Super Human Book Summary - Super Human Book explained in key points

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Name: Super Human
Rating: 4.2 (654 reviews)
Author: Dave Asprey

Dave Asprey

The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever

4.2 (654 ratings)

24 mins

Table of Contents

Super Human
summarized in 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Hack your biology to radically extend your lifespan.

From ancient alchemists to today’s biohackers, humans have been trying to find an elixir of longevity since the beginning of civilization. Most people assume that they’ll live to be eighty and inevitably die from cancer, Alzheimer’s, or another degenerative disease. However, with recent developments in anti-aging science, aging as we know it could be a thing of the past.

If you suffer from fatigue or premature aging, or simply wish you had the energy you had twenty years ago, you’ve come to the right place. The author has adopted a number of methods and technologies in his quest to live to be at least 180 years old, and in these blinks you’ll learn how to employ them yourself. With these tricks under your belt, you’ll live longer, feel better, and look younger.

Along the way, you’ll also learn

how avoiding the sun might be killing you;
which cereal was invented to drain your libido; and
how to restore your hair to its natural color.

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.

Avoid dying by adopting a low-carb diet with the right proteins and fats.

Ironically, one of the main factors in mitochondria degeneration is the very thing that the mitochondria drive you towards doing to survive: eating.

Though some foods are beneficial for mitochondrial maintenance, foods that cause inflammation are commonplace in the average Western diet. If we want to avoid chronic inflammation and the degenerative diseases it leads to, we need to practice better dietary habits.

A cyclical ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting are cheap strategies for healthy brain function.

If you’re worried that staying younger will be out of your budget, the good news is that one of the most important strategies for longevity is also one of the cheapest. And, as it turns out, regulating what and when you eat optimizes your cognitive function, which has both short- and long-term benefits.

Your body obtains the energy your brain requires through the metabolic process of burning food to use as fuel. Typically, that fuel is glucose. But your body can also use chemical compounds called ketones, which it produces while in a state known as ketosis. Ketosis occurs when there isn’t much blood sugar available and the body is forced to break down its stores of fat for energy.

Learn which kind of light to avoid and when.

These days, most people know that too much sun exposure will give you cancer. But ironically, it turns out that avoiding sunlight altogether also has negative consequences. One study done in Sweden found that completely avoiding sun exposure lowered life expectancy between .6 and 2.1 years, making it a bigger risk factor for death than smoking.

Sunlight is essential for longevity because it gives us vitamin D, which regulates our blood sugar and circadian rhythm as well as preventing the buildup of amyloids, a protein aggregate that leads to Alzeihmer’s. Vitamin D is so important that the author recommends taking it as a supplement.

Use sleep aids to get the right amount of quality sleep.

Before the author set out on his journey to heal his body, he got by on four hours of sleep a night. However, it didn’t take long for him to learn that sleep is an essential component to becoming Super Human.

It might feel like a waste of time, but sleep is the body’s natural detoxification process, draining fluids from tissue and flushing out cellular waste and neurotoxins. A good night’s rest regulates our hormones to help us feel satiated, improving cognitive abilities, promoting skin health, and encouraging healthy cell division.

To age backwards, regulate your hormones with hormone replacement therapy or high-intensity interval training.

Did you know that cornflakes were invented as part of an anti-masturbation campaign? It’s hard to believe, but Kellogg and Graham created this high-carb American staple to solve what they thought was a problem causing societal decline in the early 20th century: the male libido. Though the cereal hasn’t solved America’s social problems, the preponderance of low-fat grains in today’s Western diet has likely contributed to a nationwide decline in testosterone.

If you think of testosterone as an indicator of performance in the bedroom, you’re on the right track. But as it turns out, both men and women need optimal levels of hormones such as testosterone and estrogen in order to remain fertile and thus biologically young. If you’re experiencing any unwelcome signs of aging, try visiting an anti-aging specialist or functional medicine doctor for a full hormonal workup.

Stem cells treatment offers Super Human healing and disease prevention.

After researchers in the 1980s conducted stem cell research on samples taken from human embryos, stem cell research in general was branded unethical and the practice was halted for many years. Ethical quandaries aside, the timing was unfortunate; scientists found out soon after that adult bodies contain stem cells that possess previously unimaginable healing powers.

Scientists now know that stem cells’ regenerative potential comes from their ability to differentiate into various kinds of cells, allowing them to renew and repair cells in a given area of the body. For example, stem cells help tissue heal when you have an injury. As you get older, your stem cell reserves start to wane and the remaining cells begin to lose efficiency. So it should come as no surprise that the anti-aging community increasingly views stem cell therapy as having a central role in longevity.

Look younger by boosting your collagen levels and maintaining your natural hair.

Preventing wrinkles, baldness, or grey hair won’t make you age backwards. But looking as good as you feel won’t hurt when you’re one hundred years old!

Since wrinkles are the result of the breakdown of collagen, a kind of protein in your connective tissue, you’re better off dealing with them on a cellular level than buying expensive eye creams. One option is to take at least 10 grams of grass-fed or pastured collagen protein supplement daily, boosting the amino acids your body needs to produce collagen. Collagen protein powder has been found to reduce wrinkles, boost hydration, and enhance your skin’s elasticity.

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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

About the Author

Dave Asprey is the CEO and founder of Bulletproof 360, Inc. He is a two-time New York Times bestselling author, host of the podcast Bulletproof Radio, and the creator behind the global phenomenon Bulletproof Coffee and the Bulletproof Diet.

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