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An athlete’s take on microdosing

Microdosing Mushrooms: Athlete Perspectives on the Psychedelic Supplement

A tiny dose of magic mushrooms might help you improve your form in the gym.

According to jiu jitsu athlete Adam Hanna, microdosing before a workout could help you focus on mind-body connection to better understand your body’s movement patterns.

“You are learning to do the same moves while under different states of consciousness, which helps you feel very small details,” he explains.

“Example: Exactly where my weight is in my fingers in a handstand. Is there enough weight in my thumb and index finger? You can hone in on stuff like this. It can help you really focus exclusively on tiny details that you don’t always think to do when sober.”

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Ketamine for corporate wellness

Numinus Pilots Mental Health Program for Corporate Clients in Utah

With companies investing more and more money in their employees’ mental health, psychedelic therapy could soon be included in your benefits package.

In 2019, the CBD company HempLucid partnered with Numinus Wellness (NUMI) to offer ketamine-assisted therapy to its staff members. The results were so positive that Numinus is planning to expand the corporate ketamine services to all of its 13 clinics in North America.

“It’s been revolutionary to how we operate as a business,” says HempLucid’s Founder and CEO Chase Hudson. “Offering ketamine treatments to our employees has shown incredible benefits for healing, positivity, and productivity in the work environment.

If anyone manages to negotiate ketamine therapy into their benefits package, please let us know

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What machine learning tells us about microdosing

Natural language signatures of psilocybin microdosing

The benefits of microdosing can be so subtle that they’re hard to measure in clinical settings, which is why this study turned to machine learning and natural language processing.

Essentially, patients were asked a series of subjective questions following psilocybin microdoses or placebo doses, and the interviews were analyzed with AI.

The key takeaways?

  1. A “sentiment analysis” measured the connotation of each word as positive, negative, or neutral. Sentiment scores increased while microdosing, suggesting that psilocybin has a positive effect on mood and subjective well-being.
  2. Verbosity (length of responses in number of words) increased for all questions when microdosing, which may reflect increased enthusiasm, motivation, and energy.
  3. Semantic variability (how much the meaning of consecutive words changed) was not affected by microdosing. This implies that microdosing does not lead to incoherent speech and might not enhance creativity like many believe. 

It’s important to note that the microdose were fairly large – 500 mg of dried mushrooms. It would be interesting to see how a 100 or 200 mg dose compares.

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1 psilocybin therapy session = 12 months of therapy alone

Tryp Therapeutics Announces Results of First Patient Dosed in Its Phase II Clinical Trial for the Treatment of Binge Eating Disorder

Tryp Therapeutics (TRYP) and University of Florida initiated the first-ever psilocybin therapy study on binge eating disorder, and the results are already showing promise.

Just 4 weeks after receiving Tryp’s psilocybin formulation, TRP-8802, the first patient experienced:

  • Reduced overall anxiety
  • Reduced anxiety around food
  • Reduced compulsion to overeat
  • Improved self-image and confidence 
  • Significant weight loss

“We believe that the improvements witnessed in this patient following a single intervention with TRP-8802 in combination with tailored psychotherapy are on par with what might be possible in 12 months of extensive psychotherapy alone,” says Tryp’s Interim CEO and Chief Scientific Officer Jim Gilligan.

Researchers will follow up with the patient again in 8 weeks to see if the benefits are sustained. Up to 9 more patients will participate in the study as well.

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Developing psychedelic treatments for ADHD and social anxiety

Filament Health and Jaguar Health Sign Letter of Intent to Develop Botanical Prescription Drugs for Specific Mental Health Indications

Filament Health (FH) announced several exciting updates this week.

First, the company shared that it has successfully developed a pharmaceutical-grade ayahuasca extract that can be administered in a capsule.

Filament also announced that it cultivated its 70th variety of psilocybin mushrooms and is conducting research to determine the most potent and effective variety.

Additionally, the Vancouver-based company is partnering with Jaguar Health to develop natural psychedelic medicines for neurodegenerative diseases, addiction, and mental health disorders. The partners are currently identifying plant candidates to treat ADHD and social anxiety disorder.

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Women-focused psilocybin study for depression

A New Clinical Trial in South Africa Aims to Study the Effect of Psilocybin on HIV Positive Women with Major Depressive Disorder

Women are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men, but they’re often underrepresented in clinical trials.

Additionally, individuals with chronic illnesses like HIV often suffer from depression as well, which can make them less likely to adhere to their medications.

That’s why Cannsun Medicinal Global is investigating psilocybin as a treatment for depression in women who are HIV-positive.

The phase 2 trial received approval and will begin next month in South Africa.

“It is vitally important to have a deeper understanding of how women respond to medical treatment for major depression versus men in order to develop psychedelic therapies and treatment protocols for women that have clinically significant outcomes that are safe and effective,” says Donaghue Woodman, the company’s Head of R&D and Chief Medical Information Officer.

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Largest psychedelic neuroimaging study to date

UNITy: World’s first study of how DMT-induced brain changes predict improved wellbeing

University College London is raising funds for the world’s largest brain imaging study on psychedelics, aka Project UNITy.

In the first phase of the study, 150 people will receive three brain scans: one while watching a movie, one while dosed with DMT or a placebo, and another while watching a movie post-DMT trip or placebo.

Then, researchers will use an app to track participants’ changes in wellbeing for one year. 

The study will reveal which specific brain networks are altered on DMT (such as those related to vision, memory, or language), as well as which networks are linked to positive changes in wellbeing.

If successful, a second phase of the study will be conducted to see if DMT can reduce alcohol consumption and “reactivate” memory networks in hazardous drinkers.

Those who make a contribution to the study can receive goodies like trippy artwork, event tickets, and even a dinner with the scientists.

Learn more

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Why ketamine reduces depression so quickly

Why ketamine is a speedster antidepressant

Several studies have found that ketamine produces a rapid antidepressant effect, reducing suicidal ideation in just hours.

A new study from Northwestern University sheds light on why the benefits are so instantaneous.

Traditional antidepressants work by increasing the number of neurons in the brain, which can take several weeks.

Ketamine, on the other hand, was found to increase activity in newborn neurons, which then activates other cells in the hippocampus.

“This small population of cells acts like a match, starting a fire that ignites a bunch of activity in a lot of other cells that produce the behavioral effects,” says lead study author Dr. John Kessler.

“That’s important because when you give ketamine to patients now, it affects multiple regions of the brain and causes a lot of adverse side effects. But since we now know exactly which cells we want to target, we can design drugs to focus only on those cells.”

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Psilocybin for gut health

Silo Wellness To Acquire Canadian Dyscovry Science, Producer Of Psilocybin For IBS Treatment

Shrooms are known to cause nausea, so you wouldn’t expect them to help with digestive issues.

However, the Toronto-based startup Dyscovry Science Ltd. is developing a synthetic psilocybin formulation to target irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Psilocybin’s anti-inflammatory effect may help with the disorder.

The preliminary research must be promising because Silo Wellness (SILO) just entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Dyscovry Science.

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Update on Awakn’s ketamine study

Awakn Life Sciences Files Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Application For The Treatment Of Behavioral Addictions

Awakn Life Sciences (AWKN) filed an international patent application for its ketamine treatment for behavioural addictions like gambling, gaming, binge eating, and compulsive sexual behaviour. 

Plus, the company shared a bit more info on the “hugely promising” pilot study mentioned last week.

The treatment was found to reduce symptoms of addiction as well as comorbid conditions like depression and anxiety. Some patients no longer qualified for a diagnosis of addiction after the ketamine therapy.

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