32 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ NOVEMBER 4, 2019
Health Books
Despite an ongoing focus on the coveted
millennial readership, health publishers
haven’t lost sight of the fact that 34% of
Americans are over age 50; over the next
two decades, more than 27.7 million
people in the U.S. will join their ranks.
This aging population is contending with
a distinct set of wellness challenges, if
not in themselves, then in the even older
relatives in their care. Here, we round up
titles addressing ways to boost readers’
bodies, minds, and hormones as they
enter their less limber years.Exercise Is Medicine
Judy Foreman. Oxford Univ., Dec.
Calling exercise the “closest thing there is to a
magic bullet for preventing disease and dis-
ability, maximizing health and prolonging life,”
the author, a biologist, presents the evidence
then offers specifics. Want to stay sharp?
Exercise more than usual. Feeling blue? Try
running. And cartwheeling helps keep bones
strong—though, alas, it’s better if you started
as a teen.Fitness Hacks for Over 50
K. Aleisha Fetters. Adams, Apr. 2020
Fetters, a trainer and fitness writer for publica-
tions including U.S. News & World Report, offers
simple movements and activities, meant to be
done for just a few minutes a day, that she
sees as key to better sleep, increased strength
and balance, and an amped-up sex life in
midlife and beyond.The Good News About Estrogen
Uzzi Reiss. St. Martin’s, Mar. 2020
The essential hormone can start to wane for a
number of reasons covered in this book, and
the process is inevitable as women age. Reiss,
a Beverly Hills anti-aging ob-gyn with a pro–
replacement therapy stance, speaks to “an
audience that isn’t settling for not feeling 100
percent,” says St. Martin’s executive editor
Elizabeth Beier.Is It Alzheimer’s?
Peter V. Rabins. Johns Hopkins Univ.,
Mar. 2020
Addressing an ailment afflicting almost
six million Americans, Rabins, a professor
of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine, answers 101 of the most
common questions he hears in his practice,
addressing root causes of the disease and
how to lower the risk of contracting it.The M Word
Ginni Mansberg. Quarto, Apr. 2020
Australian GP and morning TV doctor
Mansberg covers many of the challenges
faced by menopausal women, and delves
into the science behind the change and
new thinking on hormone therapy, all with
a nudge and a wink. For instance, chapter
four, “Where’s My Vagina Gone?,” discusses,
among other topics, what Mansberg calls
“the tantalizingly named genitourinary
syndrome of menopause.”Why Did I Come into This Room?
Joan Lunden. Forefront, Mar. 2020
The former Good Morning America cohost,
who has since turned her professional
attention to various wellness topics, here
starts what the subtitle calls “A Candid
Conversation About Aging.” For our q&a
with Lunden, see “Appreciation and
Resilience,” p. 26.The XX Brain
Lisa Mosconi. Avery, Mar. 2020
The director of the Women’s Brain Initiative
at Weill Cornell Medical College gives
readers her take on why and how “women’s
health is in deep jeopardy,” she writes in
the book’s introduction. The medical
establishment, she says, overlooks the
challenges women in particular face in
terms of brain health, and their higher like-
lihood than men to suffer from anxiety and
depression, autoimmune disorders, brain
tumors, and strokes. —L.N.Aging Appropriate
Living longer than ever calls for new wellness tools