THE WHEEL OF WELLNESS

A debut guide offers a multipronged plan for improving health and well-being.

The wheel at the heart of Martin’s slim book has “community” at its hub. Twenty years of wide-ranging reading and experiences have left the author with the strong conviction that community—friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors—is the crucial center of gravity for a healthy, well-grounded life. “Human beings are social animals,” she writes. “Community is where it starts and where it ends.” The rest of the wheel—the different parts of the hub circling that center—is made up of the six ingredients that “add up to optimum emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness.” Those items are “Purpose,” “Mindset,” “Sleep,” “Constitution,” “Lifestyle,” and “Food.” Over the course of the manual, Martin elaborates on each of these components, first giving her readers several tips on how to build the kind of community that sustains those elements. After that, each ingredient is discussed at length—and in surprising detail for so short a book. She takes readers through the basis of a sound diet, the outlines of a “sleep survival tool kit” (citing, for instance, the current figures of chronic sleep deprivation in the United States and the deleterious health effects associated with that), and alternate methods of understanding health paradigms, such as India’s Ayurvedic lifestyle. She delivers all of this advice with a breezy, optimistic tone that’s immediately inviting to readers, especially those who may be feeling guilty or touchy about neglecting such basics as “seek out activities you enjoy,” “get out in nature,” and “walk, walk, walk.” Some of this advice is too simplistic—“You are what you think,” and “Do what makes you happy.” But most of the counsel achieves a very pleasing mix of practical and aspirational. In addition, the guide is well designed: The visuals very much help to break down the main points.

An energetic, optimistic, and worthwhile blueprint for adding mindfulness to daily life.