Why The Stamet’s Stack is Considered One of the Best Ways to Microdose Psilocybin Mushrooms
By: Michael McIntosh, October 2, 2022
Paul Stamets recommends combining psilocybin, Lion’s Mane mushroom, and Niacin (Vitamin B3) four days per week for the optimal microdosing experience. The synergies between these compounds creates an “entourage effect” which increases neurogenesis and decreases inflammation. This can ultimately help emotional wellbeing, creativity, trauma, and anxiety.
Image: Psilocybe Cubensis
Image: Lion’s Mane Mushroom (hericium erinaceus)
Who is Paul Stamets?
“Now we’re at a junction and ready for the next leap in human consciousness. I think psilocybin should be looked on as a nootropic vitamin, and there is a huge amount of interest in this. At Johns Hopkins University, as you probably well know, New York University, UCLA, and elsewhere in Europe there are major clinical studies that have been conducted in the last 2 years showing exactly what I’m saying about overcoming fear response, neurogenesis, overcoming PTSD… this is now, medically, quite seriously considered, and something I think we should explore under controlled settings.”
Paul Stamets is a renowned mycologist who began exploring his curiosity with fungi in 1973 after a psilocybin experience helped him overcome his lifelong stutter at 18 years old. This experience led him to devote his life to studying fungi. He studied under Gary Lincoff and Andrew Weil before he started Fungi Perfecti in 1980. Over the years, he has obtained 25 different patents related to fungi. These include using fungi as antiviral compounds for pesticides, filtration systems for oil spills, building materials, and medical applications. He has collaborated with the National Institute of Health, Washington State University, and the US Department of Agriculture for much of his research. He is an expert and a maverick by promoting a better world through the medical, spiritual, and scientific use of fungi.
What is the Stamets Stack?
A stack is a combination of supplements, vitamins, and medicines which interact with each other to create a synergistic experience inside the human body. Paul Stamets has recommended a microdosing stack. The Stamets Stack is a schedule for dosing and a combination of compounds to dose. The stack is in the early stages of clinical trials but has been associated with a number of benefits:
better mood
reduced depression
reduced anxiety
higher levels of creativity
more intense, slower sense of connection
slowed aging of the brain
increase of neurons in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system
enhanced sense of self
relief from PTSD
increased ability to socialize
Stamets Stack Schedule:
Microdosing Days (4 Days On / 3 Days Off)
Paul Stamets recommends microdosing four days in a row, and then taking a three day break. You would continue this protocol for four weeks before taking a 2-4 week break. His rationale is that by microdosing this way, the body will cumulatively internalize the psychological and physiological effects of psilocybin. The three day break is to break the body’s tolerance to psilocybin so that when continued again, the body and mind can re-engage the psilocybin.
Stamets Stack Compounds:
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In a statistically significant number of studies, psilocybin has unambiguously helped mood, depression, and anxiety. Psilocybin is a chemical compound inside more than 200 species of mushrooms around the world. A number of studies have been conducted using pure pharmaceutical grade psilocybin. Paul Stamets recommends taking Psilocybe Mushrooms over pure pharmaceutical grade psilocybin because psilocybin mushrooms contain several other tryptamines that are metabolically in the chain of production of psilocybin or its degradation. These tryptamines are baeocystin, norbaeocystin, norpsilocin. They are non-psychoactive yet have been proven to induce a strong neurogenesis effect inside the brain. These extra analogues stimulated neuron growth within 7 - 12 days.
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Lion’s Mane Mushroom (hericium erinaceus) is a large white finely-haired puffy mushroom that resembles a white lion’s mane as it grows. It is also nicknamed the bearded tooth fungus in Japan where it is used by Buddhist monks. Native to many Asian countries and cultures, Lion’s Mane has been used for thousands of years due to the bioactive compounds which have beneficial effects on the brain and body. Like some of the compounds in psilocybin mushrooms, Lion’s Mane mushrooms have been proven to stimulate the growth of new brain cells through two of its’ compounds; hericonones and erinacines. When the growth of these cells takes place in the hippocampus area of the brain, it can cause an increase in the processing of memories and emotional responses. What makes Lion’s Mane an especially powerful additive to the psilocybin stack is the exponential entourage effect of neurogenesis. Whereas both the compounds in psilocybin and Lion’s Mane mushrooms have positive effects on the growth of new neurons and cells inside the brain, when combined, the effect is multiplied. Paul Stamets has indicated that the mycelium portion of Lion’s Mane is more effective than the fruiting body at stimulating NGF, nerve growth factor.
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Paul Stamets recommends adding niacin (vitamin B3) to a psilocybin microdose stack because niacin is a vasodilator which opens up the blood vessels and can deliver the psilocybin & it’s analogous tryptamines to the extremities of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The highest level of neurogenesis takes place at the nerve extremities, so niacin acting as a flushing agent helps deliver psilocybin and the other compounds across the blood-brain barrier to the furthest ends of the nervous systems. Additionally when taken at extra high doses, niacin will cause a flushing effect inside the body where the user will feel some nausea and burning on the skin. This is not dangerous but is extremely uncomfortable, so this acts as a natural anti-abuse measure for psilocybin.
Microdose Sizing Portions
The following recommended dosage size is based on an individual who is 154 pounds (74kg)
Image: Paul Stamets