I recently read The Immortality Edge: Realize the Strategies of Your Telomeres for a Longer, More healthy Lifeby Michael Fossel, Greta Blackburn, Dave Woynarowski so I believed I'd write a book review. The book is 288 pages of engaging research on how we can live a longer life and focuses principally on our telomeres and their role in ageing.
What are telomeres?
Telomeres are DNA sequences at the ends of our chromosomes that used to be regarded junk sequencing or wasted space. It is now assumed that telomeres have a crucial role in shielding the chromosome and DNA from being damaged or from mixing with other near by chromosomes. The authors suggest we think of telomeres like the plastic tips on the end of shoelaces. They are there to guard our laces from fraying at the edges and unraveling. And so they disagree, it's the same for telomeres.
What are telomeres?
Telomeres are DNA sequences at the ends of our chromosomes that used to be regarded junk sequencing or wasted space. It is now assumed that telomeres have a crucial role in shielding the chromosome and DNA from being damaged or from mixing with other near by chromosomes. The authors suggest we think of telomeres like the plastic tips on the end of shoelaces. They are there to guard our laces from fraying at the edges and unraveling. And so they disagree, it's the same for telomeres.
Each time a cell divides, it has to duplicate the DNA contained in the cell to pass it on to the new cell. But the enzymes that expedite the copying of DNA can't operate at the ends of the chromosomes, and that would imply that critical DNA would get left out of duplication were it not for the telomeres. When the DNA is badly or somewhat broadcast, mutations and gaps in DNA happen, and this can end up in stuff like cancer or Alzheimer's. But the telomeres are there to prevent this from occuring, and each time the cell duplicates, a bit of the telomere gets shortened (like snipping off a bit of the end of your shoelace). Telomerase is an enzyme that helps to replenish telomeres, but as we grow older, our telomeres shorten, and once our telomeres are gone, the cells are destroyed. The book explains it is precisely this shortening of our telomeres that leads to aging.
What can we do to slow down aging?
After deliberating all the research on telomeres and their direct accountability for aging, the book goes on to offer some practical solutions for how we will be able to slow down the process of aging by reducing the rate that we shorten our telomeres. Most are the proposals that we already know and include things like:
- Exercising (including high magnitude coaching such as sprinting)
- Eating a lot of organic whole fruits and vegetables
- Getting a good quantity of sleep constantly
- And taking a variety of supplements and vitamins
The authors claim that it should be possible within our lifetime to live to 150 and be healthy if we follow their steps. They also say that getting old and sick is a sickness in itself and we should be in a position to age without growing sick. Of course all this remains to be seen.
Book rating
Overall I'd give this book 4 out of five stars. I liked the systematic research behind the info and I had never heard about telomeres before reading this book. The writers won a Nobel prize for their research and their work has offered a real scientific discovery into getting older. It's going to be great to see what new developments come out of it for slowing down ageing as well as illness and sickness. There's a test you can take to find out how "old" your telomeres are. Things like smoking of course will drastically decrease the length of your telomeres and things like exercising and eating right will lengthen them.
The one thing I didn't like about the book however was that it is basically attempting to sell additions made by a company clearly linked wit
What can we do to slow down aging?
After deliberating all the research on telomeres and their direct accountability for aging, the book goes on to offer some practical solutions for how we will be able to slow down the process of aging by reducing the rate that we shorten our telomeres. Most are the proposals that we already know and include things like:
- Exercising (including high magnitude coaching such as sprinting)
- Eating a lot of organic whole fruits and vegetables
- Getting a good quantity of sleep constantly
- And taking a variety of supplements and vitamins
The authors claim that it should be possible within our lifetime to live to 150 and be healthy if we follow their steps. They also say that getting old and sick is a sickness in itself and we should be in a position to age without growing sick. Of course all this remains to be seen.
Book rating
Overall I'd give this book 4 out of five stars. I liked the systematic research behind the info and I had never heard about telomeres before reading this book. The writers won a Nobel prize for their research and their work has offered a real scientific discovery into getting older. It's going to be great to see what new developments come out of it for slowing down ageing as well as illness and sickness. There's a test you can take to find out how "old" your telomeres are. Things like smoking of course will drastically decrease the length of your telomeres and things like exercising and eating right will lengthen them.
The one thing I didn't like about the book however was that it is basically attempting to sell additions made by a company clearly linked wit
- Getting a good quantity of sleep constantly
- And taking a variety of supplements and vitamins
The authors claim that it should be possible within our lifetime to live to 150 and be healthy if we follow their steps. They also say that getting old and sick is a sickness in itself and we should be in a position to age without growing sick. Of course all this remains to be seen.
Book rating
Overall I'd give this book 4 out of five stars. I liked the systematic research behind the info and I had never heard about telomeres before reading this book. The writers won a Nobel prize for their research and their work has offered a real scientific discovery into getting older. It's going to be great to see what new developments come out of it for slowing down ageing as well as illness and sickness. There's a test you can take to find out how "old" your telomeres are. Things like smoking of course will drastically decrease the length of your telomeres and things like exercising and eating right will lengthen them.
The one thing I didn't like about the book however was that it is basically attempting to sell additions made by a company clearly linked with the authors, T.A. Sciences. They sell a telomerase enzyme supplement called TA-65 that is supposed to help regenerate your telomeres. Of course they're the only ones who sell this product and it's phenomenally expensive at the eye popping cost of $600 for one bottle. But if you leave that one negative side, the book is a great read and tasty food for thought about the way to not only live for longer, and additionally to live better.
About the Author:
- And taking a variety of supplements and vitamins
The authors claim that it should be possible within our lifetime to live to 150 and be healthy if we follow their steps. They also say that getting old and sick is a sickness in itself and we should be in a position to age without growing sick. Of course all this remains to be seen.
Book rating
Overall I'd give this book 4 out of five stars. I liked the systematic research behind the info and I had never heard about telomeres before reading this book. The writers won a Nobel prize for their research and their work has offered a real scientific discovery into getting older. It's going to be great to see what new developments come out of it for slowing down ageing as well as illness and sickness. There's a test you can take to find out how "old" your telomeres are. Things like smoking of course will drastically decrease the length of your telomeres and things like exercising and eating right will lengthen them.
The one thing I didn't like about the book however was that it is basically attempting to sell additions made by a company clearly linked with the authors, T.A. Sciences. They sell a telomerase enzyme supplement called TA-65 that is supposed to help regenerate your telomeres. Of course they're the only ones who sell this product and it's phenomenally expensive at the eye popping cost of $600 for one bottle. But if you leave that one negative side, the book is a great read and tasty food for thought about the way to not only live for longer, and additionally to live better.
About the Author:
Tsipi Levay has an interest in anything that helps her live a longer and better life. Her healthy lifestyle includes using organic skin care products and eating full organic food.