Book SummarySuper Human, by Dave Asprey

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Super Human

Most people believe that mental and physical deterioration go hand in hand with aging. They assume that, with every year that passes, they’ll look and feel older, suffer more aches and pains, and become more susceptible to debilitating diseases that nudge them closer to death.

Entrepreneur, Silicon Valley investor, and best-selling author Dave Asprey argues that you can grow older in years and extend your lifespan without suffering these ill effects. In Super Human, he draws on advancements in anti-aging science to explore ways to slow down and reverse the aging process, optimize your mental and physical health, and extend your lifespan.

(Shortform note: In the same vein, biologist and geneticist David Sinclair (Lifespan) argues that aging is a disease that we should attempt to overcome and that age-related deterioration doesn’t have to be an inevitable consequence of...

Super Human Summary Part 1: Inefficient Mitochondria Accelerate Biological Aging

Asprey argues that mitochondrial efficiency plays a key role in biological aging. In this part of the guide, we’ll first explore the role of mitochondria. Then we’ll discuss how efficient mitochondria maintain cellular health while inefficient mitochondria degrade it. Finally, we’ll clarify how mitochondrial efficiency impacts overall health and biological aging.

Principle #1: Mitochondria Manage Cellular Health

According to Asprey, mitochondria—tiny organelles that live within your cells—manage cellular health and functionality through a number of processes, including:

• Extracting energy from your body’s metabolic processes to power your cells
• Killing off and disposing of dysfunctional cells that would otherwise clog up your system
• Replacing dead or dysfunctional cells with healthy cells

(Shortform note: The number of mitochondria required to manage different cell types varies. This is because, while mitochondria do manage multiple cellular processes, their primary role is to produce energy that powers your cells (which, in turn, [generates more than 90% of your body’s...

Super Human Summary Part 2: Improve Mitochondrial Efficiency and Decelerate Biological Aging

We’ve just discussed how inefficient mitochondria initiate a cycle that accelerates biological aging. According to Asprey, there are six factors that contribute to this damaging cycle, which we’ll discuss throughout the rest of this guide:

1. Inflammatory foods
2. Imbalanced...

Super Human Summary Factor 1: Inflammatory Foods

The first cause of mitochondrial inefficiency is consuming inflammatory foods. Asprey explains that the food you eat directly impacts the amount of inflammation in your body. Recall that inflammation damages cells and overloads your mitochondria, resulting in fewer antioxidants and more free radicals in your body.

According to Asprey, foods that cause inflammation include wheat, grains, gluten, sugar, charred meat, fried foods, and crops sprayed with herbicides that contain glyphosate.

(Shortform note: The foods Asprey mentions cause inflammation because they contain unnatural substances that your body classifies as threats to your immune system. To protect itself, your body produces and sends out inflammatory cells to trap and neutralize these threats. The more unnatural substances you consume, the more inflammatory cells your body releases in response. These inflammatory cells build up and eventually start attacking healthy cells, tissues, and organs—resulting in chronic inflammation. In other words, **your body’s attempt to protect your immune system from unnatural...

Super Human Summary Factor 2: Imbalanced Gut Bacteria

The second cause of mitochondrial inefficiency is having imbalanced gut bacteria. Asprey explains that gut bacteria help maintain the integrity of your gut lining—the barrier between your digestive tract and bloodstream. Your gut lining plays a massive part in the health of your immune system because it absorbs necessary nutrients from your bloodstream and prevents toxins from your digestive tract from leaking into your bloodstream. However, when your gut bacteria are out of balance, your gut lining breaks down, fails to absorb nutrients, and leaks toxins into your bloodstream.

According to Asprey, various factors cause gut bacteria to become imbalanced, including eating produce derived from animals that have been fed antibiotics or from crops sprayed with insecticides, using antibiotics or antibacterial soaps, and consuming an insufficient amount of fiber.

Symptoms of Imbalanced Gut Bacteria

While Asprey details the causes and effects of imbalanced gut bacteria, he doesn’t include information on how you might determine whether this is an issue you’re dealing with. Physicians provide a [list of...

Super Human Summary Factor 3: Excess Metals in Your Body

The third cause of mitochondrial inefficiency is having excess metals in your body. Asprey explains that the energy-extraction process mitochondria use to power your cells is an electrical process. Since metals have high electrical conductivity properties, having too many of them in your body interferes with this energy-extraction process and often results in mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial death.

(Shortform note: Research briefly expands on how excess metals disrupt mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are particularly rich in minerals. While it’s not yet clear exactly what role these minerals play in mitochondrial function, what is known is that excess metals displace these minerals—which then disrupts mitochondrial physiology, preventing them from fulfilling basic functions.)

According to Asprey, you’re more likely to have excess metals in your body if you eat food derived from crops planted in thallium-rich soil, consume high quantities of oceanic fish, have dental fillings, or spend a substantial amount of time...

Super Human Summary Factor 4: Sleep Deprivation

The fourth cause of mitochondrial inefficiency is suffering from sleep deprivation. According to Asprey, sleep deprivation results from missing out on good-quality sleep that maximizes your time in deep sleep (otherwise known as “delta sleep”). This phase of sleep provides many health benefits: It regulates your hormones, improves your cognitive abilities, reduces your stress levels, and helps your mitochondria eliminate cellular waste.

(Shortform note: Research expands on why deep sleep offers so many health benefits. During this phase of sleep, your neuronal activity decreases, reducing your body’s energy expenditure. This enables your body to divert more resources toward regulating your metabolism and hormones and managing your cellular health. One key benefit of these extra resources is that they enable mitochondria to extract significantly more energy to power cellular function than they can while you’re awake or sleeping lightly.)

Asprey suggests that you can improve the quality of your sleep by making two lifestyle changes:...

Super Human Summary Factor 5: Hormonal Imbalances

The fifth cause of mitochondrial inefficiency is hormonal imbalances in your body. Asprey argues that hormones play a key part in how well mitochondria function because they help maintain your overall health (thereby reducing the damaged and dysfunctional cells mitochondria must deal with).

As you age, your body slows down its production of certain hormones such as [restricted term] and estrogen, resulting in an imbalance that can cause many of the undesirable symptoms we associate with old age. These symptoms include mood swings, weight gain, poor sleeping patterns, low fertility levels, and sexual dysfunction.

(Shortform note: According to research, the body produces over 50 different hormones, all of which contribute to essential bodily processes. While age does decrease the production of some of these hormones, it also increases the production of others. In addition to [restricted term] and estrogen, hormones that decrease with age include aldosterone, calcitonin, [restricted term], renin, and prolactin. The [hormones that increase with...

Super Human Summary Factor 6: Stem Cell Deficiencies

The sixth cause of mitochondrial inefficiency is stem cell deficiencies. We previously touched on how mitochondria are responsible for replacing dead or dysfunctional cells with healthy ones. Asprey explains that mitochondria rely on stem cells to initiate the creation of all healthy replacement cells.

As you age, your stem cell reserves dwindle, slowing down the replacement of dead or dysfunctional cells with healthy ones. This causes tissues throughout your body to lose more cells than they can replace. According to Asprey, this tissue loss is a prime cause of age-related deterioration, resulting in symptoms such as cognitive...

Super Human Summary Undertake Stem Cell Treatments

Asprey suggests that you can increase your stem cell count and prevent tissue damage by undertaking stem cell treatments. During these treatments, a practitioner extracts and processes healthy stem cells from your subcutaneous fat or bone marrow before reinjecting them into specific areas of your body that require healing. Asprey also recommends freezing healthy stem cells when you’re young so that you can benefit from them when you’re older.

Why Stem Cell Treatments Don’t Always Work

While stem cell treatments can boost your stem cell...

Shortform Exercise: How Will You Improve Mitochondrial Efficiency?

Asprey suggests a number of methods to help improve mitochondrial efficiency. In this exercise, consider how you might implement his advice.

Think about the six causes of mitochondrial efficiency: inflammatory foods, imbalanced gut bacteria, excess metals in your body, sleep deprivation, hormonal imbalances, and stem cell deficiencies. Which one of these factors do you think contributes the most damage to your cellular health?