Defy Aging: Develop the Mental and Emotional Vitality to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier Than You Ever Imagined

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/06) "Defy Aging" is a very comprehensive book that covers every aspect that this reviewer could ever think of about how to live a longer, healthier and happier life. Brickey gives you exercises to help show you how. Our life expectancy is increasing; we have better access to resources and medicine today. If we are living longer, then we want to improve the quality of our lives so that we can enjoy this extra time. Brickey investigated the traits that people have who have lived over 100 years. In addition to positive mental attitudes, he found three common areas. These people have all stayed physically active, few are smokers and they have all managed to maintain their weight over the course of their life. When thinking about longevity, I used to think that it just required some good vitamins and a healthy diet. Brickey showed me that there is so much more involved. Even having a healthy sex live is an important part of longevity. Having my finances in order is another important aspect. It is not only unhealthy to be financially unstable, but we also need our finances in order so that we can afford to live longer. Brickey includes a self-test so that you can find out where you are right now. I did pretty well on it, but see areas that I need to improve on. As I read the rest of the book, I was able to keep these areas in mind and really focus on what I could do to follow his suggestions on making improvements. It is really important to maintain a positive attitude and be optimistic about the future. Continuing to learn is great for the mind. We also need to maintain a sense of purpose. Of course, exercise and diet are also discussed and extremely important. On a positive note, if we do the work that needs to be done to live longer, we also will have richer, fuller lives. Quality not just quantity is very important. I think that having a positive, healthy lifestyle will also keep us from being alone because more people, including family, will enjoy being around us. "Defy Aging" is a very important book for all adults to read. There is no cut off age for this book. If you are a young adult, you can start working on improving your lifestyle now. You will stand a greater chance of taking these healthy habits into your older years. If you are already advanced in years, you can still start applying these practices. It is never too late to work starting a healthy lifestyle and developing a positive mental outlook on life.

In Defy Aging, psychologist and life coach Michael Brickey has written a compendium of information and insights on how to live a longer, healthier, and happier life based on choices and attitudes. Brickey maintains that based on studies of centenarians, 70% of longevity is mental and lifestyle. He also cites dozens of exercises to help live a vital long life and explains why extreme diets or extreme exercise are not need and may prove counterproductive. Scientific breakthroughs in medicine and genetic engineering suggest that the human body can enjoy a life span of 150 years or longer giving the proper care and mental attitudes. Of special import is Brickey's commentary on how to deal with the challenges of keeping a lifelong sense of purpose, outliving friends and family, and dealing with the massive changes that will inevitable be experienced during the course of a long life in the modern world. Defy Aging is very highly recommended, thought provoking, quality of life enhancing reading for men and women of any age.

As a grandmother in my late 60's with a family history of longevity I was thrilled to read the ways to live my long expected life span without suffering the daily trials that my mother did. Dr. Brickey's ideas of how to live healthy and happier by positive action and thinking are wonderful and deserve a wide audience.I saw him interviewed on CNN and was fascinated by the suggestions in his book.

This book is chock full of well researched and up to date information that has already contributed to my extending my life! Because I acted on the information I read, I did some medical testing I would not have done otherwise. As a result, I became aware of some potentially serious problems that I was able to catch in an early stage. I have changed my diet and levels of environmental exposures to some chemicals. As a result, I am on my way to feeling better already than I have felt since early adulthood. I have also reset my internal mindset about how long I can live. Anyone not want to live to see your great-grandchildren!? Thanks to Dr. Brickey for his passion for unlimited thinking.