Doctor You

Book excerpt: Award-winning Oxford University researcher Dr. Jeremy Howick draws on the latest peer-reviewed medical studies to arm readers with scientific evidence that will empower them to make sensible choices about what drugs to take, what drugs to give their children, and when (and when not) to simply let the body do its thing. "READ THIS BREAKTHROUGH BOOK!" --DEEPAK CHOPRA The miracles of modern medicine--and our overreliance on prescription drugs and surgical procedures--have obscured the evolutionary ability of the body to heal itself, as Dr. Jeremy Howick explains in this groundbreaking book. Wealthy countries have become highly dependent on medical intervention: On average, one-fifth of all Americans, half of the elderly British, and two-thirds of older Canadians take at least five prescription drugs per day, their lives a nonstop ritual of pill popping and managing side effects. One in ten people takes antidepressants, and millions of boys who can't sit still in school are prescribed methamphetamines. Skyrocketing global healthcare costs render this overmedication increasingly unaffordable. In Doctor You, Howick explains that the abundance of modern drugs and technologies has blinded us to the fact that the human body produces its own drugs that can treat pain, is capable of curing itself of many physical ailments as well as a surgeon, and can even combat most mild depression as well as any psychologist. Recent clinical trials clearly show that states of mind affect our health: relaxation, positive thinking, and comfortable social environments all provide measurable health benefits--sometimes as effectively as blockbuster drugs. With a methodical and approachable analysis of modern medicine's overuse of pharmaceutical intervention and the scientific evidence for your body's innate power to heal itself, Doctor You will change the way you think about your health, your body, and your approach to medicine.