This is another excellent book by the esteemed Dr Chatterjee.

I listen to his podcast interview every week and am dismayed that I have been unable to see his amazing Doctor in the House series, because our limited Danish TV companies refuse to buy it, though it has been transmitted to many, many European countries, as far as I have heard.

Dr Chatterjee, understanding that we are all far too busy these days, has identified stress as being our number one problem, and in this book suggests various solutions by which to relieve it.

He is himself extremely busy and prone to stress so he knows the problem, and in the book refers to various aspects of his own life, and introduces us to his family.

He provides us with the term “micro stress doses” or MSDs and shows us how our lives are overloaded with these small stressful events.

The first pillar of the book deals with meaning and purpose, the second deals with relationships, the third deals with stress as it manifests in the body, including poor diet, the wrong kind of exercise and unhelpful daily routines, while the fourth pillar looks at our mind.

We are recommended to do affirmations, which, enjoined by his mother-in-law, he does himself. Wow, a doctor who does affirmations and a man that listens to his mother-in-law – I love him!

We learn the value of reframing – seeing the positive in your situation, and having a daily practice of gratitude.

It is helpful to schedule our time - ´do` time - and make a start to do something we haven’t previously felt we had time for that gives us joy, such as taking up a new sport or hobby, or something that involves movement or exercise.

We need me-time every single day: we should listen to relaxing music or meditate with an app such as Calm.

Rangan informs us of the value of “zoning-in” in the morning instead of diving into our stressful life with full force.

By “zoning-in” he means carrying out a morning routine for “sending rivers of thrive information into your brain and body”. This routine should include short interventions from what he calls “the three M’s” – Mindfulness, Movement and Mindset.

Mindfulness can consist of doing one of the breathing exercises he recommends, being in nature or meditation.

Movement can be skipping, t’ai chi or yoga.

Mindset can be gratitude, affirmations or loving-kindness meditation.

In a chapter about how to live more we are encouraged to find our ikigai.

This should meet the following four criteria: 1) doing something you love 2) doing something you’re good at 3) doing something the world needs and 4) doing something you can make money from.

Rangan reminds us of the vital importance of human touch – it is a biological necessity.

Affectionate human touch lowers the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, reduces cortisol levels, raises levels of natural killer cells (which defend against infection) and increases parasympathetic tone, which puts us into thrive state.

Those in marital-type relationships need to focus on intimacy, which doesn’t necessarily mean sex.

It has several components:

1) Trust
2) Feeling like two members of a team
3) Being present with each other
4) A deep level of care for the other person
5) Sharing profound information with each other you wouldn’t share with anyone else.

There’s a chapter on nurturing our friendships.

In the Body section we learn about the importance of our microbiome. Diversity in our diet and thus in our microbiome is crucial.

He encourages us to “eat the alphabet” and aim to eat 26 different plant foods a month.

Look for new foods to buy. Skip a meal now and again Eat fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut or kefir. Avoid artificial sweeteners.

There’s a chapter on how exercise fights stress; Rangan suggests indoor climbing, open-water swimming. T’ai chi, skipping, a run in nature, Nordic walking (walking with poles) and Bikram yoga, which combats depression.

He enlightens us about heart rate variability. A young doctor recently scared the life out of me when she informed me that my heart rate was absolutely regular since I’d just learnt about heart-rate variability and how if your heart-rate becomes completely regular you will die in the next second or two. One’s heart-rate variability (HRV) should be as high as possible. With a high HRV the time between each heartbeat is constantly changing. Low HRV indicates that our body is in a stress state and not thrive.

You can get an app that monitors your HRV. Consuming alcohol and watching Gordon Ramsay on TV lowers your HRV!

There’s a chapter on resetting our rhythm. Rangan suggests the use of red light bulbs as nightlights. Amber glasses that block blue light are suggested for evening use to help you sleep better.

Time-restricted eating (eating within a twelve-hour window each day) helps with weight loss, blood-sugar control, general stress levels and digestive disturbances.

There’s a useful and informative chapter about sleep, including tips for night shift workers.

In the final section on mind, Rangan discusses technology overload and strongly suggests taking a digital holiday. There’s even a small part on Facebook Brain!

He introduces us to various valuable breathing techniques, including the 3-4-5 breath, box breathing and alternative-nostril breathing.

In the 3-4-5 breath, breathe in for three seconds, hold for four seconds and breathe out for five seconds. This is effective for patients prone to anxiety or stress.

One of the things I appreciate about the book is that the author does not insist we try to do everything, or even a whole lot. He suggests an hour of this, or 5 minutes of that, and before we know it, we’re in the process of transforming our lives.

This is a beautiful book. Rangan’s first book was absolutely great but in this one he excels himself: everyone can benefit from reading it. This is a stressful world and Rangan presents a myriad of valuable suggestions, the implementation of only some of which may well transform our life. ( )