Relax.: A Guide to Everyday Health Decisions with More Facts and Less Worry

by Timothy Caulfield

An entertaining and practical guide to getting through the day with less stress and better health.

We make thousands of decisions every day. Decisions about when to wake up, how to brush our teeth, what to have for breakfast, how to get our kids to school, the amount of coffee to drink, and on and on.
Making so many decisions is tough and can lead to fatigue and making poor decisions. And the more deliberate the decision, or the more we need to think about it, the more fatiguing the process. There are many social forces at work that make how and what we choose an unnecessarily anxious process. But it doesn't have to be.
In Relax, health policy expert Timothy Caulfield takes us through a regular day and shows the underlying science behind our actions and habits. And he reveals that a lot of our decision-making is based on misinformation. Whether he's studying cell phone use, bike commuting, or raw-milk cheese consumption, Caulfield shows that many of the things we believe to be healthier, safer, or just better, simply aren't. With solid grounding in current and reliable scientific findings, the author points to a less stressful way forward--which means we can all afford to relax a lot more.
Insightful, sometimes controversial, and always entertaining, Relax is a surprising and liberating guide to modern life.

Previously published as Relax, Dammit!

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Health, Canada

336 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2022

About the author

Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. He has been the Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta since 1993. Over the past several years he has been involved in a variety of interdisciplinary research endeavours that have allowed him to publish over 300 articles and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation and the Principal Investigator for a number of large interdisciplinary projects that explore the ethical, legal and health policy issues associated with a range of topics, including stem cell research, genetics, patient safety, the prevention of chronic disease, obesity policy, the commercialization of research, complementary and alternative medicine and access to health care. Professor Caulfield is and has been involved with a number of national and international policy and research ethics committees, including: Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee; Genome Canada’s Science Advisory Committee; the Ethics and Public Policy Committee for International Society for Stem Cell Research; and the Federal Panel on Research Ethics. He has won numerous academic awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He writes frequently for the popular press on a range of health and science policy issues and is the author of The Cure for Everything: Untangling the Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness and Happiness (Penguin 2012) and Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash (Penguin 2015).

Reviews

[Peggy MacDonald-Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the snippits of facts and the way the story followed the things one does in a day. An interesting read.

[ElmerFudd28 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can save you at least 10-15 hours of reading this book by flipping to the relax rules at the end, approximately page 220. He clearly outlines the themes of the book (anxiety in todays age, misinformation, low levels of trust in government/media/healthcare etc) and how we can combat them using strategies he’s outlined. Honestly I found the book tedious to read as he continues to berate us with constant statistics that I assume I must take at face value and often overlaps or outright contradicts what he’s saying. I feel a much more coherent strategy would have been to stick to one or two topics and fully deep dive on them and use your central theme to weave throughout the book. Instead I found myself rolling my eyes at all the studies and stats he gives us to support “relaxing” in todays day and age. I digress though, there are nuggets of information here and there that can help navigate the many decisions of our time. Even if it’s about the age old debate of whether the man should lower the toilet seat after use. Lmao

[Fahula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun way to read about the science behind everyday topics of concern. I love the author’s relaxed, humorous tone. His unique presentation of facts included a vitamin haiku and repeated mentions of his own personal bias towards chocolate chip cookies. As a Canadian, I also appreciated references to Canadian institutions and research. The overall message of relaxing was repeated throughout the book in a natural, convincing way.

[Rocco Rumpamudo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was intriguing to say the least. Wasn’t too bad, had some very interesting facts and points of view. It was a very “long” hypothetical day but was very well thought out and was impeccable structured. Some chapters or “times” if you will had lost my attention and seemed like the author was rambling a touch and started to get repetitive at certain points. Nevertheless, I feel like I learned a lot whether from facts, or through vocabulary used throughout the book.

The main reasons why this book is rated so low is because of two main reasons.
1. The title is misleading- having read the title of this book at the book store and even while reading the introduction, I would have never thought it was going to be taking me through what a typical day in the life was for Timothy Caulfield.
2. Target audience- the book was meant for an adult who, I feel, has a desk job or teaches. When I think of the target audience for Relax, I think of a women in her 40’s reading this book sitting on a reclinable chair. NOT a 17 year old athlete. In turn, some chapters were completely useless in terms of information for me. If I was an adult with a couple of kids, this book would be rated at 4 stars

[Steve Tripp · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audiobook was an enjoyable experience. Nothing in this book is really life-altering and I don't think the author meant it to be. Rather it presents thoughtful commentaries and scientific research on multiple topics. Bottom line, Relax, don't live life in fear, use critical judgement and look for more than "observational" conclusions when reading (or hearing about) studies that think they have uncovered some sort of magical truth. ]
And get off your phone.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I thought it would be about. Since the original printing they changed the subtitle. Its not about anxiety; it is about daily decisons. I listened to the audio book which was great as I could listen and do other things. This was helpful since at times he spends more time than I thought necessary on particular topics and the related science.

[John Matthew IV · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that takes the reader though a typical day and looks at all the decisions we make and what's the science behind them.

Put the lid down before flushing the toilet and wash your hands!

Timothy writes in fun and enjoyable style and backs things up with pages and pages of sources.

Highly recommended.

[Sarah Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. I don't think I'm the target audience for this, but I think it's a good important book for people who agonize over health decisions. It does a lot to critique media reporting on academic articles, reminds people to be mindful of correlations in research, that sort of thing. More books teaching scientific literacy is good 👍

[Laurence · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐️
not my cup of tea. way too much information, it made me sleepy after 2 pages. there is also never a real final answer to his topics. he just seems to turn in round a little bit. anyways, it wasn’t bad, just not what i rather read

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and easy read. Author takes us through a typical day and busts some long held beliefs as simply ideas without true scientific evidence. The influence of media (and media influencers) is an issue for us all. Worth the short time it takes to complete this read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book up in an airport and finished it on the flight. Full of insight into how some of the things we think are so important health wise really aren’t all that important. A great book for anyone who overthinks health a lot.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting way to discuss science ideas and theories behind daily activities. Some debunked the myth or idea and some in support. A way to show that maybe you don’t need to stress about everything.

[Emily Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure the title is right for this book but I liked it anyway…Even if he was disproving things I have personally believed for a long time. Ha

[Manne Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niet heel slecht binnen het genre van de zelfhulp

[Collette Shanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, well researched, and funny! And the author is Canadian.

[nellig anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The knowledge that I now have 🤯

[Lindsay Sadler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun approach to thinking critically in a time of information overwhelm.

[Mathilde Chetaille · Rating 1 out of 5]

J’ai trouvé ce livre assez décevant. Il ne fait qu’éfleurer le sujet sans se pencher en profondeur dans chacun des aspects. Les conseils sont très futiles et nous n’apprenons pas beaucoup en le lisant.