Читать книгу Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever онлайн
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Quick, picture a stereotypical “old person.” In your mind’s eye you probably see a frail person with loose skin, no muscle tone, shaky hands, and a foggy memory—right? The truth is that these things happen as we age and cells die and are not replaced. In fact, loss of muscle tissue is so common that it has its own name, sarcopenia, a condition that can lead to falls and broken bones and even impairs the body from fully recovering after those tumbles (or a surgery).1 In most people, sarcopenia sets in as early as age thirty and gets worse with each passing decade.2
When neurons in the brain die and your body isn’t able to replace them, your brain literally shrinks. And yes, this typically happens as we age. This contributes to cognitive decline and dementia, as well as a decrease in fine motor skills. In particular, when that neuron loss takes place in the hippocampus—the part of the brain that controls emotion, memory, and the nervous system—you begin to look and sound a lot like that old person you just imagined. Since hippocampal atrophy is so common, the size of your hippocampus is considered a key marker of aging.3 But there is nothing normal about it—at least, there shouldn’t be.