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Healthy Pleasures
Synthesizes immunobiology, genetics, and psychology to illustrate the emotional and physical importance of pleasure and recommends ways to create positive attitudes that make life an affirmative experience
Hardcover
First published May 1, 1989
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129 people want to read
About the author
Robert Ornstein
28 books99 followersPsychologist Robert Ornstein's wide-ranging and multidisciplinary work has won him awards from more than a dozen organizations, including the American Psychological Association and UNESCO. His pioneering research on the bilateral specialization of the brain has done much to advance our understanding of how we think.
He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from City University of New York in 1964 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1968. His doctoral thesis won the American Institutes for Research Creative Talent Award and was published immediately as a book, On the Experience of Time.
Since then he has written or co-written more than twenty other books on the nature of the human mind and brain and their relationship to thought, health and individual and social consciousness, which have sold over six million copies and been translated into a dozen other languages. His textbooks have been used in more than 20,000 university classes.
Dr. Ornstein has taught at the University of California Medical Center and Stanford University, and he has lectured at more than 200 colleges and universities in the U.S. and overseas. He is the president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), an educational nonprofit dedicated to bringing important discoveries concerning human nature to the general public.
Among his many honors and awards are the UNESCO award for Best Contribution to Psychology and the American Psychological Foundation Media Award "for increasing the public understanding of psychology."
He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from City University of New York in 1964 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1968. His doctoral thesis won the American Institutes for Research Creative Talent Award and was published immediately as a book, On the Experience of Time.
Since then he has written or co-written more than twenty other books on the nature of the human mind and brain and their relationship to thought, health and individual and social consciousness, which have sold over six million copies and been translated into a dozen other languages. His textbooks have been used in more than 20,000 university classes.
Dr. Ornstein has taught at the University of California Medical Center and Stanford University, and he has lectured at more than 200 colleges and universities in the U.S. and overseas. He is the president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), an educational nonprofit dedicated to bringing important discoveries concerning human nature to the general public.
Among his many honors and awards are the UNESCO award for Best Contribution to Psychology and the American Psychological Foundation Media Award "for increasing the public understanding of psychology."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 25, 2010
A bit out of date, but the basic premise is sound: while some people perceive pleasure as self-destructive or hedonistic, pursuing healthy pleasures (leisure time, sports, good food, sexuality, naps, close friendships, watching a sunrise, etc.) is essential for your physical and mental well-being. Ornstein tries a bit too hard to cover every aspect of health, but the first few chapters are grea
October 18, 2020
Bland, outdated, lacks scientific rigor. Not worth your time. 1.5/5
(read for school)
(read for school)
January 25, 2021
This volume published in 1989 was among the many offering readers advice about living a healthy life. However these two authors took a different point of view than others at the time who advocated a stringent diet to maintain a lean slender physique and regular strenuous exercise to maintain aerobic cardiac capacity. Many found their meals less satisfying without a hint of any of their favorite foods and that structured exercise programs required a trip to the gym, often leaving them with aching muscles. Added to that were the big “no nos”, the things it seemed everyone enjoyed -- chocolate, butter and alcohol were no longer on the menu. And a stroll in the park was not considered exercise.
Maintaining your health required discipline and had become hard work. However as evidence was gathering on the “mind-body” connection, medical thought was emerging based on that science and some of the previous advice was being reconsidered. This volume was one of the books that put meat on the bones of the “mind-body” movement, explaining the concepts and science in a way that was easily understood by the general public.
Ornstein and Sobel proposed a way of living that decreased heart disease, boosted immune function, helped relief depression and reduced pain. It was safe, inexpensive, readily available and backed by scientific research. It was not a prescription for a drug but for a way of life that included the experience of pleasure.
The authors theory was quite simply, that pleasure was good for you. They explained the science that showed how the experience of pleasure produces chemicals in the brain that are good for the body. They scoffed at what they called “medical terrorism”, which equated anything that was pleasurable as bad for you, insisting many of those claims were exaggerated. They believed pleasure had gotten a bad name and that indulging yourself occasionally was not a serious threat to anyone’s well-being.
They explain the “pleasure principle”, describing two pleasure channels: one through the senses and the other through a positive mind. Pleasure could be nurtured several ways, through eating, drinking, spending time with family and friends, doing charity work, helping others and listening to music. They explain how therapeutic touch can reduce the heart rate and reduce muscular tension; how listening to music elicits soothing emotions and how the companionship of pets brings feeling of caring. Our lives are improved by the good feelings these activities elicit which release chemicals in the brain that do good work in the rest of the body.
Their prescription for a healthy lifestyle included doing gentle forms of exercise, taking naps when you felt tired, eating moderately, drinking occasional glasses of wine or alcohol and having chocolate and butter now and then. They advocate doing things that give you pleasure, maintaining a positive attitude and taking life a little less seriously. In their view, pleasure is an important part of a healthy well rounded and meaningful life and so their advice emphasizes pleasing rather than punishing yourself.
Like others in the “mind-body” movement, they believe that increasing positive thoughts and emotions to influence positive health is a safer approach than taking a medication which almost always has both side and adverse effects. But they warn that their approach is no easy fix. It requires people to be mindful and practice its basic principles. They use an example of something that often causes stress or unhappiness: our personal interpretation of an event or an unkind comment thrown carelessly our way. Asking yourself if it is as important as you think it is or considering how you will feel about it in a month’s time, helps you frame the event or comment differently and more positively, alleviating the stress it may initially make you feel. However doing that in the heat of the moment requires mindfulness and discipline.
They also remind us that although paying attention to diet and getting exercise helps promote a healthy life, you do not have to punish yourself by being so strict that it makes you unhappy. Approaching life positively, practicing gratitude, taking naps, listening to music, playing with your pet and laughing during a play or movie all help improve your health. Scientific evidence suggests that when people do what gives them pleasure, they enjoy life more and live longer, healthier lives. You do not have to suffer restrictive diets and painful exercise to be healthy. Many of the things we enjoy are healthy and enjoyment itself is healthy. There is no reason why you can’t enjoy your life and good heath too.
Maintaining your health required discipline and had become hard work. However as evidence was gathering on the “mind-body” connection, medical thought was emerging based on that science and some of the previous advice was being reconsidered. This volume was one of the books that put meat on the bones of the “mind-body” movement, explaining the concepts and science in a way that was easily understood by the general public.
Ornstein and Sobel proposed a way of living that decreased heart disease, boosted immune function, helped relief depression and reduced pain. It was safe, inexpensive, readily available and backed by scientific research. It was not a prescription for a drug but for a way of life that included the experience of pleasure.
The authors theory was quite simply, that pleasure was good for you. They explained the science that showed how the experience of pleasure produces chemicals in the brain that are good for the body. They scoffed at what they called “medical terrorism”, which equated anything that was pleasurable as bad for you, insisting many of those claims were exaggerated. They believed pleasure had gotten a bad name and that indulging yourself occasionally was not a serious threat to anyone’s well-being.
They explain the “pleasure principle”, describing two pleasure channels: one through the senses and the other through a positive mind. Pleasure could be nurtured several ways, through eating, drinking, spending time with family and friends, doing charity work, helping others and listening to music. They explain how therapeutic touch can reduce the heart rate and reduce muscular tension; how listening to music elicits soothing emotions and how the companionship of pets brings feeling of caring. Our lives are improved by the good feelings these activities elicit which release chemicals in the brain that do good work in the rest of the body.
Their prescription for a healthy lifestyle included doing gentle forms of exercise, taking naps when you felt tired, eating moderately, drinking occasional glasses of wine or alcohol and having chocolate and butter now and then. They advocate doing things that give you pleasure, maintaining a positive attitude and taking life a little less seriously. In their view, pleasure is an important part of a healthy well rounded and meaningful life and so their advice emphasizes pleasing rather than punishing yourself.
Like others in the “mind-body” movement, they believe that increasing positive thoughts and emotions to influence positive health is a safer approach than taking a medication which almost always has both side and adverse effects. But they warn that their approach is no easy fix. It requires people to be mindful and practice its basic principles. They use an example of something that often causes stress or unhappiness: our personal interpretation of an event or an unkind comment thrown carelessly our way. Asking yourself if it is as important as you think it is or considering how you will feel about it in a month’s time, helps you frame the event or comment differently and more positively, alleviating the stress it may initially make you feel. However doing that in the heat of the moment requires mindfulness and discipline.
They also remind us that although paying attention to diet and getting exercise helps promote a healthy life, you do not have to punish yourself by being so strict that it makes you unhappy. Approaching life positively, practicing gratitude, taking naps, listening to music, playing with your pet and laughing during a play or movie all help improve your health. Scientific evidence suggests that when people do what gives them pleasure, they enjoy life more and live longer, healthier lives. You do not have to suffer restrictive diets and painful exercise to be healthy. Many of the things we enjoy are healthy and enjoyment itself is healthy. There is no reason why you can’t enjoy your life and good heath too.
November 23, 2024
Great book that just says to relax and have fun with your life without giving into the "Health Tyranny" - all the "you should eat this and you should do that" from medical establishment.
Lots of interesting things, like this one:
The health benefits of social contact can be clearly seen in marriage. For most people marriage is the primary connection with others and, as it turns out, the most beneficial, especially for men. Married men live longer, have fewer illnesses, and appear happier. Married women don't do as well, possibly because the status of women in society at large is still unequal. So one major principle for health seems to be: either be a woman or marry one.
Lots of interesting things, like this one:
The health benefits of social contact can be clearly seen in marriage. For most people marriage is the primary connection with others and, as it turns out, the most beneficial, especially for men. Married men live longer, have fewer illnesses, and appear happier. Married women don't do as well, possibly because the status of women in society at large is still unequal. So one major principle for health seems to be: either be a woman or marry one.
January 23, 2024
An oldy (published in 1989) but I've held onto it & enjoy re-reading every oce in awhile for its sensible advice.
Hard to believe, but in '89 there really hadn't been a lot of emphasis on pleasure being a healthy pursuit. Although not heavy on neuroscience and not very current with research, it's still 100% relevant. Get out in nature, enjoy the company of your friends, immerse yourself in music, have a good laugh, have fun!
Hard to believe, but in '89 there really hadn't been a lot of emphasis on pleasure being a healthy pursuit. Although not heavy on neuroscience and not very current with research, it's still 100% relevant. Get out in nature, enjoy the company of your friends, immerse yourself in music, have a good laugh, have fun!
June 27, 2019
Highly insightful and informative. The science-backed case for pleasure
September 29, 2018
The thing I liked most about this book was how it tells you, how not to talk to yourself. Next best like, information about food. How, for example, carbohydrates, slow you down. Confirmation of what one has experienced, re carbohydrates, fats, protein. Unfortunately, this book is no longer in my book case. Must buy another copy.
Still need to buy another copy.
Still need to buy another copy.
September 25, 2015
Interesting book. Not my cup of tea, but interesting.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews