Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don't Have To
David A. Sinclair
It’s a seemingly undeniable truth that aging is inevitable. But what if everything we’ve been taught to believe about aging is wrong. What if we could choose our lifespan. more
432 pages, Hardcover
First published Atria Books
4.17
Rating
21468
Ratings
2218
Reviews
David A. Sinclair
15 books 829 followers
David Sinclair is a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School, where he and his colleagues study sirtuins—protein-modifying enzymes that respond to changing NAD+ levels and to caloric restriction—as well as chromatin, energy metabolism, mitochondria, learning and memory, neurodegeneration, cancer, and cellular reprogramming.Community reviews
Oh boy, I just finished this and I'm incredibly annoyed. I want to start off by saying that I didn't pay for this and I'm glad I didn't. I had credits on Amazon to get a kindle book so this was one of the ones I bought because I had heard Sinclair on Peter Attia's podcast and I had thought that this book would be more research and science heavy. The last almost hundred pages of this book of 300-ish pages is what put me in such a bad mood. Personally I have zero patience for self styled thought leaders of any kind and people who want to spend all my time telling me about some inevitable future. more
If I am being honest, I expected more from a 400+ page book written by one of the leaders in longevity. It is well written and the illustrations are lovely, but the information on extending healthspan could be summarized in a paragraph. I was also disappointed in how shallow some of the explanations were. I was hoping for an substantive monograph written for the lay person (like Zimmer’s work) but this is not that. So then what is taking up the bulk of these 400+ pages. more
Being part of the health enhancement community for my entire career I was familiar with the topics and theories on aging as presented by Havard Med School staffer Dr. David Sinclair. Many of Dr. Sinclair's recommendations such as calorie restriction (CR), exercise, sleep and moderate to low protein intake are well vetted. Other suggestions including the intake of NAD, Metformin, and Rapamycin MAY have anti-aging effects but are less well known and have potential downsides. more
Immortality sounds. nice. Too utopic, still, but prolonging life for spans that seem unimaginable at the moment may be a standard procedure in a not so far future. Sinclair, a professor of genetics and expert in the field of the science of aging from the Harvard medical school, summarizes the status quo of how to stay young and healthy as long as possible. At the moment, the way to a longer life is a pretty hard one, focussing on some elemental and prooven elements:Workout for both strength and endurance. more
Coming from a perspective of someone who studies evidence-based nutrition, exercise, and healthy lifestyle factors for over a decade now, this book is a must-read. Solving aging is one of the final frontiers for humankind, and the information David has provided here is a big step in the right direction. It has the power to bring more awareness to solving aging as well as shift strong limiting beliefs that have been deeply rooted in public as well as the scientific community. We've come very far in research, but sadly the mainstream still hasn't caught up as many of the theories often mentioned have already been invalidated. Big thanks to David and his team for putting together all the most up-to-date longevity research in one place. more
This is a fascinating book covering the latest advances (including from his lab at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and others) in ageing research. Dr Sinclair starts by discussing our attitudes towards ageing – most people think of it as inevitable. As a result, while many serious diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, dementia and others have received considerable funding, ageing still continues to receive a small fraction of that. Also, grants awarded to ageing are often used up for research into diseases more prevalent typically in old age (such as dementia), rather than ageing itself. The fact though is that ageing leaves you more susceptible to many diseases and also invariably affects quality of life for many. more
The book is about aging and how to slow down or even reverse the effects of aging. Dr. Sinclair argues that aging is not an inevitable part of life and that there are things we can do to increase the number of years we can live in good health and quality life. He examines the science behind aging, including the role of DNA damage, epigenetics, and metabolism. One of the main strategies he recommends for extending health span is caloric restriction or intermittent fasting. more
Highly recommended. There is a lot of complicated science in this book (at least to me), but there are ideas and views that cannot be ignored. You may not agree with everything the author espouses, particularly some of his political views, but this book provides a lot of important things to think about and, if you are so inclined, to discuss with others. Providing thought provoking ideas is always good. more
The book consists of 1) a history of aging and longevity related science, 2) a a handwavey survey of some interesting metabolic pathways and genetic/epigenetic programming techniques that Prof. Sinclair and friends have pursued, 3. ) philosophical, aesthetic, and moral arguments on why pursuing lifespan extension is good. It's well-written and I enjoyed Prof. Sinclair's distinctive writing style and purview. more
The book is 99% of personal anecdotes, tedious and lengthy lab studies, descriptions of yeast cells, government funding, and epigenetics. And 1% on how you should:• exclude animal proteins• exclude sugar• exclude dairy• eat a lot less of everything else (calorie restriction). I'm following it. . more
2,5 SterneBin durch folgendes Video auf Sinclair und seine Forschung gestoßen: https://youtu. be/n9IxomBusuw. Wer sich nur für die Maßnahmen interessiert, der ist mit dem Video besser bedient. Das Buch hat lange Passagen, die sich generell mit seiner Forschung und der seiner Kolleg:innen beschäftigen, die ich persönlich sehr spannend fand. In der 2. more
I have a feeling this will be a long review, so if you're just looking for some cliff-notes then mine are: "This book has the potential to change the way you live your life. You might not enjoy reading it (*1), but the topic it addresses will definitely affect you personally. Whether it's right after reading it (*2), or at a societal level in the years to come, that's up to you. " Now for the long version. My previous knowledge of David Sinclair was from his visits to JRE podcast, where I found him to be an insightful and smart fella' (*3). more
This is an intriguing book written by the renowned Harvard researcher, David Sinclair. Sinclair believes that our attitudes about the inevitability of aging may be somewhat flawed. In fact, based on his research, he believes that not only will we be able to slow aging down, we may someday be able to reverse it. He discusses the shortcomings of aging research that is partly a function of the fact that we don't currently classify aging as a chronic disease, thereby making its research ineligible for government funding. He also argues, and strongly so, that aging is by far the biggest threat we face, pointing out that most other chronic diseases are secondary to the aging process. more
I read this for work and while the science/DNA-level detail in the front part is pretty dense, the book really opens up when he writes about the possibility for treating aging as a disease and all the things that currently kill us (heart disease, cancers) as its symptoms. And then the social impacts of society living much, much longer than we currently do. I am now operating as if I will live to 100, and we're talking GOOD years, not wasting away. So this book has really changed the way I think about aging, which I used to just accept as something inevitable. more
Though this text has the underpinnings of legitimacy, a visit to the NIH revealed the authors' attempts to commercialize scientific discoveries. Listening to this, one would ascertain an active ad campaign is underway to push "Metformin" on the general public. Many references are made to applying the knowledge gained in animal studies to humans---sans human double blind studies to confirm such claims. “As a stem cell scientist, I’m insulted by his unsubstantiated claims. At best, he will lead the unaware astray; at worst, he will diminish the credibility of all of us who do serious research with stem cells. more
Absolutely fascinating read about the past (what we know), present (what we are learning) and future (where we are going) of the anti-aging science research. Along with “Why we Sleep” of Matthew Walker this is another of those fundamental books one should read. Actually I can’t help but imagine future generations looking back in our times and wondering how were people going about their lives without learning about or caring to understand longevity factors such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, mental health, preventive health checks, body monitoring etc. Returning to the book, apart from providing a general background of how our bodies work on the molecular (DNA, RNA, proteins) and cellular level, the author proposes the hypothesis that aging is a result of a loss of information. This theory suggests that over time our cells loose the ability to accurately “read” the genetic information which remains always intactly stored into our DNA (this genetic information is what tells the cell what to be and how to behave), resulting in malfunction, loss of cellular identity or death, which manifests as the symptoms and diseases we all associate with aging. more
This might be one of the most remarkable non-fiction book I’ll read this year. The ground-breaking science on aging provides hope for the future. The research was interesting and I found myself hoping that governments all over the world will start prioritizing research on how to prevent aging. I for one want to live as long as I possible can, with my health intact. I enjoyed the optimism and the chapters on possible solutions for our world in other areas than just aging. more
I've been following David Sinclair's research into aging for many years, and this book is a great summary of his work and that of others, where the field of aging research is headed, and what we can expect. Dr. Sinclair is and has always been an optimist. I'm an optimist too, so that's fine by me. While he isn't a medical doctor and can't give medical advice, he discusses supplements he takes and lifestyle choices he makes that he feels are helping him and his own family too, including his 80-year-old father who has returned to work and is enjoying vibrant good health. more
Kaip dabar jau žinoma, kai kuria David Sinclair teiginiai vertinami dviprasmiškai, bet, manau, šita knyga yra rimtas lūžio taškas kaip ateityje bus žiūrima ir galvojama apie senėjimo procesus. Ši knyga atidarė daug temų, kurias mokslas dabar analizuoja ir norisi perskaičius ieškoti naujausios informacijos. more
This book could have been excellent. I am a true fan of life extension and the author Dr. Sinclair as an obvious insight in the current state of art in the biochemistry of life extension. He gave an excellent introduction to many detailed topics in this biochemistry: sirtuins, NMN, mTOR, and DNA mods to test repair effect on ageing. mention of Metformin, Resveratrol and the search for other potential triggers of sirtuins repair. more
دکتر سینکلر طی ۲۰ سال گذشته به همراه تیم فوقالعاده اش تحقیقاتی روی ژن ها و ساختار دی إن ای انجام داده و تونستن دو موش را پیر و بعد دوباره جوان کنند. درمان خیلی از بیماری ها من جمله آلزایمر احتمالا در آینده نه چندان دور با همین روش درمان پذیره. مفصل هست و اینجا مجال نیست. more
“I believe that aging is a disease. I believe it is treatable. I believe we can treat it within our lifetimes. And in doing so, I believe, everything we know about human health will be fundamentally changed. ”Wild book. more
Summary: He's dedicated his life to studying this. A lot of good info. One-star off b/c I think his direction of inquiry is a little disjointed in spots. I think that's the fault of the way research is set up and not the author though. The other star has to do with fact presentation. more
Within our lifetimes many will be able to live longer than 120 years, while enjoying at age 80-90 the health of 30-40 year olds. Gene therapies that can reverse organ damage, like macular degeneration, and get rid of senescent cells, which increase with age and cause the various illnesses of old age, are already proving to be successful in the lab. We will be able to program genes in a way that makes humans immune to most fatal diseases. A Chinese doctor has already gene edited a girl who is immune to AIDS. One of Sinclair's students has been able to grow nerves connecting the eyes to the brain in mice, and there is confidence among researchers that the same could be done for humans. more
I found the writing very american and quite self absorbed, but I really liked the message and ideas that sinclair puts forward. It's a very optimistic look at the future of healthcare and one I'd like to see happen. more
Дейвид Синклер е изследовател на "старостта" - занимава се да открива защо и как точно хората стареят, какви са молекулярните и генетични механизми, които ни карат да стареем. И как могат да бъдат те забавени или в идеалния случай - спрени, разбира се. Lifespan изобилства с научни подробности относно стареенето на споменатото молекулярно и генетично ниво, но бързо става очевидно, че съвременната наука има съвсем бегла представа за случващото се в тоя контекст в телата ни и е на нивото на звездобройците през средновековието, които са описвали какво виждат в небето, без да имат и бегла идея за истинската природа на звездите и планетите. Ясно е, че изследванията в тази област ще продължат - смятам ги за важни и очаквам с интерес резултатите от тях. Но не смятам за нужно да правя всеобхватни изводи на базата на малкото налична информация. more
Dr. David Sinclair is a scientist, researching aging in humans. He says “I believe that aging is a disease. I believe it is treatable. " This is something my mother has always said and she was happy to know that the scientific community is finally taking aging seriously. more
"Lifespan" va rămâne cu siguranță ca și sursă empirică de referiță pentru studierea unuia dintre cele mai controversate subiecte care vizează întreaga omenire, și anume, îmbătrânirea. Deși poate părea o lectură tehnică, autorul reușește să condenseze cu o eleganță inedită un subiect atât de important, alternând părțile teoretice cu exemplele din viața sa reală, din munca de laborator, dar și cu teme profunde de reflecție. Mi-a plăcut ideea conform căreia toate progresele efectuate conduc la un singur rezultat, și anume, acela că îmbătrânirea și senescența celulară nu sunt o parte inevitabilă a vieții, ci sunt, mai degrabă, un proces de imbătrânire cu consecințe mai ample. Privind astfel lucrurile, afecțiuni precum cancerul, Alzheimerul, bolile cardiace și restul patologiilor pe care le asociem în mod normal cu îmbătrânirea nu sunt doar niște boli în sine, ci simptome ale unui proces mai amplu. Sau, simplu spus, îmbătrânirea este ea însăși o boală pe care ar merita să ne propunem să o abordăm ca atare. more
رحله رائعه في مجال العلم الرائع و المبهر مع احد اهم العلماء في الوقت الحالي الدكتور دايفيد سينكلير. كتاب رائع مليئ بالتواضع، بالطموح البشريه، بالأمل، و الألم ايضا. الفكره الاساسيه من الكتاب هو توثيق لرحلة دايفيد في علوم الشيخوخه و مساعيه في تصنيف الشيخوخه كا"مرض" يمكن العلاج منه و الموت ليس شيء مسلم به او مؤلم و طويل. شبه الشيخوخه في الدي ان اي هو مثل الديفي الذي يحتوي جميع المعلومات الاساسيه الصافيه، و مع كثرة الانقسام م�� العمر يحصل تشويش للدي ان اي مسببا انقسامات مشوهه، اشبه بالديفيدي الذي تعرض للخدوش، و كيف انه يمكن "تنظيف الديفيدي" او تنظيف الدي ان اي مرة اخرى لجعل هذه الانقسامات ترجع لسابق عهدها و هنا تبدأ بشكل او اخر بالرجوع بالعمر. نعم قد يبدو كلاما مجنونا لكن الدكتور اخذنا برحلة متواضعه جدا بالأمل بأن التقدم الطبي قد يمكنه ان يحقق هذا الشي. more
The authors have written an excellent book on a subject that affects everyone. It's not too technical and has personal stories to make you really think about treating aging as a disease. It was a very enjoyable read. . more