8. Mushrooms Build New Bits Of Your Brain
Research suggests that the mind-bending properties of magic mushrooms could be because they alter the very structure of the brain itself. Whilst most drugs work by altering the levels of hormones and neurotransmitters within the brain, the key psychoactive ingredient in shrooms, psilocybin, is broken down into psilocin - a chemical with a similar structure to serotonin. This means that, not only do magic mushrooms pull all the usual tricks with your serotonin levels, but this compound can also mimic and compound the effects of serotonin by tricking the body into thing that it is. As well as this, it is thought that the main effect of magic mushrooms, the melon-twisting hallucinations, are a result of the shrooms actually
building new neural pathways in the brain. Seeing as neural pathways in the brain are usually created by new experiences in the real world, the sudden appearance of brand spanking new pathways without the normal stimulus can confuse the brain a bit, making it difficult to tell fiction from reality. This is what can cause hallucinations and the feelings of "open mindedness" that people often experience on shrooms. A
study has suggested that magic mushrooms are actually one of the least harmful drugs one can take, both to the people taking them, and others around them. There has been call in the scientific community for the strict limitations on testing psychedelics to be lifted so that we can study their potentially beneficial effects on the brain more closely. All this said, they
are still illegal, plus the research on them is still incomplete and I am by no means urging you all to go and get off your tits on mushrooms. Just have a nice peppermint tea or something.