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: Nonfiction, Science, 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 ~

[Federico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, based on scientific articles and very convicing

[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.

[Andrew Borg · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Brain Boost” by Barbara J. Sahakian is fine, but very basic. If you already know the standard advice for improving cognitive health, there probably won’t be much here that surprises you. The core message basically boils down to: sleep well, eat reasonably healthy, exercise regularly, manage stress, and take care of your mental health through therapy, meaningful work, or meditation. All solid advice, but hardly groundbreaking.

The biggest weakness for me was the nutrition section. The book leans into recommending the keto diet in a way that felt oddly uncritical and not especially well-supported compared to the rest of the book’s otherwise measured tone. That part weakened its credibility a bit.

Still, aside from the diet discussion, I think it works as a decent starter book for someone coming into the topic completely clueless. It’s accessible, practical, and easy to read. Just don’t go in expecting mind-blowing neuroscience revelations or some secret formula for cognitive optimization.

[Anna Grace Butler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt really frustrated by this book because of the extreme diet culture woven throughout the book, but especially in the nutrition chapter. I'm all about eating balanced, intuitive meals and I know it strengthens our brains as well as our bodies. But did they need to talk about literally measuring our waists? Talk about triggering to anyone who has ever experienced body image issues or disordered eating! Even though the rest of the book wasn't directly about this, it felt woven throughout. I appreciated the science behind brain health, but I don't believe that these things combined are what leads directly to happiness or that their interpretation of health is even fully accurate. I got this book because it was a Hoopla bonus borrow that I thought would benefit my work moving into becoming a mental health counselor. What I got out of this book is that healthy habits matter and do boost our brain health. I also got out of this book that unfortunately diet culture still dominates the medical field and has true, lasting, negative impacts on people and that's something I need to be aware of as I support clients struggling with disordered eating and body image issues.

[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.

[Chy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Beckiezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoopla bonus borrow. Maybe informative, but it didn’t really make me feel like I learned anything or motivated me to do anything in particular to boost my brain.

[Lindsey Conley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me save you some time: eat well, exercise, have friends, don’t smoke.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short very general book that tells you these top secret news. Exercise, eating good, and sleeping plenty is what your brain likes. Learned nothing really. But keep trying your best.

[Kala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly common sense things. But this is a nice condense guide. However, at times it felt like it was just spitballing table facts and had moments where it would repeat previous topics.

[Melinda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book seems like it is written for children who don't understand what emotions are, while at the same time seeming to have a target audience of business people. I can usually push through any books, but not this one.

[Gayle Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was not a lot of new information in this novel. The habits for a healthy brain are the same healthy habits for physical health.

[Mairead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obivious