Growing Young - by Marta Zaraska (Paperback)

About the Book

"From the day her daughter was born, science journalist Marta Zaraska fretted about what she and her family were eating. She fasted, considered adopting the keto diet, and ran a half-marathon. She bought goji berries and chia seeds and ate organic food. But then her research brought her to read countless scientific papers and to interview dozens of experts in various fields of study, including molecular biochemistry, epidemiology and neuroscience. What Marta discovered shattered her long-held beliefs about aging and longevity. A strong support network of family and friends, she learned, lowers mortality risk by about 45 percent, while exercise only lowers it by about 23 percent. Volunteering your free time lowers it by 22 percent or so, while certain health fads like turmeric haven't been shown to help at all. These revelations led Marta Zaraska to a simple conclusion: In addition to healthy nutrition and physical activity, deepening friendships, practicing empathy and contemplating your purpose in life can improve your lifespan. Through eleven chapters that take her around the world, from catching wild mice in the woods of central England to flower arranging with octogenarians in Japan, from laboratories to "hugging centres," Marta embarks on an absorbing, entertaining and insightful journey to determine the habits that will have the greatest impact on our longevity"--

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A smart, research-driven case for why optimism, kindness, and strong social networks will help us live to 100.

From the day her daughter was born, science journalist Marta Zaraska fretted about what she and her family were eating. She fasted, considered adopting the keto diet, and ran a half-marathon. She bought goji berries and chia seeds and ate organic food.

But then her research brought her to read countless scientific papers and to interview dozens of experts in various fields of study, including molecular biochemistry, epidemiology and neuroscience. What Marta discovered shattered her long-held beliefs about aging and longevity. A strong support network of family and friends, she learned, lowers mortality risk by about 45 percent, while exercise only lowers it by about 23 percent. Volunteering your free time lowers it by 22 percent or so, while certain health fads like turmeric haven't been shown to help at all. These revelations led Marta Zaraska to a simple conclusion: In addition to healthy nutrition and physical activity, deepening friendships, practicing empathy and contemplating your purpose in life can improve your lifespan.

Through eleven chapters that take her around the world, from catching wild mice in the woods of central England to flower arranging with octogenarians in Japan, from laboratories to "hugging centres," Marta embarks on an absorbing, entertaining and insightful journey to determine the habits that will have the greatest impact on our longevity.

Deeply researched and expertly reported, Growing Young will dramatically change the way you seek a longer, happier life.

Review Quotes

"An unusually intriguing and useful read about how our psychology affects our longevity. If you care about the length and quality of your life but can't stomach yet another diet or workout routine, this book is for you." --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the TED podcast, WorkLife

"Finally, a lifestyle book that transcends diet and exercise as solutions for living longer. This well-researched book shows us the subtle power of community and connection as tools for a quest to live to 100." --Dan Buettner, National Geographic Fellow and New York Times bestselling author of The Blue Zones

"The more we learn about the human body, the more we realize how powerful the connection between happiness and health is. Research-based, practical and insightful, Growing Young makes this relationship come to life. A must-read." --Shawn Achor, New York Times bestselling author of Big Potential and The Happiness Advantage

"Growing Young is one of the best books I have read on the topic of the mind and its interconnectedness with our body and other human beings." --Emeran Mayer, author of The Mind-Gut Connection

"Friendship is the most important journey we ever venture on. Read Marta Zaraska's Growing Young and find out why." --Robin Dunbar, evolutionary psychologist and author of How Many Friends Does One Person Need?

"Growing Young is a smart, fresh take on longevity. Deeply researched, fascinating and engaging, it offers readers useful advice on how to maximize their lifespan, in easy, practical and unexpected ways." --Joshua Becker, author of The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own

"Growing Young tells us how to have a long and happy life: Never stop learning and growing. Marta Zaraska's recipes may come from the frontier of research, but it is based on such an elegant distillation of the science that Growing Young is as fascinating as it is persuasive." --Richard Wrangham, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University and author of The Goodness Paradox

"Marta Zaraska's Growing Young shows that what matters most is what helps us live the longest! This accessible, well-researched, and thoughtful book is essential reading." --Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times bestselling Essentialism The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

About the Author

Marta Zaraska is a Canadian-Polish science journalist. She has written about nutrition and psychology for the Washington Post, Scientific American, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, New Scientist, and several other publications. She is the author of Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat (Basic Books, 2016), which has been translated into Japanese, Korean, simplified Chinese, Spanish and Polish, and chosen by the journal Nature as one of "the best science picks" in March 2016. Meathooked has also been praised in The Wall Street Journal, Discover Magazine, Time, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Natural History Magazine, etc. She has also contributed a chapter to the recently published The Reducetarian Solution (TarcherPerigee, 2017) alongside Mark Bittman, Michael Shermer, and Peter Singer.