15 Ways to Make Microdosing More Effective: The Science of Integration

0:00Hey there, how you doing, Dr. Dave here, microdose U. Today I've got a really special episode and a very special guest. Janelle, one of our faculty members here at microdose U is going to be sharing 15 things to do alongside of the microdosing. I've talked to you about this for years. I've shared with you that it's not good enough really just to go ahead and swallow a capsule, eat a piece of chocolate, eat a mushroom, whatever. You've got to do some integration work alongside of this to get the best results possible. And many people have said, well, Dr. Dave, what is it? What do I do alongside of it? What are these things? And I've shared many things, but Janelle today is going to share 15 things that you can do alongside of the microdosing for integration work. Now, I don't want to scare you with 15 things. You don't have to do all 15. You can pick or choose a few of them, if you like. The more the better, obviously, but even if you pick one or two and you start with that, you're going to get better results than if you didn't do anything at all. I promise you. And by the way, Janelle is a wonderful person that you really want to meet.

1:03She's the one that really helped me the very beginning of my microdosing journey over five years ago. Yeah, that's how long I've known her. And we made her faculty member just because she has a wealth of information. Not only that, she can help you with some things that, well, I can't really talk about here on this public podcast if you know what I'm saying. But I encourage you to join us over on Patreon. The link is always in the show notes where we dive deeper. And we do share things and talk about things that we just don't really share here on the public podcast. So enjoy this episode with Janelle. Janelle, thank you so much for sharing these 15 items with us. And by the way, at the very end, when Janelle is finished with the 15, I'm going to share my absolute favorite. And it's not one of her 15, but it's something that's very special to me and really works well. So I'll see you right after Janelle is finished and I'll share number 16. My favorite with you. Enjoy.

2:05Hi, Janelle from Microdose you. I'm here to talk about 15 different things you can add with your microdosing that will help your experience. The first one would be logging your dose and recording how you react to it. Did it work well for you? What didn't work? This can really dial in on your microdosing and benefit you with choosing the right protocol and right dose and figuring out what's working and what's not. Number two, get outside. So there's a few reasons this has been official. Number one is a lot of us are deficient in vitamin D which can lead to depression. And so getting outside is a natural way to increase vitamin D. They also say that getting outside for 20 minutes a day, three times a week, can lower your cortisol levels which is your stress hormone. They also say spending five hours in nature a month can get a sound of our fight or flight or every day kind of work brains that are overstressed usually. That can help to alleviate that.

3:06And they say spending three days at a time fully immersed in nature per year can also help to reset the brain's alpha waves which brings on a really good sense of calm and relaxation. Number three, I have cognitive behavioral therapy which really is about learning the thinking patterns that a lot of depressed people fall into and then being able to examine these thinking patterns for accuracy and pushing back against them if they're untrue. This one was really helpful for me to do along with microdosing because I realized that a lot of the anxiety and depressive thoughts I was having were one of these thinking patterns. And once I was able to examine them and push back it was very easy to change that dynamic. Number four, I recommend practicing yoga or Tai Chi, some kind of gentle body movement. Yoga specifically because mindfulness is a tenant of that and being mindful means to be in the moment and to not be thinking about all these things that are stressing you out and

4:11really just focus on the here and now. So I find that very helpful as well as it has physical health benefits. Number five, vagus nerve regulation. You can access vagus nerve regulation by these five different methods. I'm going to name off. The first one is bilateral stimulation. So that's where you're doing something like using both hands and tapping them or you're twiddling your thumbs or most exercise has to do with arms or legs moving. It's almost exercise fits into that category. You can also access your vagus nerve by massage. The easiest way to do that I think is through the ears. And so that's like rubbing on your ears and gently pulling on them. That can be stress relieving. And number three would be vocalizations meaning you can talk to stimulate the vagus nerve. You can sing, you can hum. There's also deep breathing and then there's also focusing on one group of muscles in your body and tensing them up and then releasing. And that can add to

5:16overall regulation. Number six, journaling or writing or making art releasing your creativity. And what this does, they say that after 15 minutes, three times a week for one month, if you have medical issues or if you have any mental stagnation, this can actually improve after one month. I know personally my therapist recommended that I write letters to a few doctors who I had felt wrong to buy. And the practice of doing that was intensely helpful. It got all the ruminating thoughts off my brain. And although I didn't actually send any of these letters, the process of writing it out and getting it out of my brain was extremely helpful. Number seven, I have prioritizing sleep. A lot of us are not sleeping as well as we should be. And so focusing on that can be really important and improve our health. Things like cutting out caffeine in the day, turning off the

6:16TV, getting off the blue screens towards the night. Most phones have a setting that is like a night mode setting where it stops the blue light at a certain time. And I think that's helpful because it's hard for a lot of us to completely cut out technology. But at least we can take some steps to ensure a little bit better sleep if we are using it. Number nine, I have gardening. Gardening is a great way to get outside, but it also has other benefits. If you have any cuts or even just micro, you know, your pores and your fingers, by touching the dirt, you're exposing yourself to microbes and bacteria that can act as a natural antidepressant for up to a full month. Number 10, I have meditation. Meditation is also a focus on mindfulness, but you might adopt a mantra that you find helpful or just being able to get outside of your regular thinking brain. Very helpful. Number 11, I have a focus on healthy eating. The easiest way to access this is

7:19by cutting out a lot of the processed foods and then focusing on a whole food diet, focusing on hydration is really important too. Number 12, I have sound healing. Our bodies generate magnetic fields, electromagnetic fields, and these electromagnetic fields can interact with other sounds around us. We can become in tune with sounds around us or we can become out of tune. And so sound bath, sound healing, that can all help us get back into tune with our own bodies. Number 13, I have floating. Usually floating happens in somewhat of a sensory deprivation type situation and a lot of times it has a lot of epsom salt. So this can help with like the mindfulness practice as well as circulation and just really a sense of calm. I have number 14, sound is sound is really good for the heart, they're really good for relaxation and they're also good at sweating out toxins that we acquire. So great practice. Number 15, I have supplements. There's a couple that I do recommend

8:26taking along with the first one being cacao. That one's a serotonin agonist and so it can help with the good mood. It's also a vascular dilator so that can help with the uptake and the duration of your experience. The next one I have is lion's mane. Lion's mane is like a brain vitamin when it is paired with psilocybin and niacin. They call it the stem its stack after my college's Paul Stammits discovering that it can help with neurogenesis which is basically growing new neurons in your brain to help with adaptability. So that's wonderful. Beyond that there's a lot of other ones I recommend. Vitamin D most people are low in that. I personally take magnesium glycinate, helps relax the nervous system. There's aminita muscaria, there's a blue lotus flower, there's passion flower, there's lemon balm. These are all natural calming herbs. And then there's also one called macuna purience and that one is a dopamine agonist and so dopamine helps with

9:27sense of accomplishment and getting things done and kind of overall happiness. And so that's a little different than serotonin agonist but I do use that one on occasion and recommend it to. Those are my recommendations that go along with microdosing. I hope they were helpful. Thanks. Okay thank you so much Janelle. We really appreciate that and remember my friends you don't have to do all of these. Don't be overwhelmed. Just pick a few that you like to start and you will see better results than if you don't do any of these at all. I promise you now I did promise you also that I'm going to share number 16 with you my absolute favorite and that is going to the hot spring in Japan. Now before you say oh I can't do that no it just listen to me for a second. I traveled to Japan quite frequently and whenever I'm there I make it a point almost every day if I can to go into the hot spring it's calming it's soothing it's medically beneficial and it's one of the most relaxing things I've ever done in my life but I'm able to do this because I do travel to Japan but

10:27having said that I've been in quite a few towns and cities all across North America where they do have hot springs so I would encourage you to check if there's anything near your area. I know there's some here where I live in Utah in Colorado in many mountain towns and also in many areas that you would probably not even expect. When I used to live on the East Coast there was a place called Berkeley Springs West Virginia. I guess it's still there I don't see why it wouldn't be but there are places like this all over America and all over the world but Japan happens to be my favorite and if you're ever traveling to Japan let me know maybe we can kind of get together in a hot spring well that might be a little strange but because in Japan it's no clothing allowed whatsoever so you've got to be in the buff to do it but it is again one of my favorite things so again I hope you enjoyed this jenel thanks again thanks a million and I look forward to next week episode that comes out every Wednesday and of course Dr. Denise my friend and colleague and faculty member here at

11:29microdose you has a great episode that comes out every weekend so make sure you don't miss her episodes as well we've got a lot going on here really hope to see you over on patreon what we all of us can kind of hang out together it's a community unlike anything else in the world I promise you the links are always in the show notes till next time Dr. Dave