Countdown Timer's Audible Beat
In a recent newsletter, speaker Anne expressed gratitude to her audience, sharing insights from a newfound understanding of aging. Stanford medical researchers have discovered that aging does not occur gradually but rather in two significant bursts, typically around ages 44 and 60.
The first aging burst, around age 44, impacts molecules related to alcohol and caffeine metabolism, lipid metabolism, cardiovascular health, and skin and muscle function. The second burst, around age 60, involves changes in carbohydrate metabolism, immune system regulation, kidney function, and again cardiovascular and muscle health.
These findings challenge traditional models of aging, which assume a steady, continuous process. Instead, aging appears to happen in distinct phases or jumps, confirmed by shifts in the body's microbiome and molecular profiles. Notably, this pattern occurs irrespective of sex, indicating similar aging bursts in both men and women.
The speaker, who has experienced their own share of physical challenges, including aching joints, crepey skin, broken bones, and a long staircase fall between the ages of 61 and 63, finds comfort in this new perspective. The ticking sound in their head, a metaphor for their biological clock, aging, seems less daunting when viewed as a series of significant events rather than a slow, linear deterioration.
This revelation has also affected the speaker's outlook on time. Once plagued by nightmares about missing appointments, planes, and radio studios on time, the speaker's worry about running out of time is no longer about completing tasks but about aging literally.
In a twist of irony, the speaker's interest in the subject of time began from a perspective of social and political criticism, questioning the origins of clocks, the relationship between time and money, and alternatives to Western time. This interest led to the production of a series titled "Deep Time," which explored prehistoric caves, the edges of the universe, relativity, quantum entanglement, and chronobiology.
As the last episode of the speaker's radio show, TTBOOK, approaches its end (to air on September 27), the Tyranny of Time episode is being re-aired this week. This episode is one of Anne's favourites and she hopes listeners will enjoy it and find new ideas from it.
Anne finds comfort in the perspective that our moment can seem both endless and over in the blink of an eye. She references geologist Marcia Bjornerud walking her through the formation of Earth's crust, a process that took a significant amount of time, as a reminder of the vastness of time and the insignificance of human lifespans in the grand scheme of the universe.
Despite the physical challenges and the end of TTBOOK, Anne remains optimistic, looking forward to the re-aired episode and the potential implications of Stanford's findings for understanding and potentially intervening in the aging process.
- The speaker, having developed an interest in the subject of time through a series titled "Deep Time," is now exploring the implications of Stanford's findings on aging, seeking to understand and potentially intervene in the aging process.
- In the realm of education and self-development, the speaker is drawn to the study of health and wellness, aging, and personal growth, given current insights into the distinct phases of aging, challenging traditional models.
- To push deeper into the understanding of time and the aging process, Anne plans to integrate scientific studies on aging, such as those from Stanford medical researchers, with her explorations in the fields of science and history, including deep time and geology, in her future endeavors.
