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In this paradigm-shifting book from acclaimed Harvard Medical School doctor and one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people on earth, Dr. David Sinclair reveals that everything we think we know about ageing is wrong, and shares the surprising, scientifically-proven methods that can help readers live younger, longer.
For decades, the medical community has looked to a variety of reasons for why we age, and the consensus is that no one dies of old age; they die of age-related diseases. That's because ageing is not a disease – it is inevitable. But what if everything you think you know about ageing is wrong?
What if ageing is a disease? And that disease is curable.
In Lifespan, Dr. David Sinclair, one of the world's foremost authorities on genetics and ageing, argues just that. He has dedicated his life's work to chasing more than a longer lifespan – he wants to enable people to live longer, healthier, and disease-free well into our hundreds. In Lifespan, he reveals a bold new theory of ageing, one that pinpoints a root cause of ageing that lies in an ancient genetic survival circuit. This genetic trick – a circuit designed to halt reproduction in order to repair damage to the genome – has enabled earth's early microcosms to survive and evolve into more advanced organisms. But this same survival circuit is the reason we age: as genetic damage accumulates over our lifespans from UV rays, environmental toxins, and unhealthy diets, our genome is overwhelmed, causing gray hair, wrinkles, achy joints, heart issues, dementia, and, ultimately, death.
But genes aren't our destiny; we have more control over them than we've been taught to believe. We can't change our DNA, but we can harness the power of the epigenome to realise the true potential of our genes. Drawing on his cutting-edge findings at the forefront of medical research, The author provides a scientifically-proven roadmap to reverse the genetic clock by activating our vitality genes, so we can live younger longer. Readers will discover how a few simple lifestyle changes – like intermittent fasting, avoiding too much animal protein, limiting sugar, avoiding x-rays, exercising with the right intensity, and even trying cold therapy – can activate our vitality genes. Sinclair ends Lifespan with a look to the near future, exploring what the world might look like – and what will need to change – when we are all living well to 120 or more. Sinclair takes what we have long accepted as the limits of human potential and mortality and turns them into choices.
David Sinclair, PhD is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, the Founding Director of Paul F Glenn Labs for Ageing Research, Co-Chief editor of the Journal of Ageing and Con-joint Professor, University of New South Wales, Medicine. He has received more than 25 awards for his medical research and in 2014 he was named by Time magazine as ‘one of the 100 most influential people in the world’. Born and educated in Australia, he now resides in New York City.
"A masterful book [...] the precious results of decades of work into longevity – read it"
– Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Four Pillar Plan and The Stress Solution
"If you ever wondered how we age, if we can slow or even reverse aging, and if we can live a healthy 100 plus years, then David Sinclair's new book Lifespan, which reads like a detective novel, will guide you through the science and the practical strategies to make your health span equal your lifespan, and make your lifespan long and vibrant."
– Mark Hyman, MD Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and #1 New York Times bestselling author
"This is the most visionary book about aging I have ever read. Seize the day–and seize this book!"
– Dean Ornish, MD, founder & president, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, and New York Times bestselling author of UnDo It!
"In this insightful and provocative book that asks questions about how we age, and whether humans can overcome decay and degeneration, Sinclair grapples with some of the most fundamental questions around the science of aging. The result is an elegant and exciting book that deserves to be read broadly and deeply."
– Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author
"There are few books that have ever made me think about science in a fundamentally new way. David Sinclair's book did that for me on aging. This is a book that anyone who ages must read."
– Leroy Hood, PhD, professor at the California Institute of Technology, inventor, entrepreneur, member of all three US National Academies, and co-author of Code of Codes
