Customer Reviews

The Mind-Beauty Connection: 9 Days to Reverse Stress Aging and Reveal More Youthful, Beautiful Skin (RealAge Books)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

From: www.BasilAndSpice.com

A FirstLook Feature

Book Review: The Mind-Beauty Connection: 9 Days to Reverse Stress, Aging and Reveal More Youthful, Beautiful Skin (Free Press, 2008) by Amy Weschler, M.D.

Author Amy Weschler is one of only two physicians in the United States board certified in both dermatology and psychiatry. She is also a member of the RealAge Scientific Advisory Board.

Following in the recent tradition of whole-body medicine, Dr. Weschler has identified the correlation between health, aging skin, and the mind in her new book. All of these factors play a part in how we look and feel. As a doctor, the most common skin problems she sees are premature aging and adult acne, both of which are frequently caused by stress and exhaustion.

Key points of The Mind-Beauty Connection:

* 70-80% of our health and longevity is up to us.
* Skin cells need water, oxygen, vitamins, nutrients.
* Cosmetics are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
* The only proven wrinkle-reducers and age fighters are retinoids.
* "A good moisturizer will do more for you than drinking 20 gallons of water a day." (See pp. 31 for necessary ingredients.)
* Americans have about 50 minor stress attacks each day.
* Stress affects the mind, body, skin, and aging.
* Eat: fruits & vegetables, nuts, seeds, olive oil, lean protein, and whole grains.

The Mind-Beauty Connection addresses what we can do for our skin during each decade, skin cancer, sunscreens, sugar consumption and its relation to wrinkles, liver spots, sun damage, acne, tattoo removal, etc... Likewise Dr. Weschler explores and explains natural at-home and more advanced treatments.

Dr. Weschler writes that approximately $2 billion is spent on antiaging creams each year. Not promoting any particular product (This is key.), she explains what to look for when making purchases. Before running to the store, we are encouraged to take her skinage test and her self image test, defining how old our skin is when compared with our chronological age, helping us to understand ourselves better. I found the self-image test to be quite interesting.

Dr. Weschler also answers common questions and gives a 4-step wrinkle fighting strategy and lists 7 free things to do for your skin. Her biggest beauty bargains can be found on p. 34--it's great!

Should you read this book? Yes. Many of us are still unaware of how to take care of our skin, nor are we always aware of the importance of doing so. How we look and how we feel are a clear reflection of who we believe ourselves to be.

5 Stars

I was excited about receiving this book, but after reading it from cover to cover, found that it offered nothing really new. Most of the suggestions for skin care have been around for years. I was hoping for new alternatives for botox, dermabrasion and surgery, but the author offered these as suggestions for skin renewal for the over 40 crowd. It was an okay read, but I was disappointed.

Dr. Wechsler's book is excellent! The writing is clear and informative, and I could hardly put it down last night at the end of a long day (taking care of my own patients). She gives solid information about the factors that make your skin look old before its time, and practical advice for changing your skin from gloomy to glowing.

I didn't feel like the book was designed to sell an expensive product line (she doesn't have a product line at all), nor did it chastise the reader for history that couldn't be changed.

Dr. Wechsler outlines positive steps for improving your skin, but I suspect these steps will relieve stress and improve your life as a whole.

(The first review for this book gives a solid outline of the material covered in the book, so I will not add to that here.)

As a person who has struggled with skin issues from time to time, I was particularly anxious to try Amy Wechsler's book the Mind-Beauty Connection. I have been experimenting with her nine day program and it seems to work. Though it is true that taking a pill or getting a better lotion might be quicker, Ms. Weschler's program is certainly more long lasting.
In regards to the nine days, the title is a little misleading. I prefer to think of it as nine habits to integrate into my life, and a habit takes more than a day to build. It is the continued practice of these methods that will do the trick, not the mere passing of nine days.
Her style is easy to read and entertaining. Though is was a bit painful to take her skin age assessment I am sure it is accurate. A side benefit of following her program is the effect it has on the other parts of one's mental and physical health. It turns out that our skin is like a big billboard for our internal health. Stress not only wrecks our skin but our insides as well. Following this skin doc's prescription can help. Buy it today, feel and look better in a few weeks.

Dr. Amy Wechsler's book "The Mind-Beauty Conection" is a book that looks far deeper than the skin to answer questions on how we can better care for ourselves from skin to our body to our brains! The book starts out with tips on how to wash your face and the further along your read the impact of how stress affects us including adrenals and cortisal. Stress affects your hormones and I finally got the answer to a shocking hair loss she refers to as "shedding" and her insights have given me peace of mind and hope. She explains how meditating actually affects your brain in a way that helps you age better and she gives you tips on improving our health including one I always felt was true and I affectionately call "Vitamin Sex". She believes as I do that sex and cuddling are good for your health as is diet, working out, massage and volunteering and socializing. She cautions as we getter older we may lose friends and all the more reason to work on social networking. The book is amazing especially the parts on how stress and hormones affect our body in very negative ways. She also covers dietary tips. addresses adult acne and skin cancer as well advice on moisturizers to the most inexpensive to the most expensive and of course the mostly costly alternatives which I can't pursue and have no interest in doing so at least for now.

The chapters on stress and hormones as well as advice on how to cope with stress make this book a winner for me and have given new insights and HOPE!!!

This book provides excellent basic info. I like how it's broken down into really easy-to-read sections and covers a lot of ground from acne conditions to how to take better care of yourself and reduce stress. There are some simple tips that I just never thought about before such as using a different towel for your face and body after a shower. I like how she also doesn't push any specific brands (though she tells us briefly her personal favs) and is conscientious about people's budget--for example, not needing to buy the super expensive products all the time. She gives one great tip for using a type of oil you can buy in the grocery store for moisturizing the body's skin. At times I did feel I glossed over some of the paragraphs because they felt a little like "filler" for the book. Such as obvious advice about getting enough sleep, etc. But on the other hand, those tips ARE part of the beauty/mind connection. I also hoped that there would be more information about specific brands or chemicals/ingredients used in some of the potions to avoid, seeing that there is no regulation in the cosmetic industry but that is probably a whole other book altogether! Overall this is a solid beauty basics book--great for anyone who's struggled with skin for awhile or suddenly having problems with skin. I bet it would also make a nice gift for a teenager too.

I am VERY into health, and I LOVED Dr. Wechsler's book. She has the unique ability to not just treat skin, but look deeper into what's going on emotionally to cause any skin problems. From a health perspective, the book is great! She helped me get into a set routine of walking, taking deep breaths (sounds obvious, but I promise you, it wasn't happening in my life before this book), and a good skin care routine. She has really helped me achieve an overall healthy lifestyle, which is definitely reflecting nicely on my face!!

I thought the book itself was an easy read, and I found myself reaching for a highlighter to help me remember things. I felt like I could have taken her book with me to the store and I would have been able to get the perfect skin care treatment for me. That's another great thing about this book, I can tailor it for my needs/budget. I have never been big on expensive makeups or skin treatments. But, with the help of Dr. Wechsler's book, I was able to get a great routine down and I don't feel guilty at all about it!!

Great book! I highly recommend it.

This book tackles every subject in improving your beauty. Very good and written so everyone can understand the concepts, issues and goals to improve skin issues

The Mind-Beauty Connection by Amy Wechsler is a juicy find of a book, wether you are a woman of that-certain-age or just coming into womanhood. It is filled with information that can save your skin and save you money.

There are seemingly millions of beauty books out there -- many quite good. What makes The Mind-Beauty Connection different is the fact that information is being presented from the viewpoint of a board certified dermatologist and psychiatrist.

I am no stranger to stress and exhaustion. There is no question that it effects my thinking, but now I know how severely my mental state effects my appearance. That appearance is perceived by others in ways that could impact personal or social relationships. Neglecting yourself (or looking like you do) is clearly not the way to win-friends-and-influence-people. (And looking in the mirror and thinking that you're falling apart is no confidence-booster, either.)

The best part is that The Mind-Beauty Connection is not a veiled sales-pitch for some pricey line of cosmetics -- although Dr. Wechsler does give valid reasons to steer you away from the ultra-cheap stuff.

However, there is hope even for the penny-pincher! As you mother probably told you, the best lip balm is Vaseline.

This book is certainly worth purchasing and will be a valid source of beauty and health information for years to come.

I am a long time subscriber to Real Age and they often quote the doctor so I ordered the book. You can teach an old dog new tricks as I found several tips that I can use every day. And she explained in detail how everything was to be used. She also gives lots of good basic information.