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At 65, Dr. Mark Hyman appears to have the biological age of someone 20 years younger. His secret? Understanding and controlling the 10 key “aging switches” that determine how fast (or slow) we age.

Most doctors focus on treating the symptoms of aging, but Hyman’s research suggests a different approach: If we address the core biological mechanisms of aging, we could extend our lifespan significantly—possibly up to 120 years.

Here’s his complete guide to turning back your biological clock.

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1. Nutrient Sensing: The Foundation of Longevity

Your body has four key pathways that regulate aging: mTOR, AMPK, sirtuins, and insulin signaling. These pathways monitor nutrients and energy levels, determining how your body functions at a cellular level.

• Excess sugar disrupts all four pathways, accelerating aging (Guarente, 2008).
• Your body treats all fast-digesting carbs the same—whether it’s a Coke or a bagel (Ludwig et al., 2018).

Solution: Reduce sugar and refined carbs to keep these pathways balanced.

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2. mTOR: Balancing Growth and Repair

mTOR controls whether your body is in growth mode (building) or repair mode (autophagy).

• Too much protein = Excessive growth, increasing aging risks.
• Too little protein = Insufficient repair, leading to muscle loss.

Hyman’s mTOR protocol:
✔ Strength training 3x per week
✔ 12-14 hour overnight fasting
✔ Timing protein intake strategically

Why? Fasting and exercise regulate mTOR, promoting longevity (Longo & Mattson, 2014).

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3. DNA Repair: Protecting Your Genetic Code

Your DNA endures 100,000+ daily hits from environmental factors (Lindahl, 1993). Even a small failure in repair accelerates aging and disease.

Hyman’s DNA repair protocol:
✔ Cold plunges (3 minutes) – Activates repair enzymes (Seung et al., 2018).
✔ 20 minutes in a sauna – Enhances cell recovery (Laukkanen et al., 2018).
✔ Eating 10+ colorful plants daily – Provides protective antioxidants (Williams et al., 2017).

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4. Telomere Length: Extending Your Lifespan

Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of your DNA. Short telomeres = faster aging and disease.

Ways to lengthen telomeres:
✔ Meditation – Can increase telomere length by 30% (Epel et al., 2009).
✔ Regular exercise – Adds years to biological age (Puterman et al., 2018).
✔ Astragalus supplements – Slows telomere shortening (Shin et al., 2020).

Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn proved telomere protection works.

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5. Protein Damage: Preventing Cellular Waste Buildup

Your body produces thousands of proteins every second, but over time, they misfold and become toxic. This leads to diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer (Hipp et al., 2014).

Hyman’s protein repair plan:
✔ Sauna sessions – Activates heat shock proteins (Calderwood et al., 2009).
✔ Fasting (12-14 hours) – Triggers autophagy, clearing out damaged proteins (Ohsumi, 2016).
✔ Avoiding processed foods – Prevents toxic protein glycation (Vlassara & Uribarri, 2014).

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6. Epigenetics: Reversing Biological Age

Genes alone don’t determine how you age—your lifestyle turns them on or off.

• In just 8 weeks, you can reduce your biological age by 3 years (Fitzgerald et al., 2021).
• Hyman reportedly reversed his biological age by 20 years using epigenetic strategies.

How? Healthy diet, exercise, and targeted supplements.

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7. Zombie Cells: Eliminating "Senescent" Cells

Senescent (zombie) cells don’t die when they should. Instead, they linger and cause chronic inflammation (Kirkland & Tchkonia, 2017).

How to clear zombie cells:
✔ Fisetin (from strawberries) – Triggers senescent cell death (Yousefzadeh et al., 2018).
✔ Quercetin (from apples) – Removes aging cells (Zhu et al., 2015).

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8. Mitochondria: Keeping Your Cells Energized

Your mitochondria produce energy for every function in your body. When they fail, aging accelerates.

Hyman’s mitochondrial protocol:
✔ HIIT cardio (20 minutes) – Boosts mitochondrial efficiency (Hood et al., 2011).
✔ Strength training 3x weekly – Enhances cellular energy production (Broskey et al., 2015).
✔ Red light therapy + CoQ10 supplements – Supports mitochondrial function (Sharma et al., 2018).

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9. Gut Health: The Root of Longevity

Hippocrates was right: “All disease begins in the gut.” Your microbiome controls inflammation, immunity, and aging.

Hyman’s gut protocol:
✔ Eliminate inflammatory foods – Avoid gluten and dairy.
✔ Add probiotics and polyphenols – Support gut bacteria.
✔ Bone broth – Heals the gut lining.
✔ Proper meal timing – Optimizes digestion and nutrient absorption.

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10. Chronic Inflammation: The Silent Killer

Inflammation is at the root of every major age-related disease (Franceschi et al., 2000). But inflammation isn’t the cause—it’s a symptom.

Fix the other 9 aging switches, and inflammation naturally disappears.

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Final Thoughts

Aging isn’t just about time—it’s about biology. Dr. Hyman’s research suggests that by optimizing these 10 aging switches, we can slow down the aging process and even reverse biological age.

About the Author:

I’m Dr. Vivek Lal, Director of UAB’s Pulmonary Microbiome & Innovation Labs and Founder of Able Biolabs, Alveolus Bio, and Resbiotic Nutrition.

For more cutting-edge health insights, visit:
🔗 ablebiolabs.com
🔗 alveolusbio.com
🔗 resbiotic.com