Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life

I read about 40% of this book before getting completely turned off by the continued arrogance of this doctor towards his patients. Because he seemed to hold these patients (from the patient examples in the book)in low regard, I felt that he must feel the same way about the people that he was trying to reach by writing this book.

Based on a recommendation from my physical therapist, regarding my severe PTSD, I read, Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life by John B. Arden PhD. I read every chapter like it was a lesson plan to continue my life in the style I enjoy. I took in his suggestions as homework, and I completed all of it like my life depended on it. My friends and family who see me on a regular basis have volunteered their opinion that I look, "110% better". Even my husband gave me a hug this morning and said, he's so happy I'm getting better so quickly. Thank you so much Dr. Arden. I'm telling everyone I come across about your book, and I continue to implement it into my everyday life.

I found Arden's book encouraging, motivating and balanced. It is encouraging because by getting to know how our brains function, we know we are no longer randomly tossed around by the tide of life but can actively participate in directing our lives in the directions we desire. Of course, provided that we have the discipline, will-power, and belief to do so.

The book is also very motivating on many levels. I don't view exercise as a daily chore any more. On the contrary, I look forward to it, knowing that by exercising I mitigate the crippling stress that has taken control of my life over the last couple of years. It is possible that with time we will control our stress and won't have stress control us. Arden's chapter on coping with anxiety is also very telling. We can avoid everything that makes us anxious to the point of not doing anything. Arden provides a strategy for action instead of being stuck and not being able to take a single constructive step forward. The strategy is called Face your fears and expose yourself to your anxieties until they no longer make you anxious.

Finally, the book is humble and balanced. It discusses Buddhist meditation, yoga, and other ancient forms of body and mind self-control in light of the new discoveries in neuroscience, thus providing scientific evidence for their effectiveness. In this way the book creates a very comforting sense of continuity in universal human knowledge and experience. Compare Arden's approach to S.Hawking's claim that philosophy is dead, because advances in physics objectively and rigorously explain human existence. Does one have to validate one's approach by rejecting another? Why not build on another?

If you are in a black hole and can't get answers to your ultimate questions, get some hope and refreshing optimism from Rewire your brain.

This book is quite interesting and valuable. It explains how your brain is malleable and can be changed and how to do just that. The orientation is more towards mental health and less towards high-end cognition. I thought the presentation was pretty dry but in regards to content it is packed with really valuable advice on how to achieve a high-functioning state of mental health. I love the fact that the author explains the science behind his recommendations - it is really good.

This is a good book and if you want to find out how to rewire your brain for vibrant brain and mental health then this book is for you. If you are interested in improving your intelligence then this is probably not the book you need.

Recommended.

"Rewire your Brain:Think your way to a better life By John B. Arden was an exhilarating ride. I learned so much vital information for myself to use throughout my life. I hope to through my review I win the interest for this wonderful book. Through factual data and life experiences, Dr. Arden engages his audience with informative helpful tips to live a healthier life."

At first looking at the book cover I thought this book was a typical factual neuroscience literature. But I couldn't judge a book by its cover literally because I had to find a book for my neuroscience course. I then started reading the first couple of sentences and it automatically drew my attention. I love the fact that I could easily read and understand the structure and the wording of the book. That was definitely one of my concerns because neuroscience is a complex subject and entails numerous amount of vocabulary that I don't understand. It was simple and straight to the point. When the author stated "I will define and describe the following areas and explain how they can be relevant to your life: Neuroplasticity, Neurogenesis, Social systems, such as mirror neurons, Nutritional neuroscience" this allowed me to see that he was going to provide information on how you can rewire your brain and its beneficial or non beneficial affects mentally, physically and socially. I adored how he connected the reader to his personal life in the beginning of each section by discussion a patient that he worked with regarding that topic and the knowledge gained pertaining to neuroscience. With only 9 chapters, it covered neuroplasticity, memory, depression, nutrition, exercise and sleep, the benefits of social interactions, resiliency, and attention. A couple of chapters that interested me more than others will be explained next.

In the chapter "Healthy Habits:Exercise and sleep" basically is self explanatory. It elaborated on how exercise and sleep is healthy for the brain neuroplatiscity and neurogenesis. Being that I am a student and a young adult, my stress levels are continuously high. From reading this chapter, I found it interesting that something as simple as sleep and exercise could reduce my stress levels. Like mentioned "Exercise contributes to stress reduction by doing the following: Providing a distraction, Reducing muscle tension, Building brain resources (neuroplasticity and neurogenesis), Increasing GABA and serotonin, Improving resilience and self - master, Mobilizing feelings in order to take action" then later goes in to detail on how the brain is chemically affected due to stress and exercise. Physical exercise promotes neurogenesis because it makes new stem cells but then learning prolongs it; therefore exercise and learning works hand in hand. It was interesting to know that to enhance my memory, I should incorporate exercise in my schedule. I used to be very active but as I got older that slowly depleted, so now I'm always exhausted therefore resulting laziness. I'm excited to know from reading that exercise will enhance my learning and memory capabilities, now that I started school. I am also one of those people that worship sleep, but being in school hinders my sleep and sleeping patterns. He mentions that "If you are deprived of deep sleep, your immune system tends to be suppressed, and your body will ache." In detail he explains the sleep cycle and how sleep maintains the brain. These are two important factors that if maintained, your brain will also be maintained and healthy.

Chapter 7 "Social Medicine" caught my eye being that I am a highly sociable person. I was intrigued to find out more information on how being social could affect your brain and its functions. When talking to one of his patients, he states "I told him about the findings from a huge body of research that people who have close personal relationships experience fewer health problems, live longer, and are less depressed and anxious." Therefore, positive relationships are good for your health and negative relationships are bad for your health. This all makes sense and in this chapter he elaborates more on what specifically is being affected in the brain and other areas of the body when socially inclined positively. He also goes into how nurturance plays a role in brain functions. He mentions "Caring for others and being cared for by others have powerful effects on the brain from the moment of birth." He used a study reflecting how orphans and their lack of nurturance affected them and expanded on the facts. It hurts my heart to hear of such thing but this was used to show a point. The author further discusses what parts of the brain are affected the most due to lack of nurturance especially being that it links to stress.

What I loved about this literature is that I learned much about what factors affect my life as a whole and what I could do to change it. But one thing I feel that would make this book more beneficial to readers is if there was a definition and function glossary for readers that are ignorant to neuroscience. As I was reading the book, some terms that I came across, I didn't know nor knew the functions and if I did, it was from my basic learning from my neuroscience course. I honestly feel that the book would increase my understanding and readers, if there was a glossary section. For a person like myself, taking this neuroscience course has helped me understand some of the terminology. But then again if a person wants to write down every unknown term, then go for it. I just think to make everyone lives easier, there should be a glossary.

I highly recommend this book for all readers especially if you're interested on how to better your health. I feel this book is an interesting way of showing how neuroscience can affect your health and how your body works, instead of the typical health books. Dr. Arden not only elaborated on the necessities of brain efficiency chemically but what we could do in our own personal lives to increase the efficiency of the brain physically. The brain is the powerhouse of the body and overall this book demonstrates this. This book is easily readable and it makes it much easier because of the sentence structure and vocabulary usage. I had a phenomenal time reading this book because it was extremely interesting and I know it would be to others as well. It's not only a great knowledgeable asset but a great self help guide. I find myself using Dr. Arden's tips outside of reading and after creating this review. It will be a life used book, because who wouldn't want to continue enhancing their brain efficiency and health.

I was eagerly anticipating this book while I was on hold for it at the library. I was expecting something that would give me useful information on how to "think my way to a better life", as the title promises. But there's nothing really actionable and new in this book, much less cutting edge information based on the latest in neuroscience. Basically, eat healthy, stay active physically, maintain social ties, exercise your brain. I knew that already.

I have a number of books on neuroplasticity and this one is by far the best. It is one of the most influential books I have ever read, precisely because it is readable, actionable and backed by thorough research. Everyone, I believe, should read it.

The author explains brain science in an easy to understand way. He then applies the current understanding of the brain in a useful way to help people better understand and deal with mental and emotional issues..

I have a number of books on neuroplasticity and this one is by far the best. It is one of the most influential books I have ever read, precisely because it is readable, actionable and backed by thorough research. Everyone, I believe, should read it.

The author explains brain science in an easy to understand way. He then applies the current understanding of the brain in a useful way to help people better understand and deal with mental and emotional issues..

I find it heartening that the amygdala is becoming a known word among the general population- and to see this book- well, I wrote the first book in layman's terms about the amygdala way back in 1989, The Frontal Lobes Supercharge- and then followed up with 8 more books on the subject, up to Tickle Your Amygdala, essentially what this book now covers decades later. Good luck to all.

Very poorly defined ideas in pages. For example, "Open-focus attention increase efficiency of large groups of neurons that fire together." What's open-focus attention? How would this action boost neuron firing? He didn't provide any neuroscience explanation or any reliable reference. Thus the book actually provides very limited information.

Arden has done something in this volume that's hard to achieve--taking a body of complex scientific information and putting it into a form that is accessible to a broad audience. The book is based on sound brain science and good psychology, rendered in a way that lets us see how we can apply the lessons of cutting edge neuroscience to daily life. Highly recommended.

The brain is a very complicated subject but this book made it accessible. It was fascinating to read how our diet can affect our daily ups and downs. This book has whetted my appitite to read lots more on the subject.

John Arden, PhD, has written a book on thinking your way to a better life. It is 243 pages and talks about how to rewire your brain, or branch out and develop new neuron pathways in the brain and change your life. There were some bits and pieces here and there that I could relate to but a lot of it was in technical language that I did not understand. The book did not hold my interest and I don't feel it is the best book out there for helping people to change their thinking patterns.

In the past it was believed that the brain was hardwired and only had so many cells. That has been proven wrong. Scientists now know that the brain is contantly making new neurons and is much more "plastic" than previously thought. It is possible for people to develop new thought patterns and shed the old habit patterns and thoughts. The chapters cover topics like "Firing the Right Cells Together", "Taming the Amygdala", "cultivating memory". He discusses healthy habits, exercise, sleep, and a mindful attitude.

I do think it is possible for a person to think their way to a new outlook and way of thinking, but there are parts that the layman may find hard to understand and I've read better books on the subject than this one. -- Valerie Lull, Author, Ten Healthy Teas

This book promised so much more than it delivered. Any meaningful messages are either skillfully or stupidly delivered in between a massive amount of ridiculous stories. I got so sick of hearing all the stories that even when i was out on a walk i would say out loud "COME ON ... GET TO THE POINT!!!". I never finished the book because it was so frustrating to wade through all the bulls*** ... If you're really interested in working your way to a better life get "The Willpower Instinct". So much more applicable information in this book combined with some interesting stories as well. Just a better balance.

Practical, common sense based, and topical....for the lay person as well as the professional. It is optimistic, written in a breezy style that is easy to read and to implement into your, or your patients', lives.
Bretta Rambo, RN

I downloaded "Rewire your brain" with much anticipation. Mr. Arden's examples of patient successes were oversimplified explanations that bend to his theory. If the people shown in his book were completely well with no underlying physical illnesses other than mild psychological ones, no stress so deep, so real, in some cases insurmountable that the most heroic efforts worked, like many people are undergoing right now, then yes, some of his suggestions might help with moderate depression or bad habits or a slipping memory. But who is perfectly healthy, now?

The book was so last century. Not a cutting edge book on neuroplasticity written in 2010 that I had hoped for and the review promised. Mr. Arden, PHD talks about good memory but neglects the thyroid. Who researches plasticity and talks about a good memory or studies the brain without a full discussion of the implications of thyroid disease and it's effect on the brain, and subsequent depression?

Mr. Arden minimized and explained symptoms away when advising a patient with thyroid disease, which has a bagful of symptoms that mimic everything from Alzheimer's to mental illness to mind numbing depression. He diagnoses him with "loneliness." Treatment for the disease with thyroid supplementation might have relieved his "loneliness" or the mental illness that often accompanies this disease within the first few days of taking the missing or low hormone, especially with desiccated natural hormone. How do you treat depressive patients for 35 years and not associate thyroid disease with depression? That patient example was fairly far along in the book but it was where I quit reading, and started skimming.