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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Super Human summary
Dave Asprey
The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever
24 mins
Brief summary
Super Human by Dave Asprey is a guide to optimize your health and performance. It explores biohacking techniques, such as fasting, supplements, and exercise, to help you upgrade your body and mind for a superhuman life.
Table of Contents
Super Human
Summary of 8 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 8
Biological aging is caused by mitochondrial degeneration.
Whether you’re aiming to double your lifespan or retain your health for the next twenty years, the best place to start is to avoid dying. Most of us are familiar with the common degenerative diseases that lead to death, like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and heart failure. But what many people don’t realize is that by understanding how aging works on a cellular level, we can find ways to avoid these diseases and stay biologically young even while we age, regardless of what genes we’ve inherited from our parents.
In some cases, a person’s biological age may be even greater than his actual age. The author found this out in his twenties, when he went to see an anti-aging specialist. He’d been suffering from asthma, obesity, high blood sugar, fatigue, and arthritis for years, and a few tests revealed that he had an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. What’s more, he lacked thyroid hormones and testosterone. Biologically, he was essentially middle-aged.
This discovery empowered the author to take control of his health. Since then, he’s lost weight, gained energy, and started the Bulletproof Diet phenomenon. After reading thousands of articles and meeting countless experts on longevity, he’s learned enough about aging that he’s confident he’ll live to be over 180 years old.
On a cellular level, aging is related to your mitochondria. Mitochondria are tiny organelles inside your cells that extract energy from the food you digest and create a chemical called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which stores energy for cellular function. They’re essentially the power plant of the cell. As you get older, though, your mitochondria begin to falter. This leads to an increase in reactive oxygen species, also known as free radicals. These damage your cells and cause widespread chronic inflammation, laying the groundwork for degenerative diseases like cancer.
Luckily though, your mitochondria also produce antioxidants, compounds which curb the damaging effects of free radicals. In order to remain young, your body needs to produce as many antioxidants as it does free radicals. Unfortunately, replacing antioxidants isn’t as simple as taking supplements. If we want to keep our mitochondria functioning well for decades to come, we need to create habits that transform our bodies from the inside out.
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What is Super Human about?
“No supplement can replicate the full spectrum of light humans need from the sun.”
Super Human (2019) is a guide to the latest research in longevity. By making basic changes in your diet and adopting cutting-edge anti-aging technology, you can bypass aging for decades to come while looking as good as you feel.
Who should read Super Human?
- Middle-aged men and women who want to age backwards
- Young adults suffering from obesity, fatigue, or health problems associated with aging
- Bulletproof Diet devotees
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