by Michael Brickey
Product Description
Book Description
Solidly supported by research, Defy Aging explains for lay and professional readers the "mental ABCs" - 4 Attitudes, 36 Beliefs, and 4 Coping Skills that foster vital longevity. It is a very practical self-help book that focuses on what works and helps the reader develop and implement an individualized, personalized life vision, mission, purpose and strategies.
It is critically acclaimed by Dr. Bernie Siegel, Betty Friedan, Dr. Ronald Katz, (Pres. Amer. Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine) and 4 past presidents of the Amer. Psychological Assoc.
It is a finalist for ForeWord Magazine's 2000 Book of the Year Awards. Author Michael Brickey, Ph.D. is a Board Certified psychologist and a life coach.
From the Publisher
Prior to publication Dr. Brickey shared drafts of Defy Aging with a number of prominent physicians, psychologists, and authors and received the following written endorsements from them:
An excellent road map and tool kit to assist you in creating a longer, healthier, more joyful life. Read and learn how to be too busy to die, and become ageless by losing track of time. –Bernie Siegel, MD, Author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles and Peace, Love and Healing
People are living longer and healthier lives. Defy Aging shows us how to do it well. It’s a visionary road map to help us live fuller and richer lives. I highly recommend everyone over 40 to read it! –Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization of Women and author of The Feminine Mystique and The Fountain of Age.
Dr. Brickey's new book Defy Aging has successfully achieved the near impossible task of distilling thousands of scientific articles and hundreds of books in the field of health and longevity into one easy-to-read compendium of anti-aging science. This is a must-read review book of an emerging new field of anti-aging medical technology which promises many of its readers will see their 150th birthday with full mental and physical faculties intact. I recommend it. –Ronald Klatz, M.D., D.O., Founder and President of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, author of Stopping the Clock and Ten Weeks to a Younger You
Defy Aging is a must read for anyone wanting to live long and well.
–Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., author of Brain Longevity
Starting their own lives trusting no one over thirty, Baby Boomers never expected to age. Now finding themselves well over fifty, they are desperately looking for perpetual youth in all the wrong places. But it is not too late. There is an antidote to aging: read this book! –Distinguished Professor Nicholas A.Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., a past president of the American Psychological Association, President of the Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation, and author of Focused Psychotherapy.
Defy Aging is a refreshing new way of looking at life. Dr. Brickey brilliantly addresses the mental and emotional aspects of living that are 70% of health and longevity with a practical program. Defy Aging is a book worth reading and a guide worth having. –Jack G. Wiggins, Ph.D., Psy.D. A past president of the American Psychological Association
Most books about longevity are about pills and diets and say little about the mental and emotional aspects that drive 70% of longevity. Defy Aging is a unique, groundbreaking book that leaves behind conventional thinking and gives a map for living longer, richer, fuller lives. It is a visionary manifesto for acquiring the beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyle to live longer, healthier, and happier. –Stanley Graham, Ph.D., a past president of the American Psychological Association.
What an exceptional book! Doctor Brickey marshals the evidence to prove what many of us have always suspected: longevity is at least 70% mental! Those with the right beliefs, attitudes, coping skills and lifestyles will continue to live well while living long. Those who do not attend to the mental aspects of aging not only have shorter lives, they also have more health problems, more pain and more depression. Do not wait until you are over 50 to read this book. And, do not confuse its easy reading style with a lack of substance. Brickey knows his stuff and knows it well enough to refrain from having to show it off with torturous academic prose. –Ron Fox, Ph.D., a past president of the American Psychological Association.
Defy Aging reminds us that “old age ain’t for sissies” but it is a time for discovery, warmth and wisdom, if we follow the road map outlined in this empowering book. I would heartily recommend it for any of us who are aging. –Ellen McGrath, Ph.D., Internationally acclaimed executive coach, author of When Feeling Bad is Good, and frequent expert commentator on ABC News, Good Morning America, Fox News and 20/20.
When Dr. Brickey initially talked to me about living a vital, healthy life for 150 years, I was very skeptical. Defy Aging built such a strong research-based case that I’m now convinced. I have used his materials in my women’s groups and they loved them. –Carol Roche, Ph.D., President of LifeCycle Directions. Dr. Roche has doctorates in both physiology and psychology.
Defy Aging coaches and mentors you skill by skill on living longer and taking your life to a higher level. Dr. Brickey, an exceptional life coach, has an astonishing range and depth of knowledge. Defy Aging is a well-written, illuminating, practical guide to living a good life and a long life. I highly recommend it for professional coaches, their clients, and anyone who seeks a long, fulfilling life. –Ben Dean, Ph.D., Founder and President of MentorCoach, The nation’s preeminent training program for clinicians becoming professional coaches.
From the Inside Flap
Are you ready to live decades longer than your parents? Health and medical advances, better living standards, and better educational and informational resources have created huge paradigm shifts in health and longevity. From the birth of Christ to the year 1900, mankind gained an average of 3 days a year in longevity. Since 1900 we have gained an average of 110 days a year in life expectancy. In the U.S. life expectancy increased 62% in the last century. Genetic engineering, the premier technology of the next few decades, will extend longevity even further.
For some people these additional decades will be characterized by disability, depression, and pain. For others it will be a purposeful time of vitality and continuous renewal. Beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyle make the difference. Defy Aging gives 4 attitudes and 36 beliefs that can help you live longer, healthier, and happier than you ever imagined. Defy Aging includes dozens of exercises to help you actually implement the attitudes and beliefs. Researchers estimate that 30% of longevity is due to heredity. That percentage will decrease with the advent of genetic engineering. The 70+% is up to you.
Today’s centenarians give us clues about what it takes to live a long, healthy, vital life. They tend to be fairly ordinary people with an extraordinary psychological edge. Besides apparently having “good genes,” they have only three things in common physically: 1) they are physically active people, 2) few smoke, and 3) they have maintained a fairly constant weight all of their lives. What distinguishes centenarians the most is between their ears. Today’s centenarians: 1) are active mentally, 2) are self-reliant and independent, 3) are optimistic, 4) have a good sense of humor, 5) have good coping skills, and 6) don’t hold on to losses or resentments. These are straightforward traits that you can choose to develop and hone. Defy Aging shows you how.
Living long and living well doesn’t require extreme diets or extreme lifestyles. If you are physically active, eat reasonably, and are not terribly overweight, mental factors are far more important to vital longevity than finding the perfect pill, diet, or workout. Challenges to longevity require continually renewing your sense of purpose, having good friends all your life, dealing with the deaths of family members and friends, having resilient coping skills, and dealing with massive change. Defy Aging is an owner’s manual for how to deal with these challenges.
About the Author
Michael Brickey, Ph.D. is a psychologist and life coach whose experience includes coaching, teaching, training, psychotherapy, writing, public speaking, and consulting. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Editor of The Independent Practitioner, and on the medical staff of several hospitals. The central theme of his life and career has been finding ways to help people and organizations do things they didn’t think they could do.
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