Health New paper: psilocybin extends life in mice

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Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan and improves survival of aged mice

Abstract:

Psilocybin, the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by hallucinogenic mushrooms, has received attention due to considerable clinical evidence for its therapeutic potential to treat various psychiatric and neurodegenerative indications. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain enigmatic, and few studies have explored its systemic impacts. We provide the first experimental evidence that psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin) treatment extends cellular lifespan and psilocybin treatment promotes increased longevity in aged mice, suggesting that psilocybin may be a potent geroprotective agent.

Of course this is only one study, which can hopefully replicated. It's using psilocybin, and one wonders which qualities of psilocybin are responsible and to what extent other psychedelics are also beneficial. And of course it's in mice, which means it's far from certain that life extension will occur in humans. With that said, this looks very promising, and I hope this opens up a lot more research in this direction.

BTW, the mice in the experimental group were dosed with psilocybin once per month, so the dose frequency is comparable to use in humans.