Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan, improves survival of aged mice

93 atombender 75 7/24/2025, 8:29:58 PM news.emory.edu ↗

Comments (75)

mekoka · 11m ago
Two things.

First, please correct me if I'm wrong, but is it possible that the article made a mistake either in the dosages or the substance that was administered? It calls 5mg/kg of psilocybin a low dose. To me, this is an insanely high amount if we're really talking pure psilocybin (not psilocybin mushrooms). Johns Hopkins reported treating people with (high) therapeutic doses of psilocybin (not mushrooms) of between 20mg and 30mg per 70kg. In strictly mushroom weight, that's anything between 3g and 5g of dried cubensis. If the article is correct, what they administer those mice is the equivalent of giving a 70kg human 350mg of psilocybin (as a low dose lol), or about 50g-60g of dried mushrooms to munch on? I hope the article made a mistake, rather than someone from the research team misread the recommended dosage.

Second.

> this study suggests that psilocybin impacts multiple hallmarks of aging by reducing oxidative stress, improving DNA repair responses, and preserving telomere length. Telomeres are the structured ends of a chromosome, protecting it from damage that could lead to the formation of age-related diseases, such as cancer, neurodegeneration or cardiovascular disease. These foundational processes influence human aging and the onset of these chronic diseases.

Unless I misunderstand what I'm reading, I wouldn't say that it's really psilocybin (the chemical) that's responsible. It's the taking then subsequent tripping. It's now known that without the trip, no benefit. If my intuition is correct, it could be that LSD along with a few other psychedelics (and associated practices) might affect you in a similar way over the long run.

fny · 4m ago
Can someone comment on why SSRIs wouldnt have a similar effect? The hypothesis seems to be seratonin affects aging. Does it matter where it comes from?
andoando · 2h ago
5mg/kg? 1g of shrooms has something like 5-20mg of psilocybin. An equivalent human dose would seem to be 1.3-2.6g a day

Edit: Did the math wrong.

samtp · 2h ago
Well your perception of time would certainly be longer at that dose. Probably feel like you've lived for centuries.
titanomachy · 1h ago
I don’t think you multiplied quite right. An 80-kg person would need 400mg, which would take 40g of shrooms if potency is 10mg per dried gram.

That would still be 10 times larger than a regular dose. I think that would make most people seriously ill, not to mention the mental effects. One must assume that mice respond differently than humans.

andoando · 1h ago
Yeah someone also brought up that its not a linear scaling. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4804402/

And the study calculates it a 5mg for rats as 25mg for humans.

leoh · 1h ago
After a few days, such a dose would likely become imperceptible in “healthy normals.”
shawabawa3 · 2h ago
Your two statements contradict

If 1g of shrooms has 5mg psilocybin, to get a dose of 5mg/kg would be like 75g for an average man (still feels very high but nowhere near 1kg)

andoando · 1h ago
Sorry did the math completely wrong. And this was a monthly dose, for 75g thats ~2.5g a day
tombakt · 2h ago
Ah yes, a proper morning routine. A bit of coffee, exercise, becoming one with the void…
neom · 2h ago
"First, we sought to model high-dose used in a clinical study for chronic pain, where patients were administered a psychedelic dose (25 mg) of psilocybin. Using the standard allometric scaling method, a human dose of 25 mg of psilocybin translates to a mouse dose of approximately 5.14 mg/kg."
andoando · 1h ago
Interesting. I thought linear would obviously be incorrect, but didn't think it scaled so strongly.

At 25mg, thats 2.5g first month and 7.5g monthly afterwards. I wonder if the effects are the same with monthly injections vs daily though.

kubb · 2h ago
Time to get some shrooms. I could really do with isolated psilocybin capsules though, the taste is terrible.
dpc050505 · 2h ago
Grind them into powder, mix them to melted semi-sweet chocolate at low heat, pour into ice cube trays and let it harden.
dkenyser · 2h ago
Look up lemontek. Drastically shortens the experience, makes it much more consistent and the lemon juice overwhelms the flavor of the mushrooms.
hombre_fatal · 1h ago
Man, trying to look up "lemon tek shrooms" was worse than navigating the worst food recipe websites.

Alllll that text just to say "grind/soak the shrooms in lemon juice first and it will hit harder and last shorter".

gooodvibes · 1h ago
It's so unnecessary though. You can just eat them as they are, no need to fuss around with grinding and soaking.
e40 · 2h ago
I wonder if the taste is mainly responsible for people throwing up? Done capsules and never had a problem that particular symptom.
andoando · 2h ago
No I dont think so. Mushroom outer layer is chitin-glucan complex which is really hard for our digestive system to process.

Lemon-trek is supposed to help by 1. griding it to a powder, and 2. Putting it in a lemon solution to help do some of that breaking down process

titanomachy · 1h ago
I’ve heard this a lot, but I think a good part of the nausea is caused by the same compounds as the psychedelia. LSD seems to cause just as much nausea, and it’s a tiny droplet of liquid absorbed through the mucous membranes.
andoando · 1h ago
I haven't experienced stomach issues from LSD, though I haven't always experienced them on shrooms either, so I don't know
metadaemon · 2h ago
I think it's person to person, I've never had any stomach issues at all.
basisword · 1h ago
I feel like even normal mushrooms can make you queasy if you eat too many, they are undercooked, or you're already feeling a little ill.
zoklet-enjoyer · 2h ago
I get motion sick when I hallucinate. I think LSD is the only one that never made my tummy rumble
basisword · 1h ago
As someone who gets motion sick very easily you have put me off mushrooms. Hours of motion sickness while high sounds atrocious.
andoando · 1h ago
You can buy gelatin capsules on amazon and powder it yourself.
throwaway743 · 2h ago
If you grow them yourself they taste pretty fine. Unsure if not using manure improved the taste though.
dpc050505 · 2h ago
I find it's not the taste but the texture when they get stuck in my teeth.
zoklet-enjoyer · 2h ago
4-aco-dmt is what you want
gooodvibes · 1h ago
Nice. Although even if it shortened it, it would still be worth taking.
puppycodes · 2h ago
the only catch is you eventually become a stage 3 guild navigator
mosferatu · 1h ago
This comment made me laugh harder than it should have.
nntwozz · 1h ago
The spice must flow!
foobarian · 2h ago
Wonder if the extra lifespan time is larger than the extra time spent mentally incapacitated due to the effects of the drug.
jimbo808 · 2h ago
There are a lot of ways I could describe the experience, but mentally incapacitated definitely wouldn't be among them.
TechDebtDevin · 1h ago
people literally shoot themselves in the head because of this drug, this whole popularization of these drugs is the dumbest shit I've ver seen.
wileydragonfly · 22m ago
Meh let them do it. They’re annoying to deal with but it’ll make success easier for the rest of us. (And we totally know they’re high despite what they think)
jimbo808 · 19m ago
I physically cringed
hagbard_c · 1h ago
> people literally shoot themselves in the head

How does that work? I would have understood this if it said people shoot themselves in the head or - if you insist - people physically/actually/sometimes/even shoot themselves in the head, it would be people taking up ballistic weapons which they point at their heads and fire away. Literal shooting on the other hand sounds like something Chekov would write about, something about the rifle above the fireplace in chapter 1 which needs to have been used by the next chapter [1].

Maybe I'm taking all the superfluous use of the word literally too literal?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun

jakupovic · 1h ago
"People do this, people do that ..." Unless you're speaking from personal experience or have some hard data, you're spewing utter BS, you're doing this now. Teach yourself!
trhway · 13m ago
even if it is the same, you're still end up farther into the future where iPhones are even more advanced.
MathMonkeyMan · 2h ago
I thought that the trip was the point.
titanomachy · 1h ago
Probably, I think they just did it once per month.
itake · 2h ago
that is how I feel about exercise... spending 10 hours per week in my youth at a gym for 40 years to buy me an extra 10-20 years at the end of my life.
Etheryte · 2h ago
This is misguided. A healthy lifestyle doesn't simply mean extra decades at the end of your life and everything else remains the same. It means many health issues also start later and you have more healthy years available to in your younger years as well. Many turn 30 and already find some things ache or don't work quite the right way. Take care of your body and those risks drastically go down, it doesn't take ten hours a week.
itake · 1h ago
> Many turn 30 and already find some things ache or don't work quite the right way

it also goes the other direction: Men in their 20s and 30s get hurt doing the same risky activities they did in high school (rock climbing, basketball, soccer, etc) resulting in lower back pain, damaged hands, etc.

droopyEyelids · 1h ago
DALY - disability adjusted life years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability-adjusted_life_yea...

Thanks for helping people understand this concept!

fsloth · 1h ago
It’s not about buying extra years but making your life a hole lotta better as well.

Am not kidding. I hated exercise, I still hate it, but it objectively makes everything else so much better I keep at it.

There are simple and effective protocols. You don’t need to be ”in to it”. You don’t need to buy extra equipment (necessarily) nor do you need purchase anything from anyone (unless you want to).

Running, pushups and kettle bell swings are enough (with a good strategy). Having a daily stretching/mobility routine is advisable the older you get.

Just do it! If you think it will totally suck, it probably will! If the question ”what are you training for” irritates you it sure as hell will keep irritating. There are _zero_ lifestyle things you need to buy into. But it’s medicine. Pure medicine.

Noumenon72 · 2h ago
Exercise starts paying off in midlife by fixing your back pain, letting you go trampolining, steadying your balance, not getting winded or having to breathe through your mouth on stairs, and just generally making your body spend its repair cycles on things that make you feel healthy instead of inflamed. I develop so many aches and pains that exercise helps fix. Without the exercise you might not even want the extra 10-20 years.
andoando · 2h ago
It's not just about the extra life span, it's the quality of life until then.

I wish the same focus was given to weight loss, smoking, etc. No one really cares about living an extra 10 years from 70 to 80 if it means giving up 40+ yesrs of enjoying bad habits.

Exercise is especially neat because there are enjoyable ways to do it

SketchySeaBeast · 2h ago
And it pays off today. You feel better, both physically and emotionally. It's a win win all around.
jader201 · 2h ago
> I wish the same focus was given to weight loss, smoking, etc. No one really cares about living an extra 10 years from 70 to 80 if it means giving up 40+ yesrs of enjoying bad habits.

It’s the same thing, right?

That is, exercise may not necessarily make your life longer, but has a good chance of making your life higher quality.

Similarly, bad habits can shorten your life, and even if it doesn’t, will most definitely make your life lower quality (eventually).

Or maybe that’s the point you were making?

andoando · 1h ago
I mean most of the anti-smoking, weight-loss, campaigns are focused on trying to convince people thats its bad for you because it increases the chance of lung cancer, or heart morbidity. Ergo, you shouldn't do them because you won't live as long.

Instead, I think we need to focus on "you'll feel better, like right now".

maplant · 2h ago
Exercising makes you feel better. It’s a necessary component of living a good life. Extending your life is irrelevant. However, strength training is necessary to ensure the later parts of your life are worth living
cherryteastain · 1h ago
> Exercising makes you feel better

Speak for yourself...

louison11 · 45m ago
30 min a day or 3hrs a week in a gym is all you need. I’ve been working out for 10 years, and if I can pull 3 hours in 1 week, it’s a great week! And it’ll keep me real strong. Plus, makes you sleep better, which means you probably need to sleep less. Working out is almost always a “you get more than what you gave” kinda deal.
henry2023 · 2h ago
10-20 extra years + another 15 high quality years in your 60s

Finally, exercise is not only gym, hiking, climbing, running, the list is endless

ravenstine · 2h ago
Who says you have to spend that much time in the gym? Unless you're really going for pro, nutrition and maintaining healthy blood pressure will get you most if not all the way to a longer lifespan while saving you countless hours. Even just an hour of high intensity exercise a week can maintain muscle and provide cardiovascular benefits.
dtauzell · 2h ago
The main advantage is to make the last 10-20 years better by avoiding injury. Maybe you do t even need 10 hours a week for that, more like 5
make3 · 2h ago
you can do 3 hours and have huge benefits already
SketchySeaBeast · 2h ago
Yeah, 10 hours a week is totally unneeded.
apwell23 · 1h ago
ppl who feel that way won't be able do it for that long, so kind of moot point anyways.

i have worked out for atleast 3 times /week for last 30yrs. It has always been my fav part of my day.

zoklet-enjoyer · 2h ago
Go running, hiking, cycling, kayaking, rock climbing, snowshoeing, skiing, etc

There are plenty of fun ways to exercise where you won't be stuck in a gym using a machine or just repeatedly lifting heavy things.

lawlessone · 2h ago
So it's Spice?
manmal · 2h ago
It’s definitely geriatric.
SketchySeaBeast · 2h ago
Geriatric spice was the worst spice girl.
tombakt · 2h ago
Melange.
evanjrowley · 1h ago
They feed us poison

so we take their 'cures'

while they suppress our medicine.

EvanAnderson · 1h ago
Press release titles really need to say "in vitro" and/or "in mice" when the study was done only in vitro and/or in mice.
tomhow · 1h ago
We've inmiced the title.
EvanAnderson · 1h ago
Thank you! I wish PR offices would do that themselves. So many health study press releases need the words "in mice" appended to the title.
EGreg · 2h ago
By how much does it actually extend it?

Vegetarians live 10 years longer than meat-eaters.

Some studies indicate that vegetarians may live an average of 6 to 10 years longer than meat-eaters, with some studies showing even larger differences for those who switch to a plant-based diet early in life.

amanaplanacanal · 1h ago
People following any kind of intentional diet live longer than average. Because they are people that care any their health, not because of whichever diet they choose.
isatty · 1h ago
Citation?
bena · 1h ago
It sounds familiar, but it's one of those things that's secretly checking something else.

Vegetarians are generally more conscious of their health than omnivores. Because you have to realize that omnivores includes the vast majority of people.