“Activation times for psilocybin products are variable and cannot be accurately predicted.”
You will see this sentence repeated on every package of psilocybin products sold in Service Centers in Oregon. This sentence is required by regulations to be printed on the packaging so clients are aware that the activation time is unknowable.
Why is it unknowable?
Biology, biology, biology. And some chemistry.
The variables.
First, it’s important to understand what’s happening when you consume a psilocybin product. Per Oregon regulation, all psilocybin products are required to be “consumed by a client orally or by another enteral method.” This is a fancy way of saying that you must eat or drink your psilocybin product.
Variable #1
When you eat or drink something, it enters your stomach for digestion. You stomach releases acid and moves around to break down whatever it is you ate or drank. This helps expose nutrients in the food or drink that can then be absorbed into the body. Every body is different but typically what you ate or drank will stay in your stomach for 20-40 minutes.
Variable #2
After the stomach, it is sent to your small intestine. Your small intestine continues to break down food, but it is primarily absorbing nutrients and water as it passes through. This process takes about 5-7 hours.
Variable #3
Once clear of your small intestines, food is then passed to the large intestines for continued absorption for another 12-24 hours before being eliminated.
Of course all of these time periods are estimates and averages. How long it takes your body will be unique.
Variables #4 - ???
Just about every attribute of a person changes this timeline (hormone levels, age, height, sex, body temperature, medical conditions, etc.). External factors also contribute to digestion time (physical activity, ambient temperature, the food or drink itself, stress levels, medications, etc.).
There are countless variables that contribute to the time it takes to digest anything you eat or drink. Your body is unlike any other body so your digestion time will not only be unique, but it will change depending on your current circumstances as well.
Why this matters for your trip.
When you eat or drink a psilocybin product, it must go through this digestive process for the psychedelic compounds to enter your system and take effect. Your body has to break down whatever it is you consumed, convert the psilocybin into psilocin, and absorb the psilocin into your blood stream to be delivered to serotonin receptors. Read our previous blog post to learn more about that process!
The length of this process is different for everybody.
Does the product I consume change that time too?
Absolutely!
Let’s compare whole mushrooms to ground mushrooms. If you eat a whole mushroom, chewing it before swallowing, the chunks of mushroom are probably still relatively large. Your stomach has to break these chunks down to access the psilocybin. If you’re consuming ground mushrooms that are in much smaller pieces, your stomach can break these down much faster.
Imagine smashing a candy cane, then putting the chunks in water. The small bits will dissolve faster and the big chunks will take a while. Now imagine pouring a spoonful of sugar in water. It will dissolve much more quickly, evenly, and completely. Just like the candy cane, the larger the chunks of mushroom, the longer it will take to digest.
This means that some products may seem to “hit” faster than others. Remember all the variables above, though. Just because it hits one person quickly doesn’t mean that it will hit as fast every time or for every person.
How can I reduce that time?
It is impossible to make any specific claims about time because of all of these variables, but there are some practical things you can do to generally decrease the amount of time it takes to begin your psychedelic experience.
Increase the surface area of the product: grind your mushrooms before you eat them.
Cut down on what you’re digesting (i.e. extraction). The less stuff your body has to break down, the faster it can access the psilocybin.
Play with your own biology. There are ways to influence the digestion variables in your favor. One of the easiest ways is to increase the amount of acid in your stomach. Consuming sugars, fats, and caffeine (like chocolate!) can increase stomach acid production. Of course, this comes with potential drawbacks like indigestion if overdone.
Fourth, and most elusive, you can convert psilocybin to psilocin so your body doesn’t have to. This is a complicated topic with lots of potential advantages, but many pitfalls as well.
We’ll talk all about these topics in more depth in coming posts, but for now this is why activation times are so hard to predict and can vary so widely.
Your body is unique. Your process is individual. Embrace the time it takes because it is your own and your trip will start precisely when it’s meant to.
