A guide to the Stamets Stack and how you can use it as a jumping off point to enhanced microdosing results.
Microdosing is not magic. You can take a heavy dose and get a little weird, but lasting benefits take time. They take a thoughtful approach. They take commitment.
In a lot of ways microdosing is similar to going to the gym, only you’re working on your mind, emotions and your brain itself rather than your body. Given that framing, it's appropriate that “stacking” is a shared term of art in these two self-improvement pursuits that on the surface seem so different.
A performance athlete’s “stack” is the regimen of protein and other vitamins and supplements they take to maximize the results of their training. Similarly, the practice of “stacking” or adding non-psychedelic substances to a microdosing practice has become a popular means of improving the experience or results for practitioners looking to support their inner work.
Among microdosers, the most famous stack is the Stamets Stack: a specialized combination of natural supplements designed to enhance and sustain the benefits of microdosing alone.
In this guide, I’ll take you through what you need to know about the Stamets Stack, its components, benefits, history, and even some ideas on how you can use it as a jumping off point to customize an enhanced stack of your own to take your microdosing to a new level.
What is the Stamets Stack?
Named after its creator, the renowned mycologist Paul Stamets, this stack combines psilocybin, lion's mane, and niacin for enhanced efficacy.
In an interview in January of 2023, Paul Stamets laid out the details of how to combine the three ingredients:
- Psilocybin mushrooms (50-100mg, dried)
- Lion's Mane mushroom mycelium (100-500mg)
- Niacin (25-50mg)
This unique combination is designed to work synergistically, compounding the benefits of each individual component.
Ingredients of the Stamets Stack
The individual components of the stack are powerful when taken in concert, but each one demonstrates its own unique benefits individually as well.
Psilocybin Mushrooms:
Psilocybin is the primary psychoactive compound found in certain species of “magic” mushrooms. It’s what causes the mind altering and hallucinogenic effects of a full-strength psychedelic trip. It’s also one of the two most common compounds used in microdosing. Researchers have found that psilocybin (or more specifically, its metabolite: psilocin) promotes the formation and changing of neural connections, a process known as neuroplasticity.
Psilocybin mushrooms are used for a range of purposes, including enhanced creativity, emotional well-being and more. When done in the form of a microdose as specified in the Stamets Stack, they normally do so without causing hallucinogenic effects, making it easier to incorporate into your lifestyle.
Lion's Mane Mycelium:
Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) is a medicinal mushroom that has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. It contains compounds shown to stimulate neuroplasticity and improve cognitive function (Li et al., 2018).
The compounds with the most evidence of protecting the brain and stimulating nerve growth in the research are called erinacines ((Li et al., 2018, Černelič-Bizjak et al., 2024). In Lion’s Mane, erinacines are only found in the mycelium, making it the preferred portion of the fungus for this use case.
Users report the following benefits from using Lion's Mane:
- Improving cognitive and memory performance
- Lowering anxiety and enhancing mood
- Enhancing focus and mental energy
- Reducing brain fog
- Supporting digestive health
- Supporting immune function
Niacin (Vitamin B3):
Niacin is a common vitamin found in fish, poultry, avocado and whole grains. It is an essential nutrient, meaning your body can’t make or store it, so it needs to be taken in from your environment. It’s a crucial vitamin involved in a range of critical bodily functions.
Niacin plays multiple roles in healthy function of a person’s body, including:
- Synthesizing coenzymes NAD and NADP, to support metabolism for energy production
- Acting as an antioxidant
- Supporting healthy brain function
How the Stamets Stack Works
As discussed above, there is anecdotal and clinical evidence that each ingredient in the Stamets Stack is capable of improving brain function and supporting neuroplasticity on its own in the right circumstances.
Lion’s mane and psilocybin have been shown in studies to encourage neurite growth and preserve neuron health (Ratto et al., 2019; Vargas et al., 2023). Niacin has documented evidence of promoting plasticity of neural connections and nerve axon growth in animal and in vitro models (Cui et al., 2010).
The really exciting thing about stacking these together is that there is evidence that combining these substances has the potential to create a compounding effect greater than the sum of the separate effects of each of the ingredients on its own. In a 2023 talk with the Yale School of Medicine, Stamets asserted that this synergistic effect can increase the binding affinity with TrkA receptors–a critical contributor to neuron growth, survival and plasticity (Stamets, 2023).
Aside from the neuroplastic effects, the components support each other in other ways.
The best known effect of niacin among microdosers is its role as a vasodilator. Psilocybin is a natural vasoconstrictor, and niacin helps counteract that. Many Stamets Stack proponents maintain that by opening up blood vessels, this vasodilation effect can help improve the bio-availability of the psilocybin and the other components of the stack.
Lastly, and probably least surprisingly, psilocybin creates a super-connected state in the users brain. This helps break the user out of entrenched ways of thinking and behaving to create new possibilities for growth and change. For this reason, it’d s common adage in the microdosing community that psilocybin clears the path…the niacin and especially the lion's mane pave it.
Put together, this combination is used by many to supercharge the benefits of microdosing alone, supporting cognitive function, creativity, and overall brain health more effectively than any single component alone.
History of the Stamets Stack
Paul Stamets, the creator of this stack, is a renowned mycologist and advocate for the use of medicinal mushrooms. He has made significant contributions to the field of mycology, including the description of several new mushroom species previously unknown to science, and advocating for the practical application of novel fungus-based techniques.
The use of psilocybin and lion’s mane mushrooms for human enhancement goes back thousands–maybe tens of thousands of years outside the Western medical tradition. Niacin is even more fundamental, and is essential across the animal kingdom. What’s new here is combining them in a microdosing context.
According to Paul Stamets’ own comments, he’s been working with this stack in some form since 2014 or 2015. He debuted his theory publicly at a Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) conference in 2016. Since that time the popularity and evidence has continued to build, ultimately breaking through into mainstream awareness via Stamets’ appearances on the Joe Rogan Podcast.
In 2023 Stamets was granted a patent by the US Patent Office for the combination of psilocybin and lion’s mane with and without niacin. This came after a multi-year struggle across multiple applications and appeals. The patent was rejected multiple times due to examiners’ assertion that it was only a combination of naturally occurring substances. However, on the final, successful submission Stamets and his team re-contextualized the application pointing to the synergistic effect the components appear to have on each other to multiply their benefits. This was sufficient evidence for the patent to finally receive approval.
Today, lion’s mane is the most popular microdosing accompaniment, followed by niacin according to the microdosing.me study, and the Stamets Stack is the most common complex stack.
Stamets Stack Dosage and Protocol
Dosage:
As stated previously, the standard Stamets Stack includes:
- Psilocybin mushrooms (50-100mg, dried)
- Lion's Mane mushroom mycelium (100-500mg)
- Niacin (25-50mg)
Timing:
Users of the Stamets Stack often (but not exclusively) use the Stamets protocol schedule of dosing. The Stamets protocol is a weekly cycle of 4 consecutive days of live psychedelic microdosing followed by 3 days off for integration and the prevention of tolerance building.
Alternative protocols include but are not limited to:
- The Fadiman Protocol: 1 day on, 2 days off repeating
- The 1-on, 1-off Protocol: 1 day on, 1 day off repeating
- Flexible Dosing: self-guided, dose for your day
Whatever protocol users choose, they normally maintain that cycle for 4-6 weeks followed by a 2-6 week break before starting again.
“Off” Days:
Whether or not to continue taking the non-psychedelic portions of your stack on “off” days is a common question. The answer will often depend on what you’re taking and your own reaction to it.
For lion’s mane and niacin generally, I would suggest you continue taking them. The lion’s mane in particular works over a longer window. It builds up in your system and supports a fertile ongoing environment for neuroplastic growth.
Think of it this way: if you’re going to the gym to build muscle, you still need to consume protein on your rest days to support recovery and muscle growth. It’s the same when working with your brain.
Beyond the Basic Stamets Stack
The Stamets Stack represents a major step forward in the practice of microdosing. With that said, it’s not the only way, nor is it the limit of forward progress.
Microdosing is by its nature an exploratory, highly individualized practice. In the search for the best result for their personal situation and physiology, practitioners tweak their dosage, schedules, and also the content of the stacks themselves.
Getting specific with your lion’s mane mycelium
A faithful follower of the Stamets Stack will be fully aware of the specific preference for lion’s mane mycelium as opposed to fruiting bodies. However, anyone that has spent any time looking into medicinal mushrooms has likely seen the debate around the use of fruiting bodies vs mycelium.
The case for mycelium:
It is rightly pointed out that different parts of a fungus will often contain different concentrations or even completely different chemicals. In the case of lion’s mane, it’s a simple fact that erinacines are almost exclusively found in the mycelium (Černelič-Bizjak et al., 2024). It’s also true that erinacines are the compound in lion’s mane with the strongest clinical link to neuroplastic effects (Li et al., 2018).
The criticisms of mycelium:
At the same time, many brands will criticize the use of mycelium in mushroom products as deceptive because they’re not technically the part of the fungus that would be referred to as a “mushroom” to most people.
They’ll also point out that the cheapest and by far most common way to get mycelium is to just grind up a chunk of whatever you were growing your fungus on, yielding what’s known as myceliated grains–a mixture of mycelium and the undigested starches the mycelium was feeding on. This means commonly well under half of the mass the customer is buying is actually mycelium.
So what’s the answer?
The truth is, they’re both right. But there is a solution!
It’s not common, but it is possible to buy mycelium that has been grown in a liquid substrate. When mycelium is cultivated using this method, you can basically drain the liquid at the time of harvest and be left with pure fungal mass. Combine this with an alcohol extraction method, which will make erinacines more bioavailable to create a highly potent output that works harder milligram-for-milligram than anything else on the market.
Adding back in the lion’s mane fruiting body
While the top neurogenic compound we know of in lion’s mane is in the mycelium, there are still a variety of potentially helpful compounds to be had from the fruiting body, including the other headline molecule: hericenones.
Although we’ve been consuming lion’s mane for thousands of years, serious scientific study is still incomplete. Many scientists suggest that hericenones play an important role in the fungus’s efficacy in brain health. Beyond that, there are likely many complementary compounds in the fruiting body that we don’t even fully understand. To capture these entourage effects, many people include lion’s mane fruiting body in their stacks as well.
For best results, use a lossless hot water extracted fruiting body. Some brands espouse a dual-extraction method where they hot water extract and then process the mushroom again with alcohol thinking they’ll wring out additional compounds. This may be true, but there’s also a good chance that they’re destroying some alcohol soluble compound that could be helpful. It’s best to process only as much as you have to.
Alleviating potential side effects of the Stamets Stack itself
There are some potential side effects specific to the Stamets Stack. However, if you’re aware of them going in and take appropriate steps, you can reduce or eliminate a lot of the most common pitfalls.
Niacin flush reduction:
The most commonly mentioned side effect is niacin flush. The amount of niacin recommended for the Stamets Stack is above the recommended daily value (National Institutes of Health, 2017). Flush isn’t really dangerous for most people, but it can cause an uncomfortable reaction known as niacin flush.
Most people describe niacin flush as feeling like a tingling or burning sensation of varying levels of intensity–often likened to the feeling of a sunburn. It can also cause redness of the skin. This effect is temporary and normally passes within an hour, but it can be unpleasant.
Studies have shown that taking pectin with niacin can shorten or eliminate niacin flush episodes (Moriarty et al., 2013). Aspirin will do the same thing, but pectin does so without suppressing the niacin’s function making it a better companion to a microdoser’s stack.
Protecting your methylation:
As mentioned, even at the low end of guidance for the basic Stamets Stack, the amount of niacin consumed is in excess of the recommended daily allowances. We’ve discussed niacin flush, but there’s also a question of what impact this might have when consistently taken at high levels over an extended period…like as part of a daily microdosing regimen.
Leftover niacin in the body is eliminated by a process called methylation. The potential issue is that the methyl groups used in this process are also needed for a number of other crucial tasks, including gene expression, liver detoxification and neurotransmitter synthesis (Klecker & Nair, n.d.).
If you’re constantly depleting your body’s store of methyl groups, you could be impacting your ability to make critical neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, norepinephrine and melatonin–not what the average microdoser is after… Supplemental methyl group donors can be a good protective step to ensure your system remains in balance.
A simple solution that may also provide some benefits of its own is betaine anhydrous, also known as trimethyl glycine or TMG for short. By introducing an additional methyl group donor like betaine into your stack, you can help ensure you are closing the loop to ensure you’re getting the desired benefits in the healthiest way.
Pairing with a macrodose
The Stamets Stack is designed specifically to support a microdosing practice, but we know that people use psychedelics for healing, transformation and exploration in many ways. One of those ways is by using medium or even full-strength (500mg + of dried mushrooms) doses of psilocybin, sometimes referred to as macrodosing in this context.
This is promising as a therapeutic or growth tool or just a mental and emotional reset. High dose psilocybin has shown immediate symptom relief in addiction, depression and more (Carhart-Harris & Goodwin, 2017).
Whether you’re working with micro or macrodoses, the long term benefits often rely on the same thing: neuroplasticity.
For this reason, many people will use the non-psychedelic elements featured in the Stamets Stack for a 2-4 weeks before and/or after macrodosing to maximize that experience as well. By creating a fertile environment for changes in the brain in the days immediately before or during the integration period of a major dose, you may see improved quality and duration of results.
Going beyond psilocybin
The Stamets Stack was created for use with psilocybin, but psilocybin isn’t the only microdosing game in town.
Most surveys of microdosers report that LSD is basically tied with psilocybin in popularity as a microdosing tool. There are a lot of differences between LSD and psilocybin, but the two compounds also share some strong overlap in action and mechanism (Siegel et al., 2023). Similar to psilocybin, a lot of the effects of LSD are driven by its reaction with the 5HT2A receptors in the brain, creating an effect of loosening old ways of thinking and behaving and promoting new connections.
Because of this similarity of action and users’ desire to encourage the lasting effect of their LSD-supported microdosing work, many users are starting to experiment with including lion’s mane and niacin as stack with LSD as well.
Safety Considerations and Precautions
While the stacking has gained popularity, it's important to approach it with caution.
The most obvious reason for pause is legality. Although lion’s mane and niacin are both completely non-psychoactive and legal, psilocybin and other psychedelics are still illegal in many jurisdictions. Always check local laws before considering its use.
In addition, everyone's body chemistry and lifestyle are different. Individual risk factors could have a big effect on the reaction of a user. For this reason, it’s always advisable to consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement regimen, especially if you have pre-existing conditions or are taking medications.
Conclusion:
The Stamets Stack is an innovative approach to microdosing that combines the potential benefits of psilocybin with supplemental substances to unlock new potential for cognitive enhancement and overall well-being.
Through careful use users have reported significant enhancement of the effects and duration of their benefits. Although the research is still in its early stages, scientific examination is beginning to validate this.
The journey of self-improvement and cognitive enhancement is highly personal. By using the Stamets Stack as an example of what can be achieved, microdosers (and other psychedelic practitioners) can find inspiration to adopt a stack that is optimal for their goals, minds and bodies.
Microdosing takes time--and often work. To many people, stacking represents a means of ensuring they're giving themselves the best likelihood of finding lasting benefits in that effort.
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