What Is Health?: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design by Peter Sterling

Description: What Is Health? by Peter Sterling An argument that health is optimal responsiveness and is often best treated at the system level. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description An argument that health is optimal responsiveness and is often best treated at the system level.Medical education centers on the venerable "no-fault" concept of homeostasis, whereby local mechanisms impose constancy by correcting errors, and the brain serves mainly for emergencies. Yet, it turns out that most parameters are not constant; moreover, despite the importance of local mechanisms, the brain is definitely in charge. In this book, the eminent neuroscientist Peter Sterling describes a broader concept- allostasis (coined by Sterling and Joseph Eyer in the 1980s), whereby the brain anticipates needs and efficiently mobilizes supplies to prevent errors.Allostasis evolved early, Sterling explains, to optimize energy efficiency, relying heavily on brain circuits that deliver a brief reward for each positive surprise. Modern life so reduces the opportunities for surprise that we are driven to seek it in consumption- bigger burgers, more opioids, and innumerable activities that involve higher carbon emissions. The consequences include addiction, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and climate change. Sterling concludes that solutions must go beyond the merely technical to restore possibilities for daily small rewards and revivify the capacities for egalitarianism that were hard-wired into our nature.Sterling explains that allostasis offers what is not found in any medical textbook- principled definitions of health and disease- health as the capacity for adaptive variation and disease as shrinkage of that capacity. Sterling argues that since health is optimal responsiveness, many significant conditions are best treated at the system level. Author Biography Peter Sterling is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is the coauthor (with Simon Laughlin) of Principles of Neural Design (MIT Press). Details ISBN0262043300 Author Peter Sterling ISBN-10 0262043300 ISBN-13 9780262043304 Format Hardcover Imprint MIT Press Subtitle Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design Place of Publication Cambridge, Mass. Country of Publication United States DEWEY 612.014 Pages 264 Year 2020 Language English Short Title What Is Health? AU Release Date 2020-02-25 NZ Release Date 2020-02-25 US Release Date 2020-02-25 Publication Date 2020-02-25 UK Release Date 2020-02-25 Publisher MIT Press Ltd Series The MIT Press Alternative 9780262356305 Audience Professional & Vocational Illustrations 62 b&w illus.; 124 Illustrations We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:123704195;

Price: 59.98 AUD

Location: Melbourne

End Time: 2024-11-21T03:40:39.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 AUD