Slowing the Clock of Life

Unaging: The Four Factors that Impact How You Age by Robert P. Friedland, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2022, 344 pp.

We all soon learn that time stops for no one, and that loss of function is inevitable: aging. We wait for the next drug or stem cell treatment to reverse the clock, so far to little avail. Friedland says to forget that gloom, there is so much each of us can do to reduce the disabilities of aging and premature death. He distills the complexity of his message to four reserves: cognitive, physical, psychological, and social. For each he documents the evidence, its application to the reader, and provides a wonderful anecdote illustrating the feature. That similar “reserves” are proposed in earlier admonitions [1] or with greater detail by others [2] only adds to the clarity Friedland brings to increasing health span. Unaging is a beautiful capstone to the demonstration of chronic disease as modifiable by our choices, and not inevitable. Friedland writes with great authority as one of the first to research physical and mental determinants, microbiome, and minority disparities. The message is clear: Alzheimer’s disease is not inevitable, and while Friedland’s four factors are not claimed to prevent Alzheimer’s or other chronic diseases, the evidence of the benefit of increased health span is startling. In an age so reliant on costly drugs and risky interventions, Friedland’s message is all the more needed by medical professionals, their patients, and those wanting to avoid being patients.

George Perry, Ph.D.

Professor

Semmes Foundation Distinguished University

Chair in Neurobiology

The University of Texas at San Antonio

San Antonio, TX, USA

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