Subject: The Egg, Anti-Aging, and Spaced Repetition
Hello All!
I got an electric guitar last Saturday. Way more fun to play than my old acoustic guitar. I’m learning Black Sabbath’s Iron Man with limited success so far.
What I’ve Been Up To:
I’ve gone on 2 long runs since my last letter.
15 miles on Sunday and 20 miles this morning.
I have a super long run in mind for late this fall, but I’ll be racing the weather to get in shape fast enough for the attempt.
Having a run like this every weekend has been a fun way for me to punctuate the week.
And there are few things better than spending a couple hours talking with friends during a run together.
I’m still enjoying my job and have been spending more time in the dorm than ever.
Life is good.
3 Things From Me
A Short Story:
Andy Weir’s most popular story ever, The Egg.
I found The Egg on X (Twitter) this week and have read it a couple times already. I think that most people are trying their best to live well, and to me The Egg illustrates that point beautifully. A different perspective on religion than my own, but a powerful story nonetheless. About a 5-minute read.
A Compound:
Klotho is a protein made in the human body. As you age, your levels of klotho naturally decline. Scientists have found that higher levels of klotho are correlated with a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases.
Different studies have given injections of klotho to mice and monkeys in their old age. The result: significantly better cognition and memory. Human studies are underway now.
Exercise helps to keep your levels of klotho high as you age, especially high intensity interval training (HIIT). Good nutrition is also crucial for klotho production.
An App:
Anki is a flashcard app that you can download on your phone. It uses spaced repetition to help you learn and retain information easily. Spaced repetition is when easy flashcards (for you) are shown rarely while more difficult flashcards pop up often. I’ve found that my learning goes much faster compared to just shuffling through a deck of flashcards and seeing every card the same number of times.
I’ve been using Anki to study English vocabulary words, but there are premade decks of cards on a wide variety of topics. Things like anatomy, biology, foreign languages, and test preparation all work well on Anki. You can also create your own deck if the community library doesn’t have what you’re looking for.
Next week’s letter will be all about Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point. I just finished reading it and it’s filled with cool ideas.
Peace,
Jacob Lipke
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