Octopus Publishing Short Books| 22 October 2022|206 pages| E-book review copy| 5*
I was keen to read Just One Thing by Michael Mosley because I’ve enjoyed his TV programmes and I wasn’t disappointed. I think it’s an excellent source of information about improving your health. He picked 30 of his favourite things that you could fit into your life and explains the benefits of each one. He divides the day into periods – morning, mid morning, lunch time, afternoon and evening, giving examples of things to try throughout the day.
I’ve highlighted just a few in this post. S0me of them I already knew about, like doing exercise, doing squats and lunges, drinking water, meditation, spending time outdoors, taking a break to reduce stress, deep breathing, and so on. And I was very pleased to see that reading fiction for 30 minutes a day is a whole brain workout!
Other ideas that were new to me are things like drinking coffee, which lowers the risk of strokes, heart disease, cancer and dementia, and eccentric exercise – which involves walking downhill, down stairs and lowering weights, which have been shown to be more effective than running uphill, up stairs and lifting weights.
I knew about eating an apple a day, but not about the benefits of eating beetroot (which I love) two to three times a week. One thing that really pleased me is finding out that eating two squares of dark chocolate a day instead of eating sweet treats, lowers blood pressure and boosts your brain. In fact most of the ideas improve your mood and sleep, how your brain functions, and reduce anxiety, stress, fatigue and depression and so on. Standing on one leg, for example improves your balance, improves your core strength, and posture which reduces the likelihood of falling and breaking bones. Singing loudly for 5 minutes a day not only boosts your mood, and reduces anxiety, but can also relieve chronic pain.
It’s an inspiring book to read for making small changes, and some not so small changes, to improve your health and well-being. I’ve already started to stand on one leg whilst brushing my teeth and doing squats/lunges whilst waiting for the kettle to boil and will be trying more of the ideas too.
Many thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.
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