As we near the end of the 2023-2024 school year and near the summer, Florham library workers have collected books around the themes of wellness and self-care to help inspire some healthy habits for the warmer, and hopefully more restful, months ahead.
Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body by
Two New York Times-bestselling authors unveil new research showing what meditation can really do for the brain. In the last twenty years, meditation and mindfulness have gone from being kind of cool to becoming an omnipresent Band-Aid for fixing everything from your weight to your relationship to your achievement level. Unveiling here the kind of cutting-edge research that has made them giants in their fields, Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson show us the truth about what meditation can really do for us, as well as exactly how to get the most out of it. Sweeping away common misconceptions and neuromythology to open readers' eyes to the ways data has been distorted to sell mind-training methods, the authors demonstrate that beyond the pleasant states mental exercises can produce, the real payoffs are the lasting personality traits that can result. But short daily doses will not get us to the highest level of lasting positive change--even if we continue for years--without specific additions. More than sheer hours, we need smart practice, including crucial ingredients such as targeted feedback from a master teacher and a more spacious, less attached view of the self, all of which are missing in widespread versions of mind training. The authors also reveal the latest data from Davidson's own lab that point to a new methodology for developing a broader array of mind-training methods with larger implications for how we can derive the greatest benefits from the practice. Exciting, compelling, and grounded in new research, this is one of those rare books that has the power to change us at the deepest level.
Built to Move: The Ten Essentials to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully by
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * Simple but powerful physical practices to dramatically improve the way your body feels and prolong your lifespan, no matter how you spend your time * From the innovators behind The Ready State and the movement bible Becoming a Supple Leopard, an accessible longevity guide perfect for anyone who wants to optimize their mobility and age the healthy way "The definitive guide for building an all-around healthy and high-performing body and mind." --Andrew Huberman, Professor of Neurobiology, Stanford University & Host of The Huberman Lab Podcast Ready to boost your overall quality of life without overhauling your daily routine and spending thousands? Start here - with Built to Move. Not only a book, but your new secret weapon for a more durable body and thriving health. No matter your financial background, age, or occupation, Built to Move is designed to be your lifelong companion and your guide to optimal wellness. After decades spent working with professional athletes, Olympians, and Navy Seals, mobility pioneers Kelly and Juliet Starrett began thinking about the physical well-being of the rest of us. What makes a durable human? How do we continue to feel great and function well as we age? And how do we counteract the effects of technology-dependence, sedentary living, and other modern ways of life on our body's natural need for activity? The answers lie in an easy-to-use formula for basic mobility maintenance: 10 tests + 10 physical practices = 10 ways to make your body work better for a healthier, longer, and more joyful life! Built to Move teaches you: * Easy mobilization practices to increase range of motion and avoid injury to prepare your body for whatever comes its way * Brand-new vital sign tests to predict your likely lifespan * Simple hacks to integrate more movement into your daily life, escape sedentary habits, and reclaim your vitality * Longevity-promoting nutrition and sleep tips * Targeted breathing exercises for stress and pain management * A proven roadmap to healthy aging in the age of unhealthy conveniences Whether you're 20, 50, or 70, completely new to mobility work or a professional athlete, a self-proclaimed health nut or just diving into the world of performance optimization for the first time - these practices will work for you. And the best part? They are so simple, and so easy to fit into any schedule or budget, that anyone can start at any time, no preparation needed! If you want greater ease of movement, better health, and a happier life doing the things you love to do--and the things you want to continue doing as long as you live, what are you waiting for? This book is your game plan for the long game. "Juliet and Kelly Starrett have given you a detailed, accessible road map to help you move through life feeling better, stronger, and more confident than you ever imagined, no matter where you're starting from. There is no body this book will not revolutionize."--Melissa Urban, cofounder of Whole30
The College Student's Guide to Mental Health: Essential Wellness Strategies for Flourishing in College by
Easy, accessible guidance for addressing an essential element to college success: mental health While being in college can be an exciting time, it can also be a period of uncertainty, anxiety, loneliness, and even depression. The College Student's Guide to Mental Health is for any college student who wants to understand and maintain mental and emotional health. Mia Nosanow, a licensed psychologist and college therapist, has drawn upon her more than twenty years of direct experience counseling a diverse college student body to write a comprehensive mental and emotional health manual designed specifically for college students. Presented in clear, practical language and organized in short chapters, this book breaks down common problems and provides actionable strategies for addressing them. Whether students want to understand challenging emotions, transform negative thoughts, improve relationships, or explore the connection between time management and mental health, these topics and more can be found in this one book -- a valuable tool for college students as well as the families and professionals who support them.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals by
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." --Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn't enough time. We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we're deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and "life hacks" to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on "getting everything done," Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we've come to think about time aren't inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we've made as individuals and as a society--and that we could do things differently.
Good Food: Can You Trust What You Are Eating? by
In Good Food, John McKenna starts with his personal experience of good, healthy food, growing up in the Irish countryside. From there he develops his experiences as a doctor in West Africa, encountering natural and simple diets, and how shocked he was on returning to the UK in 2003 at the foods which people were eating in the developed world. Using ground-breaking work by medical researchers in the areas of natural and processed foods, he analyses the diet of a typical child in the modern developed world, showing both the nutrient and the toxic content of that diet. He explains why diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer are on the increase and why learning difficulties and food intolerances are increasing at a phenomenal rate. He sets out the cornerstones for healthy eating, giving examples of nutrient-rich diets and explaining why they are so good. He surveys the recent history of food processing, its apparently relentless advance, and analyses the damage it does. He shows how to reduce toxins in the common diet, how to change our ways of shopping and eating, and uses case histories of good and bad preparation of basic meals.
Life Time: Your Body Clock and its Essential Roles in Good Health and Sleep by
A guide to using the science of the body clock to promote better sleep, better health, and better thinking "Full of surprising and useful facts. . . . Unlike many science books with similar subtitles, it really might 'revolutionise' your life."--James McConnachie, Times (UK) "A comprehensive manifesto for living in harmony with our body clocks, penned by someone who has devoted his career to studying them."--Financial Times Biological clocks are embedded in every aspect of human biology, guiding us toward the prime times of day to sleep, eat, think, and work. Award-winning scientist Russell Foster brings decades of study to this journey through the circadian rhythms that dominate our days and nights. He shows how the realities of 24/7 life--including night-shift work, overbooked calendars, and caring for newborns--disrupt the body clock, taking a toll on sleep and on mental and physical health. By dismantling long-standing myths and citing cutting-edge science, Foster empowers readers to get back into rhythm and live healthier, sharper lives: scheduling meals to prevent obesity and diabetes; timing medications to increase their effectiveness; getting better sleep through exposure to natural light; and much more. "If you want to embrace life," Foster writes, "then embracing biological time will help you do this."
Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology by
How does mindfulness promote psychological well-being? What are its core mechanisms? What value do contemplative practices add to approaches that are already effective? From leading meditation teacher Christina Feldman and distinguished psychologist Willem Kuyken, this book provides a uniquely integrative perspective on mindfulness and its applications. The authors explore mindfulness from its roots in Buddhist psychology to its role in contemporary psychological science. In-depth case examples illustrate how and why mindfulness training can help people move from distress and suffering to resilience and flourishing. Readers are guided to consider mindfulness not only conceptually, but also experientially, through their own journey of mindfulness practice.
The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload by
New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin shifts his keen insights from your brain on music to your brain in a sea of details. The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we're expected to make more--and faster--decisions about our lives than ever before. No wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by the effort required just to keep up. But somehow some people become quite accomplished at managing information flow. In The Organized Mind, Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, uses the latest brain science to demonstrate how those people excel--and how readers can use their methods to regain a sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces, and time. With lively, entertaining chapters on everything from the kitchen junk drawer to health care to executive office workflow, Levitin reveals how new research into the cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory can be applied to the challenges of our daily lives. This Is Your Brain on Music showed how to better play and appreciate music through an understanding of how the brain works. The Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective.
The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain by
Written by the leading researchers in the field, this information-rich guide to improving your mood explains how gut health drives psychological well-being, and how depression and anxiety can be relieved by adjusting your intestinal bacteria. This groundbreaking book explains the revolutionary new science of psychobiotics and the discovery that your brain health and state of mind are intimately connected to your microbiome, that four-pound population of microbes living inside your intestines. Leading medical researchers John F. Cryan and Ted Dinan, working with veteran journalist Scott C. Anderson, explain how common mental health problems, particularly depression and anxiety, can be improved by caring for the intestinal microbiome. Science is proving that a healthy gut means a healthy mind-and this book details the steps you can take to change your mood and improve your life by nurturing your microbiome.
