Clinical Trial Launched to Reveal—Can LSD Improve Sleep?

Is LSD beneficial for our overall physical and mental health when taken in micro-doses? This is what MindMed—a New York-based biotech company is set to learn by launching a so-called LSD study.

Claims of the enlightening and overall beneficial effects of LSD or Lysergic Acid Diethylamide have been made for years. However, up to this point, scientific evidence either backing or denying these claims has been rather sparse. 

To try and dig deeper into the matter, MindMed organized a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. More precisely, researchers are aiming at investigating the potential effects of low-dose LSD on:

• Sleep patterns, quality and duration
• Mood and emotion control
• Cognitive capacity
• Overall wellbeing
• Immunity. 

If LSD microdosing proves to be beneficial in any of these aspects, then one of MindMed’s main goals—to incorporate psychedelics into everyday medication—will be reached. Perhaps eventually, LSD will even be able to replace sleeping pills or powerful OTC sleep aids. 

Assessments will include digital measurements, cognitive tests, and clinical tests like plasma levels of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). This factor is a crucial factor for many of the changes in the brain which happen while we learn and memorize.

But it’s not only that—MindMed also wants to know if taking low doses of LSD could bring an individual to a state of higher self-awareness. 

Why microdosing? 

Simply put, when LSD is taken in bigger doses, it can trigger altered perception (hallucinations), euphoria, nausea, headaches, vomiting, and irregular heartbeat. Needless to say, all of these effects are highly undesirable. 

On the other hand, taking doses that are below the psychoactivity threshold may enable people to experience all the benefits of LSD without “tripping.”

The study should also be able to assess the safety and the cumulative effect of LSD, as well as diurnal and nocturnal differences in treatment. 

Carefully dosed administration of this medicine might one day aid in treating different pathologies, as well as problematic thinking patterns and behaviors

Obviously, these are pretty high expectations to be put on a single substance. Still, given all that we know, LSD might just be the formula that delivers solutions to multiple issues.—