This is a helpful introduction to aging in a healthier way. The book includes the science of aging, including familiar concepts like cellular senescence and autophagy, but also goes into simple, practical things anyone can do to both help themselves prolong their healthspan and to deal with health-related limitations when aging related decline does happen.

I liked the easy to understand layout and writing style. It made the concepts very accessible and easy to apply. I also liked the realistic, but optimistic, approach to aging. This isn’t a book that pretends you can avoid aging or age without any loss of hearing/vision/memory, etc - instead it helps you try to slow that decline and then provides advice for how to deal with the decline once it happens, so that losing capabilities doesn’t have to mean your life sucks now.

Thanks, NetGalley, Mayo Clinic Press, and Dreamscape, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

When a book about aging lands in your queue a couple of nights before you're going to have an atypical mole excised because 'you just can't escape your genetics, especially at this age,' (P.S. I'm fine and not THAT old!) well, there's nothing to do but press play. And that could go either way: instant celebration of life planning or some sense that there's still hope. Fortunately for me and for all future readers, this book takes the latter approach!

I found this both riveting and surprisingly uplifting, though the whole time I wondered if being in my early (edging up on mid) 40s made me have a very different reading experience than I might have in 20+ more years.

The book is logically structured, and I especially enjoyed the first part, which goes through a comprehensive list of the typical ways in which people age, the related diagnostic testing and treatment (minorly), and especially WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT NEGATIVE OUTCOMES. This is where the hopeful part comes in. Readers don't just learn about inevitable falling apart; there are proactive strategies here. Will all of them sound revolutionary? No. Is it still good to hear recent updates and research? YES. If you have some good habits now, you'll be glad and know what to add. If your habits are not great, well, you'll get options, and you won't get shamed, which I have to assume is helpful. The latter part of the book offers even more in the way of strategies. Throughout, there's an interesting workbook style series of reminders to reflect on what's been covered, your current status, and what, if any, changes you might make. This adds to the hopeful tone, of course.

This is not the kind of book I was looking for or typically read, but it hit at just the right moment, and I'm finding it coming up frequently in random conversations even just a few hours after finishing it. If you're reading this, you're aging (congrats!), and there's good info in this book just for you.

Five stars! Absolutely loved this audio version. I would highly recommend! Great job Mayo Clinic. 👏🏽