How to Be Healthy: An Ancient Guide to Wellness

Galen, a famous physician from the ancient world, offers timeless wisdom about how to be healthy in body and mind in How to Be Healthy. He discusses the art of medicine, exercise and diet, the mind-body connection, and the difficulty of applying general medical principles to individuals.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 09 January 2024
Publisher: Princeton University Press

The second-century Greek physician Galen, renowned as the most famous doctor in antiquity after Hippocrates, holds a significant position in Western medicine. Galen, a talented doctor, surgeon, writer, philosopher, teacher, pharmacologist, and inventor, attended the court of Marcus Aurelius and witnessed outbreaks of plague (likely smallpox) that devastated the Roman Empire. He also served as a physician for professional gladiators, boasting that only two fighters died during his first year (his predecessor had lost sixteen). In his writings, which laid the foundation of Western medicine until the nineteenth century, Galen created a comprehensive account of health and disease.

In her book "How to Be Healthy," practicing physician and classical historian Katherine Van Schaik presents a compilation of Galen's enduring insights on how to take care of our bodies and minds, prevent disease, and achieve a healthy old age. While it is now evident that many of Galen's physiological ideas are incorrect, "How to Be Healthy" demonstrates that much of his advice remains valid. These selections from his writings, presented in fresh translations, cover various topics such as the art of medicine, exercise and diet, the mind-body connection, the challenges of applying general medical principles to individuals, and much more.

Featuring an introduction, brief commentaries that link ancient medical practices to modern ones, and the original Greek on facing pages, "How to Be Healthy" offers an entertaining and enlightening new perspective on the age-old pursuit of wellness. It emphasizes the importance of activities like "the exercise with a small ball" and highlights the benefits of avoiding distress.

Galen's contributions to medicine and his understanding of the human body have had a lasting impact on Western medicine. His ideas and practices continue to be studied and referenced by medical professionals today, and his insights into the relationship between mind and body remain relevant in the modern world.

Weight: 262g
Dimension: 125 x 179 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691206271