Today Marshmallow is reviewing Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program To Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better by Wendy Suzuki and Billie Fitzpatrick. originally published in 2016.
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like your brain, then this is the book for you!
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Dr. Suzuki is a neuroscientist who has spent most of her high-powered academic career studying how our brain creates and processes memories. Yet, as she approached her forties, she realized that she didn’t have many of her own that weren’t centered around her work. Suzuki explains that, after securing a tenured position at NYU, she felt that her main goal in life had finally been accomplished; but, despite this, she was deeply dissatisfied. She had no close friends and did not exercise, leaving her unhealthy and unhappy.
As a scientist, she decides to fix this problem using her own expertise: neuroscience. Of course, while understanding the brain is key to understanding how habits form, it doesn’t give you an automatic path to being able to create healthy ones. Suzuki admits that several of her life changes were only successful due to the support she got from her surroundings. For example, she joined a gym immediately after realizing that she wanted to change her habits. However, when she began exercising, she found herself eating Twix bars everyday immediately before each workout. The main reasons she stuck with her fitness goals were that she started immediately feeling and seeming stronger and that her fitness coach kept her motivated and happy. However, personal trainers are not available to everyone. So this book is an alternative guide for self-improvement. It teaches the reader about different parts of the brain that affect everything from how you feel to how you create the memories that form your identity.
I found it fascinating to read Healthy Brain, Happy Life because you realize that everything up in your skull is tied together in unexpected ways. So there is a lot of neuroscience in the book. But this is not just a textbook! It includes personal anecdotes from Suzuki’s life that show you how you can break free from mental restrictions and understand how you feel and how to make yourself feel better. Throughout the book, Suzuki particularly advocates for aerobic exercise, citing a plethora of research and experience that backs up that central claim. She even created a course on the subject at NYU, combining lectures with weekly class exercises taught by none other than Dr. Suzuki. Aerobic exercise is a significant part of her suggestions, but it is not everything. She examines how the way we think often has roots in deeper anxieties and teaches you how to think about your brain. I think the perspective you gain by the end of the book is the most valuable part because it really shows you how remarkable your mind is. That and the resulting duty you feel to protect and cherish your mind are the two lessons that I believe make a lasting impact.
Marshmallow’s Review: I really enjoyed reading Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program To Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better. I found it fascinating to learn about which parts of your brain tie into certain functions and I think Suzuki and Fitzpatrick do an excellent job of explaining neuroscience in a simple, easy-to-understand way that is extraordinarily accessible. By the end of the book, the reader is completely convinced of the relevance of neuroscience to everyday life.
I think the reason that the book is so effective in conveying this scientific message is that each claim is exemplified or validated by a case example. Everything suggested is something that worked for Suzuki herself or for someone else. So regardless of what your goals or specific desires are, this book undoubtedly has something to say that can help you get there.
I think overall Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program To Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better is a necessity for anyone who is looking to live a happy, healthy, and balanced life because it shows you exactly what makes a life worth living—according to both neuroscience and human experience. I would highly recommend this book to everyone and I believe it is still relatively comprehensible for children at or around 12. I think even ten year olds might be able to yield something from this book (though of course it would have to be a very motivated ten year old)!
Regardless of your age or your situation, Suzuki and Fitzpatrick have written the book for you and all your physical, mental, and emotional needs. Self-care, self-improvement, and self-awareness are difficult to develop. But with this book, you can do exactly that.
Marshmallow’s Rating: 111%.
