The Science of Aging Well
Name of Author: Michael Li Chan
Pen Name: Mike Chan
Place: Manila, Philippines
Title of the Book: The Science of Aging Well: How To Be 10 Years Younger
My name is Mike Chan, and I am the CEO of a chain of laser and anti-aging clinics under the umbrella brand Lumiere Skin. I am also a certified nutrition consultant (Stanford University) and a certified medical and laser aesthetician of the International Association of Aesthetic Sciences (IAAS). For close to a decade now, I have been helping clients reverse both internal and external aging and, with that reversal, also resolve chronic health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. I hope that I can help more people live fuller and more beautiful lives with this book by giving them the five keys to the closest thing we have now to a true fountain of youth, which is optimal health.
This book is about how the modern 21st-century lifestyle accelerates the aging process for over 70% of us living in developed or developing countries. This accelerated aging manifests in premature wrinkling and sagging of the skin, uncontrolled weight gain, particularly around the mid-section, the early onset of sexual dysfunction, and the development of chronic progressive diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. We have all been taught that these are the inevitable consequences of getting older, but at best, this is only a half-truth. Many of the things that we have been told about aging are false and what we have been led to believe is "normal" with advancing age is simply a twisted version of aging that has become accepted because it is now all too "common". Common as you will see, does not always mean normal. This book will give you five keys that can be implemented in a modern setting, that when followed correctly, can dramatically retard the aging process for everyone.
This book is for anyone, young or old, who is interested in getting the most out of life by maintaining their highest level of physical function no matter what their current health status is right now. This is for anyone who wants to be in the best shape and health possible without having to spend countless hours in a gym, watching every calorie they put in their mouths or having any procedure done to alter their bodies. These are neither necessary nor desirable as nature has already given us everything we need to possess an ideal body and perfect health. If you doubt this, all you need to do is look around you and observe that no other animal on Earth has to "try to be healthy" in the natural world. In the absence of predation, famine, or disease, they are! No other animal on Earth gets fatter as it gets older, either for that matter.
Aside from my training in nutrition and medical aesthetics, over half a decade's worth of clinical experience in anti-aging sciences went into making this book.
Perhaps what makes this book particularly unique is that I have used the same principles outlined in this manual to reverse aging in my own 50-year-old body. I walk the talk, and by practicing what I preach, I can look young for my age and physically keep up with a wife who is over 20 years my junior and function at a very high level. At 50 years young, I have taken up a new sport (practical pistol shooting) and am competing at national competitions at the same level as individuals that are half my age and younger.
I was a father for the first time relatively late in life. I was in my mid-forties when my wife became pregnant with our baby. I was an athlete for most of my life and believed myself to be "above average" in health compared to my peers as I had always maintained what I thought back then to be a "healthy diet," and I exercised regularly. During one of my wife's routine hospital visits to her gynecologists, she jokingly suggested that I get a physical as well as I was already an "old man." I decided to humor her only to show her that her husband was still fit despite approaching 50, so I had a complete physical done confidently that I would pass with flying colors.
The results of the executive check-up came as a complete surprise as the doctor who was interpreting the results informed me that I was pre-diabetic and needed to start taking maintenance meds for my blood sugar and high cholesterol levels. This was the last thing I expected to hear, and I spent the next three years learning everything I could about diabetes, nutrition, metabolic syndrome, and how this all ties up with the aging process. I committed myself to read two research papers and 2 hours of lectures per day on these subjects, and what I discovered has dramatically altered my views on aging. As medical and laser aestheticians, our focus was mainly on outward or extrinsic signs of aging such as skin wrinkling, sagging, and discoloration. Our focus is on the internal rate at which we age or intrinsic aging. I firmly believe that the only way to look younger is to become younger by slowing down or even reversing biological aging.
The results of my succeeding blood works show zero signs of diabetes, and I never needed to take maintenance medicines which my doctor then told me that I would most likely be taking for the rest of my life.
I hope that the readers of this book will realize that they are very much in control of how they will age. Also, the things we usually associate with old age, physical frailty, disease, and the loss of mental functions are not inevitable consequences of aging but rather result from a lifestyle incompatible with the human design. Lastly, I sincerely wish that people who read this book will understand that actual physical aging is not the result of some genetic lottery and can be pushed back far later than most realize.
My vision for this book is to serve as a how-to guide for anyone wishing to live this life to the fullest. The only way to maximize our time allotted here on Earth is by preserving our physical functions for as long as naturally possible. The five rules outlined in this book are the closest thing to a guarantee that we can give ourselves to do just that.
An online course is in the works for a more in-depth dive into the five rules for optimal health. Also included in the online course and not in the book are mechanical and pharmaceutical interventions that can further help address external signs of aging like skin wrinkling, sagging, and discoloration.
A series of webinars facilitated by Mike Chan
