From Woodstock to wonder drug? What once rattled the establishment in the ’60s and ’70s is now being studied in a legit lab at UC Berkeley with volunteers our age. Grab your lava lamp and blacklight posters! We’re going on a magic carpet ride through the groundbreaking new research into whether psilocybin — the compound in magic mushrooms — might actually help older adults think more clearly, feel better, and age more successfully. Brace yourself – this episode’s a guaranteed headtrip!
RALLY:
Hey there, Beautiful People! Welcome back to the Silver Beast Podcast.
I’m Rally Preston. Seventy-one years old.
And all I can say is: “What a long strange trip it’s been.”
Yeah, yeah – Grateful Dead.
Man, I was in high school when that came out, Truckin’.
So today’s episode is a little different.
It’s still about healthy aging for us, stuff a millennial wouldn’t be caught dead listening to – and I don’t blame them. Enjoy your youth, kiddos – your turn’s coming.
But this is something most of us Boomers here grew up with.
Might have influenced our lives, maybe, personally for some of us.
Well it was definitely part of our culture, for sure, growing up.
And now – I don’t know if it’s irony or karma, or just something a long time coming – but all I know is this thing has come full circle.
So today, we’re talking about psychedelics.
Yeah, remember way back – the 60s, 70s.
The psychedelic drugs. LSD, magic mushrooms, mescaline, DMT.
Timothy Leary comes to mind, right – right away. Alan Watts.
The whole “turn on, tune in, drop out” thing, right.
Or uh the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, yeah Tom Wolfe’s book.
Ok you remember all that, that era – maybe you’d like to forget it. Some of you. Right?
But psychedelics’ influence was everywhere back then, right?
In the music, of course. Art too. Like those old Fillmore concert posters. The wild, bendy type and the vibrating colors.
Mainstream America didn’t get it – and I think that was the point. The kids got it.
And that was us – the collective us – in the 60s and 70s.
And we didn’t have to drop acid to be affected by it in some way.
We were a new generation of teens, young adults, deciding the old rules, the man, the establishment, wasn’t for us, right? You know, just as a generation.
But of course, we grew older. Grew out of it – most of us – might still be a few holdouts.
But yeah, we got jobs, had kids, bought homes, paid taxes.
And the incense and tie-dyed t-shirts eventually faded away.
But here’s the twist, Silver Beasties. Here’s why I wanted to do this episode.
Our generation? Those of us who lived through this cultural revolution when we were young…
Well, queue up a Jefferson Airplane track…because the psychedelic era is making a comeback – well sort of.
Here’s what’s going on: Scientists are now studying whether some of those same psychedelic drugs from the 60s might actually help our brains…as older adults.
Nope, not tripping here, it’s 100% true.
So over at UC Berkeley, there’s a study going on right now. It’s the first one of its kind.
They’re getting older adult volunteers, aged 60 to 85, and giving them doses of synthetic psilocybin. Now that’s the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms.
Now psilocybin has been studied for a while now – and again in the early 2000s it really cranked up again – over at Johns Hopkins especially there.
Ok, but here’s the point I want to make: older adults have almost never been included in this kind of – this study of psychedelics before.
So that’s what makes this Berkeley research with older adults a big deal.
Something nobody’s really looked at, medically, legitimately, much before.
And here’s what they’re testing…
Does psilocybin help with older adults’ memory? Maybe it helps regulate emotions? Does it actually change the brain in a positive way they can measure? More about that in a minute…
But that’s what they hope to find out.
And they’re using the latest medical tech like brain scans to really get in there and take a look. Functional MRIs. They can measure real physical changes now.
And of course there’s been earlier research in younger folks, and animals too — which suggests that this stuff might boost something called brain plasticity. Now that’s basically, that’s your brain’s ability to build new connections. Kees your brain flexible. Staying more sharp.
And yeah, there’s some early evidence that hallucinogens like psilocybin might help us older adults.
Many of the things that tend to get a little trickier for us in our later years – psilocybin therapy may help.
And this is real research, done in a lab, with real doctors, real screening, and very controlled doses. And remember, psilocybin is still a federally controlled substance.
But I guess the irony here is this: These psychedelics, basically the same stuff that scared the bee-gee-zus outta my parents back in the day, may be able to help us now.
It’s kind of crazy, right? Full circle stuff. Science is now asking: Wait a minute, was there something to those psychedelics after all?
So more specifically, here’s what they’re looking at with psilocybin. And it’s just a laundry list here…still speculative…but let’s look at the potential.
So structurally, in the brain, psilocybin may…
Enhance neuroplasticity – mentioned that; that’s your brain forming new connections.
It may increase synaptic connections, so that might translate into things like a sharper memory, better recall, clearer thinking, better focus and decision-making – those things that tend to slip with age.
Uh, what else – better visual perception,
Increased feelings of social connectedness – now that’s interesting.
Reduced negative mental states – so like depression, anxiety, stress, or too much rumination, you know, dwelling on something too much – sometimes those come with aging, right? All those pretty common.
And there’s more, it goes on, just wanted to hit the highlights here.
So this Berkeley study is looking at whether psilocybin could promote more successful aging overall. And of course that’s good — especially with the rising rates of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease going on.
OK now, this is all speculative. That’s why the study.
Nothing definite yet, but based on past research, these benefits do look promising. But all this needs to be tested out of course, so you know, we’ll see.
Oh and I do need to note here for legal reasons, none of this episode is medical advice. Don’t pop magic ‘shrooms on your own. A bad trip could kill you. Yeah I know, I sound like your parents in the 60s, right? I’m sorry, this is stupid, I know. We’re all smarter than that…I just got to make it legal here.
So okay, what if psilocybin proves out? You know, as a legitimate therapy to help us age better. Maybe Medicare will cover it, who knows?
But what if it might work for us?
What if a forbidden drug of the 60s goes mainstream?
Well, then the question is, would you take it?
Hmmm…something to think about, right?
OK, Silver Beasties, that’s it for today’s episode. Just a quick one. Just thought this topic was interesting…so I hope you got something out of it.
And this is Rally Preston. Hey, thank you so much for dropping by today for this little chat. And I’ll catch you next time on The Silver Beast Podcast. Take care!