Ageing… inevitable, like death and taxes? Well, yes. But there is ageing well and ageing with difficulties, or to restate this the difference between life span, how long we live, and health span, how many of those years are healthy.
Although this written by a Neuroscientist, it doesn’t follow a Cartesian split at looking at the mind in isolation – its a reflection on ageing, and well-being in the round, based on the authors experience and study.
Its a well written and comprehensive work running to 400 pages and even perhaps a bit daunting in size at first, although I found it relatively easy going as the author sets a good tone.
Divided into three sections – “The Continually Developing Brain”, “The Choices We Make”, “The New Longevity” – the author covers some basic, and relevant, aspects of neurobiology, from both a structural and functional perspective which sets the scene. He then goes on to look at how we influence well-being and ageing well with choices we make, before covering the choices we could make to improve health span and ageing.
On one level there was little new for me in here – and if that sounds like criticism, its not, its praise – what the author succeeds in doing is drawing together various disparate threads and creating some cohesion. To this end, in my view a well written book, and one that deserves a place on the bookshelf of a Yoga practitioner interested in their well-being.
