Rangan Chatterjee Penguin Life, 2017, PB, 272pp, £16.99, 978-0241303559
Dr Chatterjee will be familiar to many through his appearances on the BBC TV programme Doctor in the House, in which his lifestyle interventions and advice to various individuals were shown to be transformative. This book follows a similar approach, based on what he chooses to call the principles of ‘progressive medicine’, in which attention to behavioural choices based on scientific evidence (some of it rather slim) takes priority over medical interventions. The four pillars — relaxation, eating habits, physical activity, and sleep — are each conveniently divided into five specific goals, with detailed advice for their achievement. For example, the recommended eating habits include choosing five portions of vegetables of five different colours every day, and avoiding all processed foods containing more than five ingredients; physical activity includes 10 000 steps, high-intensity interval training, and specific exercises for glutes; and sleep advice emphasises a regular bedtime routine, blackout blinds, reduction in screen time, and the nicely phrased suggestion to ‘manage your commotion’, through meditation, a ‘gratitude journal’, and learning to say no. All in all it makes a good deal of sense, and Dr Chatterjee adopts an informal, conversational style, replete with anecdotal case studies and personal experiences to support his approach. It is an extravagantly produced book, richly illustrated, though it might have been more encouraging to include fewer photos of the exemplary author — running, eating, meditating, exercising, shopping, and contemplating the landscape — and more of some average mortals for whom, one supposes, the book is intended.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2020