Dr Sajeev Nair’s 'The making of a superhuman' is a must-read in times of Covid-19

Surviving the once in a century Covid-19 pandemic is worrying a vast majority of the humankind. Dr. Sajeev Nair has come up with his highly researched book “The making of a superhuman”, which promises to address the worries of the people.

Nair’s book for the uniquely challenging times as we are living in now is timed well. He began writing the book before the onset of the pandemic and finished the writing parts during the lockdown phases. In times of the country unlocking, Nair is out with his published work.

Despite the book being of a scientific orientation, from its first to the last page, with numerous citations to the treasure of the modern medical research, “The Making of a Superhuman” scores high on its style of writing, which is racy to make the reader keep turning pages for more and more wisdom regarding health, longevity and peak performance.

The writing and publishing of this book also coincide with a personal milestone in Nair’s life, as he is going past 50 years of age. While being sharply focussed as a peak performer, he has no plans to slow down. He’s making sure that the second half of his life is even more productive than earlier. Hence, longevity and especially productive longevity is a major focus area of the book.

While this is immensely beneficial to those who have crossed 50 years of age, even those in their 20s or 40s will appreciate the fact that they can implement the principles of biohacks described in the book, much earlier in life, to their great advantage.

Any in-depth work about longevity should invariably discuss how all the killer diseases – diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s etc. --  can be delayed or averted. “The Making of a superhuman” delivers much more in this regard, and presents a revolutionary new way to prevent hundreds of such deadly lifestyle ailments.

Personalized Epigenetic Lifestyle Modifications (PEPLIM) is the central theme of the book. Nair believes that lifestyle changes can override even a person’s genetic predisposition to develop certain diseases. He, thus, presents a radical shift from therapeutic medicine to personalized preventive medicine.

Nair’s creditworthy findings are accounted for in unravelling ancient and modern wisdom, especially Ayurveda. He has detailed secrets like trillions of microbes inhabiting the gut (gut microbiome) and the countless roles they play. He has illustrated to the layman understanding of the ancient theory that all diseases originate in the gut, which modern medicine is discovering only lately!

Nair is also an expert in identifying the ancient wellness wisdom embedded in South India’s dietary practices. He charms readers with his insights into the use of prebiotic, probiotic and detoxifying elements in our traditional homely foods. In other words, one may expect nothing short of totally integrative and totally holistic medicine here in page after page of this book.

Initial chapters deal with the human cell and its vital constituent mysteries like the all important and all powerful Mitochondria. The book thereafter builds on its central logic point-by-point, page-by-page, through discussion on chronic low grade inflammation as the root cause of most lifestyle diseases, and advances to the mysteries of immunity and autoimmune diseases and so forth.

Nair has a penchant for breaking down complex science theories into lucid and layman language so much so that such an advanced book requires only basic knowledge of high-school level biology to grasp the full import.

In more ways than one, “The Making of a Superhuman” is a book for the uniquely current challenging times.

The final chapters deal with the science of sleep and the belief systems to build the theory of “Psychological Hacks”. Nair’s masterstroke towards the end of the book is that you need science so much, because your brain needs evidence to be convinced of, before you can change!

The book leaves readers with three emotions in the end; one is, as Mohanlal who has written the preface of the book, says, about Sajeev’s knowledge in holistic healthcare that rivals a seasoned medical practitioner.

Second is a desire that Nair kindles in all readers to be more than a doctor, to be a biohacker, for our own sakes, for our own healthy, disease-free and productive longevity which he aptly calls as a superhuman life.

And thirdly the book leaves a desire for even more wisdom, perhaps through a sequel to ‘The Making of a Superhuman’. While it is still not known whether Nair is planning a sequel, he has created a unique support group for the readers of this book, called “Superhuman Tribe” where he will be delivering more health updates and biohacks.