Does coffee helps you become more creative?

[Nickyy]

On 11/11/2019 at 10:42 AM, Alex bAlex said:

What's your pov? Does coffee work for you and your creativity? 

No, but modafinil does ?

[Forestluv]

For creativity enhancement, microdosing is 100X  better than coffee. And it’s healthier. 

[Alex bAlex]

11 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

For creativity enhancement, microdosing is 100X  better than coffee. And it’s healthier. 

Can you drive while microdosing?

I have to drive for a living and as far as I know driving on psychedelics is a No No. Otherwise I have to stick to modafinil and exercise?‍♂️

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Alex bAlex

[outlandish]

13 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

For creativity enhancement, microdosing is 100X  better than coffee. And it’s healthier. 

We can't claim it's healthier because there's so little data on microdosing.

Caffeine has been field tested for thousands of years, by billions of people, and studied extensively in science. It's been shown that consuming caffeine drinks is health-promoting on the whole (reduced rates of: cardiovascular disease, suicide + depression, diabetes, colorectal cancers, prostate cancer .. etc), and this agrees with the folk-acceptance of caffeine drinks as non-dangerous.

On the other hand, microdosing is bleeding-edge. It's basically brand new to humanity in terms of field use, and it's barely been studied in science at all. We know a decent amount about the health effects of acute use of psychedelics now, and they turn out to be very safe when used sporadically, but we know almost nothing about chronic use (microdosing).

David Nichols (the preeminent psychedelic pharmacologist) and others have raised concerns that because psychedelics like LSD activate the 5HT-2B receptor, that chronic use could lead to cardiac valvulopathy, like we saw with other 5HT2-B agonizing drugs like Fen-Phen. https://heffter.org/microdosing-lsd-research-potential/

Personally, I think this is a very real risk. Until we have evidence that microdosing flies under the levels of 5HT-2B activation that trigger valvulopathy, I'm not going to take the risk. I really hope that it turns out to be a non-issue, because I love microdosing. But until then, I'm keeping microdoses occasional (max 1x/week), saving up my 5HT-2B activation for full fledged trips, and sticking to tried-and-true caffeine for my day-to-day tweak.

I might repost this in its own thread, because this risk isn't being talked about enough in all the excitement surrounding microdosing at the moment. I totally respect people's decision to microdose despite the risk, because you have to weigh risks vs. benefit, but it's something people should know about.

[Forestluv]

3 hours ago, Alex bAlex said:

Can you drive while microdosing?

I have to drive for a living and as far as I know driving on psychedelics is a No No. Otherwise I have to stick to modafinil and exercise?‍♂️

Technically, microdosing is below threshold so there would be no impairment of driving capability. On a microdose, someone isn't like "Wow, this microdosing is awesome! I'm so much more creative. I'm totally at Yellow now". . . It more like one doesn't even notice. They forget they even took the dose. At the end of the day, they might reflect "Today was a pretty good day. I had some nice creative moments. Oh, I microdosed. I forgot about that". It would be like taking a sip of beer and worrying about driving since drinking and driving is a No No.

Yet we don’t currently have safety thresholds for psychedelics. We know the most people’s ability to drive starts to decline at a blood alcohol level of about .07. Yet we don’t have a safety level for psychedelics. 

As well, one needs to be mature and responsible. One needs to find their personal sub-threshold dose. As well, one needs to be mindful of effects. If someone is a Nervous Nellie and freaks out like "Oh my god, I took a microdose and now I'm mowing my lawn!! I could stick my hand under the mower and chop my hand off!! I shouldn't be using a lawn mower". Even though the dose is subthreshold and is not impacting the capacity to use a lawn mower, the person's anxiety and psychology is indirectly impairing their ability to use a lawnmower and it's best that they don't mow the lawn while MDing. 

For me, texting while driving is a much higher risk than microdosing and driving. 

[Forestluv]

@outlandish Sure, from a scientific perspective we will learn a lot more over the coming years. From initial studies looking at harm of drugs relative to individuals and society, psychedelics ranks low. Below things like caffeine, marijuana or benzos. In this context, psychedelics wouldn't be considered an unhealthy substance. Yet these studies were with regular psychedelic doses, were not fully comprehensive and did not include any cellular data. It's just based on a portion of the limited information we currently have. We will learn more as we go along. 

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

I think that microdosing is healthier in the sense that even at those low doses it still disrupts that default-mode network of brain activity an gets your psyche into new thought patterns. If everyone micro-dosed instead of drank coffee our society would be a lot different. But at the same time coffee is great in its own regard for those who get the quality stuff and use it properly. 

Edited November 16, 2019 by TrynaBeTurquoise

[pluto]

I would advise to replace coffee with cacao. Its 100x better for you, for your health, for your organs, glands, adrenals and overall nervous system. Keep coffee only for Emergency situations. Stimulants will destroy your life. Seek Adaptogens, Medicinal Mushrooms and substances like Cacao which are more invigorating rather than stimulating and work with your body to create homeostasis and peak performance, rather than putting your body on overdrive like processed sugar and coffee does. Drugs are called drugs for a reason and yes Sugar is a drug. Stay away and stay aware. If you care about health and being conscious. Raw honey, organic maple syrup are much better options.

Edited November 16, 2019 by pluto

[allislove]

@pluto thanks for message. Just replaced my morning cup of coffee with cacao with milk and feeling good.