I'm constantly buying books and courses, reading articles, watching lectures, etc. I'm curious to learn new skills and gain new insights I can apply - not just to the LSAT - but to all areas of my life.
One thing I've been hearing about a lot over the past few years is microdosing...
so I looked into it.
In case you haven't heard about it, some people take tiny amounts of LSD (or psilocybin mushrooms, etc.) and claim to get all kinds of benefits like increased cognition and creativity, anxiety reduction, etc.
So, despite the fact that they're illegal with rare exceptions, more and more people are experimenting with them in a variety of different ways.
There are a LOT of big claims around this practice. People are getting overexcited and overselling it.
And given that I'm all about the LSAT, I'm a pretty skeptical person.
So I looked to see where the evidence was to support these claims. After all, if microdosing is safe and effective, I might be interested in trying it for myself (once it's legal, of course).
But it turns out that there hasn't been a single major scientific trial to support any of these claims!
There's a little something these people are forgetting called the placebo effect.
If you take something you think will help you, you might feel better just because you expect it!
When one researcher did a rigorous microdosing self-experiment, here was his takeaway:
"No beneficial effects reached statistical-significance and there were worrisome negative trends. LSD microdosing did not help me."
Aside from that, there's also the fact that it's not legal.
There's a lot of positive news these days around psychedelics in general. At higher doses, they've been shown to have beneficial effects in controlled therapeutic settings. But that doesn't mean microdosing gives similar benefits.
So, whether these substances should be illegal (classified as Schedule I drugs) is another question, but the bottom line is they are.
And having a criminal record with drug charges won't do you any favors for law school admission, passing the bar, etc.
Don't take the risk.
There are plenty of other ways you can boost cognition and increase your LSAT score. In fact, here are a few right now:
* getting enough sleep
* meditation
* reducing or cutting out marijuana and alcohol
When it comes to your LSAT prep, there's no such thing as magic smart pills, whether legal or illegal.
It's ultimately up to you to invest yourself in your LSAT prep - to make it such a powerful force in your life that it will have a lasting impact into law school and beyond.
Instead of looking for shortcuts, think about the aspect of LSAT prep you dread the most, the area you KNOW you should be working on, and start there.
Stay tuned,
LSAT Steve
P.S. If you want to know more about psychedelics without all the sensationalism, journalist Michael Pollan wrote the #1 NYTimes best-seller How to Change Your Mind. I found it fascinating - Well worth a read.
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