Shifting Your Neuroplasticity With Psychedelics

The article Shifting Your Neuroplasticity With Psychedelics was originally published on Microdose.

Have you ever wondered what allows your brain to remember the name of somebody you met yesterday, understand and remember the rules of a new board game, and create art, music, or writing? The answer is neurons and their connections to one another.  

We are born with roughly 100 billion neurons, and this number begins to decrease the moment we are born. Although the number of neurons we have is important, the strength in the connectivity between the neurons is what really matters. Each neuron is capable of connecting with thousands of other neurons, and between birth and two or three years of age, the number of synapses in the brain increases from 2,500 to 15,000 per neuron. Neuroplasticity is the ability of your brain to learn and adapt to change by creating additional links to neighboring neurons.  Neuroplasticity depends on two main factors: stimulation and the right chemical environment.

Until a decade or so ago, many scientists thought that while children’s brains are malleable or plastic, neuroplasticity stopped after age of 25, at which point the brain was thought to be fully wired and mature. However, this theory about the brain has been upended by more recent research. We now know that the human brain is capable of change throughout all of life. It’s true that we do lose neurons as we age, but the adult brain can create new neuronal connections and even new neurons from neural stem cells. 

Researchers have identified the following as facilitating neuroplasticity as we age: physical exercise to increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain, meditation, nutrition, sleep, and learning new things. In addition to these, recent studies are demonstrating how the use of psychedelics can also support neuroplasticity health by entering the brain via the same receptors as serotonin.

Serotonin is the body’s “feel good” hormone. Serotonin helps control body functions such as sleep and sexual desire, and it affects psychological states like satisfaction, happiness and optimism.  People with depression or anxiety often have low levels of serotonin, as do people with post-traumatic stress disorder, cluster headaches, anorexia, smoking addiction and substance abuse. Treatment typically involves selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which boost levels of serotonin available to brain cells. Yet it can take weeks for improvement to occur, if the drugs even work at all.

With psychedelics, such as psilocybin, scientists can see changes in brain neuron connectivity within 30 minutes after ingestion. There is an overall increase in connectivity between areas of the brain that don’t normally communicate well, and the opposite of that occurs where the local networks in the brain that normally interact with each other suddenly communicate less.  This creates a very disorganized brain. Ultimately breaking down normal boundaries between the auditory, visual, executive and sense-of-self sections of the mind — thus creating a state of altered consciousness.

It is the disorganization that is ultimately therapeutic. Depressed people are continually self-critical, and they keep ruminating, going over and over the same negative, anxious or fearful thoughts.  Psychedelics disrupt that, which is why people’s critical thoughts are easier to control, and thinking is more flexible. This can result in an effective treatment for depression.

In addition, researchers are also finding that psychedelics actually help neurons in the brain sprout new dendrites, which look like branches on a tree, to increase connections between cells. The growth of dendrites helps build and then solidify new circuits in the brain, allowing us to lay down more positive brain pathways. They have also found that the connections are larger and stronger than normal. These new connections may be the structural changes the brain uses to store new experiences.

As more research is permitted, more and more scientific evidence is emerging on the beneficial effects psychedelics can have on our mental well-being.  The possibility that we can rewire our brains to change destructive and addictive programs, without serious side effects, is remarkable.  But what if we begin to look at what these substances can do to support the whole human including the mind, body, and spirit?

It is becoming more and more apparent that the world around us is changing. The need to find ways to nurture our neuroplasticity is just one example of where pharmaceutical drugs may not be the only answer. Should there ever be only one solution and research into others not permitted? As we embrace our evolution, let’s all try to ask more questions, be more curious as to why some of the “solutions” in our world are so limited.  

About the author

Megan Smith is a certified holistic nutritionist, health coach, trauma-informed yoga teacher and psychedelic expert. She is the co-founder of Zenchronicity, a program that supports members in healing trauma through microdosing. Megan is an expert in psilocybin, the studies of shifting neuroplasticity, balancing one’s masculine and feminine energies, utilizing meditation to calm the nervous system, reprogramming traumas through plant medicine and the TFAR theory of mindfulness. She is also a gifted astrologer and precious stone jewelry maker whose passion is helping people heal and discover their innate selves to thrive optimally in all parts of their lives.

About Zenchronicity222

Zenchronicity222 is a fast-growing, recently developed micro dosing facilitation company . Beginning with the identification of life traumas, the team provides support to their clients by assisting in identifying the trauma responses that have manifested in their mental and physical body. During the 8 week program, the client utilizes meditation, yoga postures, breath exercises, TFAR, and small amounts of psilocybin (micro doses), to assist with the healing of the whole being induced by the trauma.  

This unique Zenchronicity approach is based on the belief that any human being has the ability to heal themselves.  The key factors in  accomplishing this is by 1) identifying what has adversely impacted them, 2) devise a plan on how to restore all three levels of the physical body, energetic body, and mental body, and 3) implement the plan  through processes that are natural and do not cause additional trauma to their being.

References:

1. Neurolife. (September 22, 2018) Your brain can change thanks to neuroplasticity. https://www.neurolifecenter.com/2018/09/22/your-brain-can-change-thanks-to-neuroplasticity/.
2. Mona D. Fishbane, PHD.  (September 30, 2015) Change Is a Choice:  Nurturing Neuroplasticity in Your Life. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/change-is-a-choice-nurturing-neuroplasticity-in-your-life-0930154; 8/5/22.
3. Sandee LaMotte. (June 11, 2022)  How psilocybin, the psychedelic in mushrooms, may rewire the brain to ease depression, anxiety and more.  https://www.wdsu.com/article/psilocybin-mushrooms-rewire-brain-ease-depression-anxiety/40258705#.
4. Bill Hathaway. (July 5, 2021)  Psychedelics spurs growth of neural connections lost in depression.  https://news.yale.edu/2021/07/05/psychedelic-spurs-growth-neural-connections-lost-depression. 
5. Barbara E. Bauer, MS. (July, 21, 2021)  Mouse Study Reveals New Details on Psilocybin’s Rewiring of the Brain.  https://psychedelicreview.com/mouse-study-reveals-new-details-on-psilocybins-rewiring-of-the-brain/
6. Neuroscience News.Com (July11, 2022) Study Determines Psychedelic Mushroom Microdoses Can Improve Mood and Mental Health.  https://neurosciencenews.com/mood-mental-health-microdose-21010/

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