Author: Vivien Brown M.D.
Publisher: Barlow Books
ISBN: 978-1-988025-22-3

“But this book will give you both solid information and practical tools to tilt the odds in your favour and reduce your risk of serious physical and cognitive problems as you age,” Dr. Vivien Brown writes in the introduction of her book, A Woman’s Guide to Healthy Aging: Seven Essential Ways to Keep You Vibrant, Happy, and Strong.

At one-hundred-and-seventy-six pages, this advanced-reader copy paperback targets women over fifty years old who are anticipating getting older and wondering how to approach it. After a foreword, preface, and introduction, seven chapters cover the topic, followed by an appendix, notes, index, and author’s biography.

Being a Canadian family physician, Brown takes the reader through seven facets of aging that involve diet and nutrition, exercise and sleep, the brain, immunizations, menopause, heart health, and bone protection. Discussing these concepts are to maintain a woman’s health as she gets older and understands how her body is changing physically and mentally.

Beginning with having a non-diet mentality, the book recommends eighty percent smart foods and twenty percent of the indulge-type. The author promotes scheduled exercising, sleeping routines, and using meditation to help the brain. She strongly supports vaccinations of all types and goes into detail regarding menopause. Recognizing the signs of a heart attack and osteoporosis are also dissected in detail.

Women who are in their late forties or early fifties may not be ready to learn what their bodies and minds will be doing in ten years. Others may feel the book is slanted to mainly medical aspects with no natural or homeopathic suggestions for eating or going through menopause.

Since the book seems to be geared more for women who are starting to age, it mentions little about vitamins, herbs, social interaction, and dealing with emotional stress (such as a move, divorce, or spouse’s death). Recommending hormone therapy using prescription drugs, the doctor does not encourage herbal remedies, soy-based products, and bio-identicals which may help some females.

For women who are clueless about what they are facing when they are in their fifties and older as they age, this may be a helpful tool. Since I am in my early sixties and have stayed on top of all content mentioned including recently getting my shingles shot, I did not glean anything new from this read but sure wish the hot flashes were over.

Thanks to Bookpleasures and the author for this book that I freely evaluated.