#141: 🍄 Can Psilocybin Reverse Aging?
It has. In Mice!
Hey Friends,
Thank you for all the love, likes, comments and reposts on my last post #140: 🧓🏼💰 Why Retiring at 65 Doesn’t Make Sense Anymore.
I felt the love!!
I’m really excited about this week’s Note.
We very rarely get to see the overlap of my two favorite topics to write about - longevity and psychedelics.
Last week, researchers published some groundbreaking results that got me excited about the future of human health.
Let’s get to it.
💬 In this note:
🍄 Can Psilocybin Reverse Aging?
📚 Our Infinite Fates
⚡️ Shoes On
#141: 🍄 Can Psilocybin Reverse Aging?
Published on July 8, 2025 in npj Aging, researchers from Emory University and Baylor College of Medicine have shown the first experimental evidence that psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, can extend both cellular and organismal lifespan.
They started with the hypothesis that accumulating evidence has shown that clinical depression accelerates aging and telomere shortening.
Telomeres are the caps on your chromosomes which prevent the chromosomes from fraying, sticking together or being mistaken for DNA damage.
They get shorter as we age because each time a cell divides, the telomeres shorten. Telomere shortening is one of the 12 hallmarks of aging.
Positive mental psychological states are associated with longer telomeres, whereas negative psychological conditions, like stress, anxiety and depression are associated with telomere attrition.
Given the clinical evidence that supports psilocybin for mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, it is feasible that psilocybin may impact telomere length.
So the researchers set out to test it, and see how psilocybin could impact aging.
The Cellular Fountain of Youth
The researchers started with human lung fibroblasts in the lab, treating them with psilocin (psilocybin's active metabolite) throughout their entire lifespan until they reached senescence.
They found a 29% extension in cellular lifespan with 10 μM psilocin, and a 57% extension with higher doses (100 μM).
Psilocin preserved telomere length in treated cells, reduced oxidative stress and cellular damage markers and increased SIRT1 expression (SIRT1 is a master regulator of aging).
It is particularly interesting that psilocin appeared to delay the onset of senescence without causing oncogenic transformation.
Senescence is the loss of a cell's power of division and growth. In aging, senescent cells typically stay in the body and are referred to as “zombie cells.”
The researchers showed in these experiments that psilocin allowed the cells to live longer and healthier lives before reaching natural senescence.
From Cells to Mice Studies
Cell studies are exciting, but the real exciting data came from the mouse studies.
The researchers treated 19-month-old female mice (equivalent to 60-65 human years) with monthly psilocybin doses for 10 months.
They found an 80% survival in psilocybin-treated mice vs. 50% in controls.
The mice even appeared to look younger with improved fur quality and reduced graying.
Yes, mouse fur turns grey as they age. (Awww)
Throughout the experiment, the mice saw a 30% improvement in overall survival outcomes.
Psilocin showed that it could improve healthspan, meaning the quality of those extra years, in addition to extending lifespan.
The Mechanisms Behind the Magic
So…what's happening at the molecular level?
The study shows that psilocin impacts multiple hallmarks of aging simultaneously.
Telomere preservation emerged as a key mechanism.
While control cells showed shortened telomeres (a classic aging marker), psilocin-treated cells maintained their telomere length throughout their extended lifespan.
Psilocin decreased harmful reactive oxygen species and boosted antioxidant pathways through Nrf2 activation.
This creates a more protective cellular environment by reducing oxidative stress.
Decreased Growth Arrest and DNA Damage-inducible 45 alpha (GADD45a) levels, suggesting reduced DNA damage, better DNA stability and repair mechanisms were actively maintaining genomic integrity.
Psilocin elevated SIRT1, a master longevity protein, potentially explaining the broad anti-aging effects observed across multiple cellular pathways.
The Psilocybin-Telomere Hypothesis Validated
This research validates the "psilocybin-telomere hypothesis" first proposed in 2020 by Christopher Germann.
The theory suggested that psilocybin's clinical benefits across depression, anxiety, and neurodegenerative diseases might stem from its impact on biological aging markers.
The connection makes intuitive sense: chronic stress, depression, and anxiety are all associated with accelerated telomere shortening and premature aging.
This study showed that cells treated with psilocin recover telomere length compared to control aged fibroblasts.
Source: Kato, K., et al. npj Aging 11, 55 (2025)
If psilocybin can address these mental health conditions while simultaneously protecting against cellular aging, it represents a uniquely holistic therapeutic approach.
Most previous psilocybin research focuses on mental health, neurological and psychological effects.
However, this study also reveals that the benefits of psilocybin extend far beyond the brain itself and can impact fundamental aging processes throughout the body.
For example, the 5-HT2A receptor (psilocybin's primary target) is expressed in multiple organs and cell types, including fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and immune cells.
This widespread distribution could explain psilocybin's systemic anti-aging effects.
What This Means for the Future
This research positions psilocybin as potentially the first "disruptive" geroprotective agent, a compound that could revolutionize how we approach healthy aging.
The FDA has already designated psilocybin as a "breakthrough therapy" for depression, and these findings suggest its therapeutic potential extends far beyond mental health.
So we could be seeing more human clinical studies in the near future investigating psychedelics for diseases of aging. Like the one I wrote about in Nina’s Note, #134: 🍄 Psilocybin Shows Promise for Parkinson's Disease.
My Take
As someone who has explored both the consciousness-expanding and therapeutic aspects of psychedelics, this research excites me because it bridges two of my greatest passions: understanding consciousness and extending healthy human lifespan.
The study suggests we're looking at something far more profound than just a psychedelic experience, we're seeing evidence of a compound that fundamentally alters the aging process at the cellular level.
If these effects can translate to humans, psilocybin could join the ranks of proven longevity interventions like caloric restriction, exercise, and certain pharmaceuticals.
This also aligns with indigenous wisdom about "plant medicines" having healing properties that extend far beyond their immediate psychological effects.
Modern science is finally catching up to what traditional cultures have known for millennia.
While we're still years away from clinical applications, this groundbreaking research opens an entirely new chapter in longevity science.
A single compound that could address mental health, neurodegeneration, and fundamental aging processes simultaneously….this is the dream, right?
The future of longevity might just be more psychedelic than we ever imagined.
What are your thoughts on psilocybin as an anti-aging intervention? Would you consider it as part of a longevity protocol if it was proven safe and effective in humans?
Hit reply and let me know. I read every response.
Want to dive deeper?
Read the full study: "Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan and improves survival of aged mice" in npj Aging
Explore my previous notes on psychedelics:
Check out my longevity framework: #126: ⛩️ My Six Pillars of Longevity
📚 Book of the Week
Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
Rating: ★★★★☆
It took me a while to get into this book because the main characters reincarnate and the story’s timeline flashes from “present day” to further into the past each time.
One chapter, you are in Serbia.
Next, you are reading about their life together in Wales.
Then, another flashback to a previous life.
One destined to kill the other before they reach 18.
They fall in love, over and over.
They die, over and over.
Finally, they decide to break the curse.
Through a millennia of different lives, genders, and cultures, they find out that love can conquer anything.
Around 40% through, I started to like the book.
I got used to the past life flashbacks, and the continuous story in Wales.
And by the end, I really enjoyed it.
It’s a good summer read, pick it up if you enjoy a touch of fantasy and perhaps if you believe in reincarnation.
⚡️ Check This Out
Last week, one of my favorite accounts, @TSA, (trust me….their content is hilarious) announced the end to taking off your shoes for normies (those without TSA PreCheck) to go through security.
Hooray!
The change will be launched in select airports, with a government source telling NBC News that the new protocol could expand nationwide.
U.S. passengers have had to remove their shoes since 2006 due to concerns over explosives because in 2001, a man named Richard Reid boarded a plane with 10 ounces of explosive materials in his shoes, but was unable to detonate them. He is now serving a life sentence in prison.
While, I’ve avoiding taking off my shoes for quite awhile (I’ve had TSA PreCheck for the past 15 years and have lived in Europe where they don’t subject us to such torture), I will celebrate this those who had had to endure this pain since 2006.
Woo! Shoes on!
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Edited by Wright Time Publishing