Emily Gould

I don't know if I've ever been on a podcast before.

Pokemon Go to Today Explained.

There's this study coming out of Stanford about aging cliffs that happen at age 44 and age 60.

Those are the ones they know about so far.

And long story short, basically, the data that this study has come up with is showing that all of the cells in your body, every organ, every muscle, all those cells are degenerating faster.

Like you're aging in hyperspeed during the year that you are 44.

It got so much press when it came out, and I think it was because just the idea of 44 being the age that you really become middle-aged resonated for a lot of people, regardless of whether they were feeling it in their own bodies or their own souls.

I just put the call out for anyone who had had particularly dramatic health or life things happen to them during the year that they were 44, and I was shocked by the responses that I got.

Things like...

All of a sudden, I couldn't see.

I went from having 20-20 vision to needing glasses.

Overnight, I stopped being able to drink.

I'd have a glass of wine and be hungover to like, I don't recognize my own face in the mirror.

I had no wrinkles, and all of a sudden, my face is like sliding off my skull.

So this put the fear of God into me.

I had not yet turned 44 when I was doing this research.

And so I started to think about like, okay, I know myself.

I'm not going to overhaul my whole life.

I don't have the budget.

I don't have the stamina.