There is more time for reading in the summer, and books on health and well-being are among the favourites. This type of content, often labelled as self-help, can be criticised for its lack of rigour or for offering simple solutions to difficult problems, or it can be seen as a useful support to improve our lives. But firstly, it is a good indicator of what we care about: if the public feels some lack, there will be someone selling solutions, whether they have them or not.
Stress, bloating, chronic fatigue, excess weight? Two of the best-selling books right now, Goodbye to inflammationby Sandra Moñino, and The glucose revolutionby Jessie Inchauspé, propose solutions to these problems that almost any living person can experience from a certain age. As is usual in this type of text, a biological process or a substance is pointed out that acts as a magic lever to control the intricate physiological balances that make us feel powerful or exhausted, relaxed or anxious.
There is a large body of evidence that chronic inflammation is at the root of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. This explains, for example, why good dental hygiene, which prevents continuous inflammation of the gums, is an appropriate measure to prolong life or improve mental health. Regarding glucose, there are decades of research showing its relevance for a good metabolic state and its effect on longevity. Metformin, a drug to help diabetics control blood sugar levels, is also one of the most promising for prolonging life, and intermittent fasting – which, at least in some cases, is beneficial – has among its effects a better regulation of glucose.
Many self-help books offer solutions that seem like panaceas, but then give common-sense advice on how to eat, avoid bad habits or manage stress, which have positive effects on very general mechanisms such as inflammation or glucose levels. Despite the doubts that these books may raise, there are analyses that suggest that Your readers are happier than average; in part, because believing that a text can help us live better reflects a more positive attitude towards existence than that of the unbeliever who does not believe in the possibility of improvement. The effects of these books depend greatly on the attitude of the reader, who must use the content as a source of information to then help himself.
These contents are also a way for scientific discoveries to reach the general public, although in some cases they do so in a distorted way. In addition to a good number of titles that promise to help control inflammation or glucose, there are others that are based on fashionable research, such as that of the microbiome. Activate your mitochondriaby Antonio Valenzuela, focuses on the study of these structures, which provide energy to the cell, participate in programmed cell death, which prevents cancer and, in general, are necessary for the proper functioning of the body. As in the books on inflammation or glucose, proper nutrition, physical exercise, rest or stress management are recommended to stimulate mitochondrial health and increase vital energy. More common sense advice associated with a scientific concept that is a joke.
Self-help books tell us that people are afraid of dying, tired, fat and generally not feeling well. Pretty much like all humans throughout history. In the Bible, the book in which most people have sought comfort and guidance in life, the world is described as a vale of tears. And Buddhism, which now also spreads its teachings among the best-selling books, is based on the omnipresence of suffering and the ways to eliminate it. Before, the answers were religious and now they are justified by science.
Four identical titles
Continuing with the best-selling books that focus on psychological aspects, the presence of four books with identical titles is striking, How to stop overthinkingwritten by James Path, Adam Tusco, Ángel Ruiz, Kevin McBrown. Like other books on the health and wellness shelves, they seek to combat the anxiety and mental dispersion caused by modern life. Many of the techniques for focusing on the present or annihilating thoughts that harm us are similar to those associated with philosophies and religions born when life was not yet modern.
Finally, you can find all kinds of publications that give advice on how to be happy, improve our romantic and personal relationships or become rich; always with an individual approach, typical of the ideological bias of self-help. Psychologist Steven Starker wrote in Oracle in the Supermarket that self-help books appeared more than 200 years ago, when Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence In the United States, the individual right to pursue happiness. “The rigid class system of European countries was replaced by an open one in which a man could expect to rise according to his merits and abilities, and to be judged only by his achievements,” he says.
According to Starker, self-help books explained how to achieve the American dream, but they also reinforced the idea that success was something each person had to seek on their own, encouraging a more stressful, solitary or image-demanding existence, and aggravating problems that the books themselves later promise to solve.
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