Wow, life sure is amazing.
I can’t wait to grow up and ...
Ahh, my back.
Maybe I’ll do that later ...
What?
What was I talking about again?
I think I'll just have a little ...
(Snoring)
They say we grow up fast,
but what if it wasn’t just an expression?
What if, instead of living a life for 80 years,
we went through our life cycle in just 24 hours?
Yeah, you heard me,
24 hours.
"How old are you?"
"7, but I look a lot older."
Within a day,
you would grow from a newborn baby,
to a senior citizen on your deathbed.
Let’s face it,
we’re all going to grow up.
So before we speed up the clock,
let’s break down
how aging actually works.
The cells in your body
are constantly repairing
and replicating themselves.
At least, they were.
When you hit your 20s,
the process starts to slow down
and eventually stop.
This is the reason why we age.
The reason why cells can’t repair
themselves forever is due to
a part of your DNA called telomeres.
Telomeres protect the ends
of our chromosomes
that carry our DNA,
making sure the DNA doesn't get damaged
as the cells replicate.
As we grow older,
the telomeres will wear down,
and aren't able to protect our DNA anymore.
The new cells can't replace the old ones
because they’re damaged goods.
Good thing you’ve got the time
to work everything out, right?
Wrong.
Your whole lifespan is only 24 hours.
Here’s a "day in the life" example.
Or is it a "life in a day" example?
At 6 a.m., you’re born.
Welcome to the world.
At 6:18 a.m., you’re already a year old.
Do you know how parents always say,
"the first year goes by so fast"?
Well, it did.
In 18 minutes.
During that time,
you’ll grow by 1.5 cm (0.6 in) per minute.
Your weight will also increase
by 0.3 kg (0.7 lb) per minute.
Talk about a growth spurt.
Okay, it's 6:36 a.m.
You're now 2 years old,
and able to say about 50 words.
Can you say, "What If?"
Can you say, "subscribe?"
Can you …
alright, I'm moving on.
By 7:47 a.m.
you're ready for your first day of school.
You're now 6 years old.
The average person spends
13 years of their life in school.
But you'll only spend
3 hours and 51 minutes there.
9:16 a.m.
You'll start going through puberty
at 11 years of age.
We’re going to have to talk about
the birds and the bees before lunch, aren’t we?
11:20 a.m.
Happy 18th birthday!
12:22.
You’ve just graduated from college
and are now 21.5 years old.
You always said you were going to
work on your career before finding love,
but you may want to speed that up.
The average person spends
about 13 months being romantic.
For you, this is just over 18 minutes.
That's the ultimate example of speed dating.
1:24 p.m.
You’ve found your significant other!
And what’s this?
You're starting a family?
Normally it would take 9 months,
but for you, it's only 13 minutes!
Oh, by the way, you’re 25 years old now.
1:37 p.m.
Your baby is born.
Congratulations!
But raising a family is no easy task,
and you need a job.
This is a shame,
because out of your 24-hour life,
you’ll lose about 4 hours
working at your day job.
2:53 p.m.
Happy 30th birthday!
6:00 p.m.
Happy 40th birthday!
Woah, this is going kind of ...
8.49 p.m.
Happy 50th birthday!
At this point,
your hair is going gray,
and there are wrinkles on your face.
Life is going by so fast.
You’ll probably start your midlife crisis.
Should you buy a motorcycle?
This is going a little too fast for me.
I mean, you don’t even have time
to slow down and get cozy
and get some reading in.
Luckily our friends at Blinkist
can help with that.
Blinkist is the only app
that takes the best insights
from thousands of nonfiction books,
and condenses them
so you can read or listen to them
in just 15 minutes.
Since I only have a 24-hour lifespan,
I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can
in that short amount of time.
Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking
is certainly helping with that.
It goes from the origins of the universe
and black holes,
to human space exploration
and the dangers of artificial intelligence,
all in one quick read.
And truth be told,
I can’t get enough of it.
The first 100 people to go to blinkist.com/whatif
will get one week for free.
And if you decide to sign up for the membership,
you'll get 25% off.
So click the link, and start your 7-day free trial.
That's 6 more days than I have,
so start Blinkist, you whippersnappers!
01:16 a.m.
You're 65 now,
and it’s time for retirement.
Enjoy some rest and relaxation.
6 a.m.
At 81 years old,
you’ve passed on from this mortal plane.
As for me,
I will always cherish our time together.
Thankfully,
a condition like living 80 years in 24 hours
doesn’t actually exist.
But it does make us think about
how important it is to use the time we have.
"Life moves pretty fast."
"If you don't stop and look around
once in a while,
you could miss it."
Aging can be a tough ride.
But what if you didn’t have to worry about
getting old?
What if we never aged?
Well, that’s a story for another WHAT IF.