Protocol · therapy
Psilocybin (longevity claim)
D
Headline grade
Extended lifespan in aged mice (the popular longevity claim)
Evidence type: Animal studies
The graded claim: NO DOSE IS STATED. Psilocybin is a Schedule I controlled substance; this record grades a claim, not a regimen, and carries no dosing content in any form, per the standing red lines from the claim check (research/psilocybin-longevity-claim-check.md). The underlying animal study used intermittent low-dose administration in aged mice under laboratory conditions; that design is not a human protocol and is not described here as one. No dose is stated: this record grades a claim, not a regimen, so no consumer dose exists for the grade to attach to.
The caveat: The popular claim IS the headline here and it grades D: a real mouse result, honestly reported by its authors, routinely sold as if it were a human finding. It is not one.
Time cost
Not applicable
No regimen exists to cost; a supervised clinical session in the trial literature is a full day under medical care, which is a description of the trials, not a recommendation.
Dollar cost
Not priced
Not commercially available as a legal consumer product; no price is quoted, because anything sold as one is an unregulated product of unknown content (basis: not commercially available)
Every claim, graded
Each outcome this protocol is claimed to deliver carries its own grade and its own kind of evidence. A strong secondary outcome never launders a weak popular claim: the popular claim prints at its own grade, next to the headline.
Outcomes at a glance
Extends lifespan and healthspan (the popular longevity claim)
Popular claim, graded on its own evidenceImproves treatment-resistant depression and end-of-life anxiety (the clinical claim, for scope honesty)
Bar length is the outcome's evidence grade on the house scale: A is 4.0 points, B is 3.0, C is 2.0, D is 1.0. The table below carries the evidence type and what the data show for each row.
| Claim | Grade | Evidence | What the data show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extends lifespan and healthspan (the popular longevity claim)Popular claim, graded on its own evidence | D | animalAnimal studies | One mouse study (Kato et al., npj Aging 2025): psilocybin-treated aged mice showed improved survival and cellular markers associated with aging. There are zero human data on psilocybin and lifespan, healthspan, or any aging outcome; the grade is the rubric's floor for a claim resting on a single animal study with no human outcome trial behind it. The cellular findings (telomere-related and oxidative-stress markers in vitro) are mechanism data, which the rubric caps below this still.Kato A et al. Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan and improves survival in aged mice. npj Aging, 2025. |
| Improves treatment-resistant depression and end-of-life anxiety (the clinical claim, for scope honesty) | C+ | rctRandomized trials | Randomized trials in screened, supervised clinical settings report symptom improvements in depression and end-of-life distress, with effects measured over weeks. This outcome is recorded so the record cannot be read as grading psilocybin generally: the clinical literature is real, it is not longevity evidence, it was produced under medical screening and supervision that consumer use does not reproduce, and it does not raise the longevity grade.Carhart-Harris R et al. Trial of psilocybin versus escitalopram for depression. New England Journal of Medicine, 2021.; Goodwin GM et al. Single-dose psilocybin for a treatment-resistant episode of major depression. New England Journal of Medicine, 2022. |
Dose and response
Not applicable: no human dose-response data exist for any longevity outcome, and no consumer dose is stated or implied by this record.
Equipment: none.
Harms and cautions
Harms live in this ledger, not inside the grade: the grade is evidence for the claimed outcomes in the studied population.
Medication interactions
No medication classes are flagged in this graded record.
Goal conflicts and timing
No goal conflicts in this record.
No pattern is stated: there is no regimen to schedule.
Population exclusions and other cautions
Psychosis risk in people with personal or family history of psychotic disorders, the standing exclusion in every clinical protocol serious
Exclusion criterion across the trial literature
Source: Trial eligibility criteria, NEJM 2021 and 2022
Acute psychological distress, panic, and dangerous behavior during intoxication, which lasts hours and impairs judgment throughout serious
The clinical trials screen out and supervise against exactly this; unsupervised use carries the unscreened risk
Source: Clinical trial safety reports, NEJM 2021 and 2022
Legal exposure: psilocybin is Schedule I in the United States and controlled in most jurisdictions; possession is a criminal offense outside licensed programs in a small number of places serious
A harm class no supplement record carries, stated because a graded record that omitted it would mislead
Source: US Controlled Substances Act scheduling
Can you measure it yourself?
No self-experiment is offered for this record's headline outcomes. Graded by Research 2026-10-31 under the protocol rubric and the claim check's red lines: no human longevity claim, no dosing content in any form, Schedule I status stated in the record itself. Distinct from the claim-check article, which stands as the published treatment.
Goals served
None at the serving floor
Derived from outcomes grading B- or better, never hand-assigned.
Experience gate
advanced and up (gated for safety)
Applicability
narrow
Applies only in a narrow, specific situation.
Grades are research summaries, not medical advice. Decisions about your own stack belong with your clinician.
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Frequently asked questions
What grade does Psilocybin (longevity claim) get?
Psilocybin (longevity claim) grades D for extended lifespan in aged mice (the popular longevity claim), on animal studies. No dose is stated: this record grades a claim, not a regimen, so no consumer dose exists for the grade to attach to.
How much time does Psilocybin (longevity claim) take each week?
At the graded dose: No regimen exists to cost; a supervised clinical session in the trial literature is a full day under medical care, which is a description of the trials, not a recommendation. Dollar cost: Not commercially available as a legal consumer product; no price is quoted, because anything sold as one is an unregulated product of unknown content.
Does Psilocybin (longevity claim) deliver its most popular claim?
The popular claim (Extends lifespan and healthspan) grades D. One mouse study (Kato et al., npj Aging 2025): psilocybin-treated aged mice showed improved survival and cellular markers associated with aging. There are zero human data on psilocybin and lifespan, healthspan, or any aging outcome; the grade is the rubric's floor for a claim resting on a single animal study with no human outcome trial behind it. The cellular findings (telomere-related and oxidative-stress markers in vitro) are mechanism data, which the rubric caps below this still.
Who should not use Psilocybin (longevity claim)?
Acute psychological distress, panic, and dangerous behavior during intoxication, which lasts hours and impairs judgment throughout. The clinical trials screen out and supervise against exactly this; unsupervised use carries the unscreened risk. The full harm ledger is on this page, and the medical line applies: decisions about your own stack belong with your clinician.
From the articles
- Psilocybin and Longevity: What the Mouse Study Actually Found
The survival figure is real and routinely misread. The claims, one by one, against the paper they all cite.
Tom Beckett, Claims Desk
Sources
- Kato A et al. Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan and improves survival in aged mice. npj Aging, 2025. (2025)
- Carhart-Harris R et al. Trial of psilocybin versus escitalopram for depression. NEJM, 2021. (2021)
- Goodwin GM et al. Single-dose psilocybin for a treatment-resistant episode of major depression. NEJM, 2022. (2022)
Changelog
Last reviewed October 31, 2026
- 2026-10-31|Initial grading: psilocybin's longevity claim graded as a protocol-class record. The claim rests on one aged-mouse study (Kato et al., 2025) with zero human longevity data and grades D; the separate clinical depression literature is recorded at C+ for scope honesty and does not raise the longevity grade. The record states no dose and no regimen: psilocybin is a Schedule I controlled substance, and the record grades the claim only.
- 2026-10-31|Wording correction (Research, 2026-10-31): the headline outcome’s “ZERO human data” now reads “zero human data”; the sentence carries its strength in the fact, not the capitalization. No graded content changed.