5 minute summaries
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from each episode
__________
7 Jun 2021
1hr 49mins
FEATURING
Quote
"Extending life should be more about improving the quality of life than increasing the number of years of life"
Ideas
1
I think the root cause of aging is a loss of information due to entropy.
The loss of information that keeps our cells healthy to tell the cells which genes to read throughout our lives.
In cells, there are primarily two types of information, the DNA or genome and the epigenome.
We can think of the DNA or genome as data stored on a DVD disk, and the epigenome as the reader of that data.
What happens over time are scratches that to build up on the DVD, which means the reader can't fully access the information.
So aging is a manifestation of cells losing their ability to read the right genes at the right time, which leads to cells losing their identity and tissues failing.
My work and goal is to try and identify ways of creating a back-up of that information, as in yeast as well as mouse, having a back-up of this information has helped with slowing the process of aging.
In cells, there are primarily two types of information, the DNA or genome and the epigenome.
We can think of the DNA or genome as data stored on a DVD disk, and the epigenome as the reader of that data.
What happens over time are scratches that to build up on the DVD, which means the reader can't fully access the information.
So aging is a manifestation of cells losing their ability to read the right genes at the right time, which leads to cells losing their identity and tissues failing.
My work and goal is to try and identify ways of creating a back-up of that information, as in yeast as well as mouse, having a back-up of this information has helped with slowing the process of aging.
2
Most people forget when we get old, 80-90% of diseases are caused by aging.
We're pursuing cures for individual diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's, but these are more band aid solutions.
We need to think more about the root problem that causes many of these diseases, which is aging.
We're focusing too much on "whack-a-mole" medicine because stopping the progression of one disease doesn't make it any less likely that a person will die of another. Only addressing the root cause will.
We need to think more about the root problem that causes many of these diseases, which is aging.
We're focusing too much on "whack-a-mole" medicine because stopping the progression of one disease doesn't make it any less likely that a person will die of another. Only addressing the root cause will.
3
Everything in life is a matter of perspective, and everything in life is relative.
We can always find ways to appreciate the life we have no matter what we're going through, but we can also find ways to hate and complain no matter what we have.
It's up to us to choose whether we want to view things negatively or positively, and then work our way from there.
It's up to us to choose whether we want to view things negatively or positively, and then work our way from there.
Questions
1
Can you think of something negative to appreciate because of your perspective?
What else is in the episode
1
What it means to stay young at heart
2
Diet, fitness & sleep's impact on aging
3
Data tracking and tools for health diagnosis
Who is David Sinclair?
1
A professor of genetics and co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. He's also the co-founder of several biotechnology companies, co-founder and co-chief editor of the journal Aging and author of 'Lifespan: Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To'.
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