Brain Boost

by Barbara J. Sahakian, Christelle Langley

Your mental health is as important as your physical health and, in times of stress, it's vital to have enhanced cognition and reserves of resilience. This book is packed with practical tips, based on scientific evidence, that will teach you how to implement lifestyle strategies that will improve your brain health, cognition, and overall wellbeing. Covering the benefits of exercise, diet, sleep, social interactions, kindness, mindfulness, and learning, you will discover how adopting habits to improve these areas of your life at an early age will lead to a longer, healthier life. Embracing these simple strategies to prioritise your brain health and wellbeing is essential for a fulfilling life, with lifestyle choices playing a significant role in promoting resilience, creativity, and overall quality of life across all ages. For anyone seeking to lead a fulfilling life through happiness, health, and personal growth, this is the book for you.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Psychology, Illness, Research

184 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2025

Reviews

[Yen Pham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers all the basics to lead a healthy life: exercise, sleep, diet, social interaction, learning, and working. More than just listing down what I should do, it motivated me to why I should do it by providing evidence and the underlying mechanism of brain and cognitive functioning. Such very evidence-based, hands-on advice ~

[Henriette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focusing on brain health, cognition and wellbeing
This was a short, easy-to-understand book. The authors shift the focus from physical health and physical training to cognitive and mental health: „In our modern focus on physical health, we often neglect the equally vital aspect of brain health, cognition, and wellbeing.“ Right!
I liked how each chapter focuses on one aspect of health (e.g. exercise, food, sleep etc) but shifts the focus to what this aspect does for us in terms of mental health, cognition and well being. The authors are obviously researchers and give a lot of scientific corroboration. This is helpful to gain confidence in their recommendations although sometimes the scientific details are not easily understood even by educated, but non-specialized readers. A few times e.g. the chapter about substance abuse or work-life-balance the advice is rather common sense verging on trite.
Overall a quick, illuminating read which achieved for me its goal to shift the focus from physical health to brain health. Anyone interested in staying healthy will be benefit from its insights.

I received an ARC via netgalley. The review is left voluntarily.

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This science-backed guide explains how to improve your brain health and overall well-being. Learn practical strategies for enhancing cognition and resilience through lifestyle choices like exercise, diet, sleep, and mindfulness, to help you lead a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.

Given that the authors of this book have a background in public policy, it’s probably not surprising that their writing style is prescriptive instead of descriptive. Though the guide isn’t particularly engaging, it’s concise and easy to read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Magdalena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good points, but, overall, too academic in tone for the younger audience.