At first I was using \linespread{2} but my research told me to use the package setspace. I did this and everything is fine however in align* environments, my equations get double spaced also which makes it visually unappealing. I tried two options
\usepackage{setspace} \doublespacing %\displayskipstretch %to avoid stretching math formula \abovedisplayshortskip=0pt \belowdisplayshortskip=0pt \abovedisplayskip=0pt \belowdisplayskip=0pt which doesn't do anything.
I then tried writing \singlespace right before my align environment. This works however there's a very big gap between paragraph and align - see picture. (Note that this happens in the above case also). I would preferably like a single, 1.2, or 1.3 spacing in between equations and doublespace in "text mode"

edit: after viewing the pdf again, I am okay with the double space (again I would prefer single). However the whitespace between the paragraph and the align is very visually unappealing
nodisplayskipstretchoption:\usepackage[nodisplayskipstretch]{setspace}.\newcommand*\AlignDots[2]{\setbox0\hbox{${}#1{}$}\hbox to\wd0{\hfill$#2$\hfill\strut}}in the preamble and use\AlignDotsto get vertically dots aligned correctly (instead of the horizontal ones).setspace):\doublespacing \setdisplayskipstretch{0.3}. Adjust the value0.3according to your needs.