Sound Mind, Sound Body: A New Model for Lifelong Health

Pelletier ( Mind As Healer, Mind As Slayer ), a senior clinical fellow at the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention at the Stanford University School of Medicine, focuses much of his attention here on a Rockefeller-funded study he conducted chronicling the lives of 51 notables, among them Norman Lear, David Rockefeller and the late Norman Cousins, who he believes have enjoyed exemplary physical and mental health. The author contends that long-term health depends more on a positive orientation than on aerobic workouts or a special diet, emphasizing that no way of life can guarantee freedom from disease and disability--or can ensure longevity. To understand the meaning of health, he adds, it is necessary to broaden its definition beyond the physical. Optimal health requires an integration of physical, mental, spiritual and environmental well-being; health is an attitude comprising our basic beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Though not all readers will be deeply interested in the health of the rich and famous, what does stand out is Pelletier's presentation of the extensive research now being undertaken to better understand the mind/body connection and its relationship to health. (June)