LSD increases sleep duration the night after microdosing

Abstract

AbstractMicrodosing psychedelic drugs, at a level below the threshold to induce hallucinations, is an increasingly common lifestyle practise. However, the effects of microdosing on sleep have not been previously reported. Here we report results from a Phase 1 randomised controlled trial in which 80 healthy adult male volunteers received a six week course of either LSD (10 µg) or placebo with doses self-administered every third day. Participants used a commercially available sleep/activity tracker for the duration of the trial. Data from 3231 nights of sleep showed that on the night after microdosing participants in the LSD group slept an extra 24.3 minutes per night (95% Confidence Interval 10.3 - 38.3 minutes) compared to placebo - with no reductions of sleep observed on the dosing day itself. There were no changes in the proportion of time spent in various sleep stages or in participant physical activity. These results show clear modification of the physiological sleep requirements in healthy volunteers who microdose, and may have implications for the proposed therapeutic effects of microdosing in mood disorders such as major depressive disorder where sleep is frequently disturbed. The clear, clinically significant, changes in objective measurements of sleep observed are difficult to explain as a placebo effect.