Why Midlife Women Are Microdosing, Self-Treating, and Reclaiming Their Health
Why more midlife women are microdosing psychedelics, using cannabis, and self-treating symptoms the healthcare system continues to ignore.
Last month, as I prepared to attend So Curious, a one-day beverage conference in Chicago, I came across a data-rich revelation from the event sponsor, Listen Ventures. Their Head of Listening (yes, that’s a real title and yes, I’m obsessed), Ellen Wilcox, authored a report I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since: “Mindsets from the Middle: An Ethnographic Exploration of Modern Midlife Womanhood.”
Fifty women, all living through midlife, shared what they want, what they need, and how they’re getting by—especially when it comes to their health. Spoiler alert: from supplements to cannabis to whatever wellness trend floats by on TikTok, women are self-treating.
Why? LISTEN outlined five key reasons:
There’s a lack of clinical research focused on women’s bodies, brains, and lives.
Most providers aren’t trained to explore midlife concerns thoroughly.
The “how-to” of womanhood remains an oral tradition, not a clinical specialty.
We’re told pain and discomfort are “natural,” so we tolerate what we shouldn’t.
The hormonal rollercoaster of midlife can make it hard to pin down what’s really going on.
Before I launched a cannabis lifestyle brand for women, I didn’t realize how many women turned to weed to manage everything from periods to perimenopause to pain. These are the same women who check “no” or “never” on a medical intake form, but pass around cannabis best practices for [insert women’s health concern here] like the ancient wisdom we know it to be.
LISTEN’s “Mindsets from the Middle” findings line up with what I’ve seen in wellness-driven cannabis use to self-treat: in the absence of scientific evidence, women turn to women for guidance.
We know the healthcare system has failed us. But it’s even worse in midlife, when those failures compound. Depression, suicidality, psychosis, substance use, anxiety, pain—skyrocketing rates for women in midlife, thanks in part to hormonal chaos.
And yet… rising awareness around menopause and perimenopause is running in parallel with mainstream acceptance of psychedelic therapy. Still, we have almost no research on how these two intersect, much less how psychedelics uniquely affect female biology in midlife.
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So here’s the gap. And here’s why I launched SetSet: to advance women’s medical research in cannabis and psychedelics. Until science catches up, women deserve access to information that helps us safely self-treat thanks to an informed choice.
Three weeks ago, Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley and recorded a future SetSet podcast episode. Grace is a UK-based researcher, an officer in the British Army Reserve, and founder of Hystelica, which focuses its ground-breaking research on the effects of psychedelics on women’s health. As Grace unpacked what we know about hormonal shifts around age 40, my last decade came into sharper focus.
And I found myself wondering: Did I land here on my own—or was I carried by my chemistry?
While I may never have a complete answer, Hystelica is working toward a future where more women will. Their latest effort: a self-reported study on the impact of microdosing psychedelics on menopausal symptoms, in partnership with King’s College London.
I start as a participant on June 6.
For 12 weeks, I’ll document my microdosing protocol—right here on Substack—in the spirit of women helping women. I’m choosing psilocybin, timed to coincide with the lead-up to my oldest son leaving for college —a chapter in our lives I want to honor and accept fully.
Take care,
April
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Great post I love these takes