16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Before you buy this book, February 5, 2010
This review is from: The SuperStress Solution (Hardcover)
This book is purported to be "a groundbreaking...revolutionary...whole life guide to help you repair the effects of stress". All the material here is basic and widely available elsewhere. You can easily access all of this material, and I mean all, on the internet or in books from 10 years ago on. Before spending $20 (with shipping) consider leafing through the book in a bookstore or just get it from the library. It seems that the notion of not just stress, but "Superstress" is the 'hook' here, but the solutions are the same as for regular stress, and Dr. Lee offers up nothing new. Self care-- an important topic.
You should start before any crisis in your life occurs, because once you're in the midst of it, it's impossible to begin meditating, eating well, exercising, etc. It has some value to get you started, but she points you to no further resources (e.g., HeartMath's program is never mentioned, for one, or any other complementary practices like EFT).
For a taste of this "revolutionary" approach, watch the video of Dr. Lee above on this site. That's about the level at which this book is aimed (sleep, exercise, avoid alcohol, etc.), and if this is new information to you, then perhaps check out the book.
If you're new to complementary therapies this book may be helpful. If you're at all further along in experience, interest or knowledge, you will already know this stuff, but perhaps it may give you a program to follow, and that is a good thing.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Reference Book on Stress, January 14, 2010
This review is from: The SuperStress Solution (Hardcover)
We are overwhelmed, we are exhausted, we have insomnia, we have huge appetites for food but none for sex. We experience substance abuse, headaches, anxiety. The author maintains that our modern world has put us in a "menacing form of stress that closely resembles post-traumatic stress disorder" such as what has been observed in war veterans. She calls this "superstress" and gives us a "super solution" through this book.
The book is divided into 3 parts, and each part has a brief summary at the beginning. Real life case studies are sprinkled throughout the book to make it more interesting and see how people can heal, change, and relax. (One woman couldn't even go an hour without checking her Blackberry 5 or 6 times--even at night, checking her email.)
The first part of the book explains what stress is and how it affects your body. There are various kinds of stress, with environmental, work, relationship, social and spiritual sources. Four hallmarks of stress are listed: It is compounded; you can't get a handle on it anymore; life has lost its luster; and "anxious is the new normal."Friends, family, day-to-day hassles and job duties are factors that tip us into superstress. And as the author states, "Our parents and certainly our grandparents probably wouldn't recognize what we call parenting as anything they'd ever done--that's how all-encompassing the job has become." This section also discusses the hormones of stress, the physical results, and gives case studies. We are also given an in-depth test of 9 pages to access our stress level.
Part II provides us with a smorgasbord of stress busters. The "pathways to peace" chapter gives us several mindfulness activities such as meditation, the "relaxation response," focused breathing, affirmations, as well as the less conventional aromatherapy. If you want to hire someone to help you relax, there is also acupuncture, massage and reflexology.
There is an entire chapter devoted to food, which I was happy to find since I believe nutrition plays a huge part in physical and mental well being. In this chapter you will discover superfoods as well as "good mood foods" to enjoy, and "bad mood foods" to avoid. There is also a chapter on sleep and exercise, as well as one on the importance of optimism appropriately called "Mind over Superstress." There is also a chapter on the importance of social connection in which the author laments on how we have become a "nation of loners." (The typical American adult spends 12 minutes talking to his/her spouse, yet nine hours a day involved in some form of media!) The section ends with a chapter on the importance of a spiritual life or finding meaning in your life.
Part III lays out a 4-week superstress solution plan which includes some nutrition, supplements, journaling, calming activities, and more. The final chapter defines 5 stress profiles and additional refined advice accordingly. The following appendices appear at the end: menus for 14 days and a detox diet.
This is a great book for educating us on stress and proper, practical, doable solutions to it. No matter how much you may think you know about stress, you will nonetheless find some interesting tidbits, such as how cortisol peaks at 9 AM, causing most heart attacks to occur between 6 AM and noon; potato chips dehydrate the brain; kids given more attention are less stressful as adults; men produce 52% more serotonin than women; 38% of depressed adults are deficient in folate; and much more!
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17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solution that actually works, January 13, 2010
This review is from: The SuperStress Solution (Hardcover)
As someone who has endured many kinds of stressful events (earthquakes, tornadoes, fire, flood, hurricane, IRS audits, and other natural disasters), I feel qualified to review a book on stress. I've also written a course on this topic so I come at it as a published expert.
My insights into handling stress made quantum leaps when I began studying Chinese martial arts in the early 1980s. Dr. Lee is of Chinese decent (third generation Chinese American). Thus, I was not surprised to find myself nodding yes, yes, yes as she explained one concept and then another. Much of what she says is outside of the mainstream discussions of this topic. And that's really too bad, because she's right on target.
I was born with an immune deficiency that persists to this day, yet have not been sick since 1971. I credit this mostly to my dietary choices. Dr. Lee makes dietary recommendations that are very close to what I would recommend. Even Dr. Lee's Famous Salad Dressing is nearly identical to my own dressing recipe (I don't add honey, and I use balsamic vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar).
One thing she doesn't mention is where to get your green tea. I get mine from an ethnic Chinese grocery. I think it is an important quality consideration. For one thing, the tea bags don't have staples. I'm guessing Dr. Lee doesn't buy her green tea from the local chain grocery, so isn't aware that many brands of green tea aren't up to the standards she probably takes for granted.
Why are our diets so similar? It isn't because her information is widely known and practiced (it isn't). The similarities are there because we have arrived at solutions that work, though by different paths taken to get there.
The similarities go beyond diet. They go to the core philosophy: health care. At the time I'm writing this review, there's a national debate about "health care" yet nobody's talking about actual health care. They are talking about medical care. These aren't at all the same thing.
Medical care means cut, burn, or poison to treat the disease. And sometimes, that's necessary. But usually it's preventable. In all cases, it's expensive and in many cases astronomically so.
Over 90% of recurrent medical care would be prevented if continued treatment were contingent upon implementation of health care. For example, to get continued treatment for prostate cancer men would be required to reduce body fat to under 8% (easily achievable at any age) via a supervised portion control program. Or they would be denied the continued treatment, because their own behavior is defeating the purpose of the treatment anyhow. This may sound harsh at first, but if you reflect upon all of the facts, you can't help but conclude it's the most humane way to proceed. It's also the least expensive.
But instead of healing people, we subsidize sickness-inducing behavior and then complain that it costs too much to treat the sickness. This is like throwing rocks at your windows and then complaining about the replacement costs. The current "health care debate" is about deciding who will control the repair process instead of reducing the number of rocks thrown--maybe it would be nice to bring some competent adults into the "debate."
Medical care costs are ten times higher than they would be if we had a 'treat the person" approach rather than a "treat the disease" approach. Personal misery, of course, is also ten times higher than it needs to be.
Dr. Lee's approach to solving stress-related illness goes to the underlying problems, treating the person to solve the disease rather than treating only the disease and leaving the person unhealthy. This is one of the stark differences between "conventional medicine" (treat the disease) and "holistic medicine" (treat the person).
My own "mainstream" physician is an old-timer who tells patients things they don't like to hear and who insists on practicing health care rather than just medical care. When I went to him earlier this year with a nasty thumb infection (a tick had burrowed into my thumb, yuck), I just wanted him to lance it and give me antibiotics. I thought that was all he could do, and I was wrong. He used a combination of medicine and health care, impressing the heck out of me.
Dr. Lee is of this same caliber. While many overworked doctors will just prescribe a drug and hope you get over whatever is causing you to stress out, it's not a real solution. The drug reduces (or shifts) the symptoms, but it doesn't solve the problem.
Part of the solution involves proper diet, which is something most Americans describe as "nutty." People who observe my food choices often ask, "Are you health nut?," to which I reply "No, I'm just not a disease nut." What goes into the typical American shopping cart is appalling. No wonder people get sick.
Why anyone would drink "osteoporosis in a can" (soda) or eat "colon cancer in the dough" (bread with hydrogenated oil in it) I have no idea. Engaging in such practices defies logic, especially when you consider that these behaviors also promote obesity. If Americans dropped just these two behaviors, our national "health care crisis" would end because two big drivers of disease would be gone. Yet, it's the rare shopping cart that doesn't contain BOTH of these toxins.
Dr. Lee's diet recommendations provide sane alternatives.
Of course, the book isn't just about diet. I expound on that because it's the easiest part of the total solution to implement and it provides fast results. Dr. Lee provides what I consider a complete solution, though others may disagree. I've read other books on stress and think most of what is said is off target or suggest things that just aren't practical. This book doesn't have those shortcomings.
So, what's inside it?
She writes a nice introduction that lays out the basic concepts. It also explains her perspective on how we arrived at the current super stress as normal situation.
Part One consists of the first two chapters. Chapter One, Super Stress in Your Body and on Your Mind, discusses the symptoms and sources of chronic stress. Chapter Two provides a way to assess your level and type of stress. It provides four questionnaires that aid in this purpose. I think just going through the questionnaires can be helpful because issues that you might not think of are right there.
In Part Two, six chapters delve into the tools for stress reduction. I mentioned food (Chapter 4), earlier. Chapter 5 is titled "Rest and Motion." These are the two "physical" chapters; the others are about mental and social tools. These other four areas are typically under-rated and under-utilized. Conventional medicine doesn't address them at all.
On a related note, talk therapy, which treats the person, has been supplanted by "prescription therapy," which treats the disease. This sorry state of affairs is driven by Medicare requirements and yet we're supposed to believe that expanding government involvement into medical care is going to help.
Part Three consists of the last two chapters, and is all about taking your own personal stress solution from thought to reality. Chapter Nine provides a four-week program that will produce results for anyone suffering from chronic stress. Chapter Ten provides a sustainable strategy for stress-proofing, but that strategy is modified into four variations. Which variation you use depends on the stress types you identified in Chapter Two.
As with anything else that actually works, this program requires personal commitment and discipline. You have to replace old habits with new ones, and that takes time. Occasionally, it means being frustrated because the old behaviors took over. But if you stick with it, you'll find the results you were seeking.
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