not rivals. Expectation and routine are a real part of any practice.

The studies so far were short and mostly in healthy volunteers or people who chose to microdose. Longer work in the people most likely to try it is what is needed next.

Whether a whole mushroom behaves differently from isolated psilocybin in people has not been studied. We have not found a human trial that compares the two directly. Our research page covers the one early hint, from mice.

Keep reading

This page is for adults 21 and older. It summarizes published research for education only. It is not medical or legal advice, and it makes no claim that any product sold by Luna treats, cures, prevents, or helps any condition. Laws about these mushrooms vary by place, and you are responsible for knowing yours.

Research moves quickly. We last checked this page against its sources on , and we will correct it if we get something wrong.