Wellbeing books to jumpstart your January

We all want quick and easy ways to improve our health, but when it comes to diet, fitness and wellbeing it can be hard to sift the fads from the facts. Harder still is finding things that fit into our day. So what if you were told that eating chocolate helps your heart, that sunbathing boosts your immune system, singing can reduce inflammation, and your fanatical obsession of collecting houseplants is actually helping your productivity and brain power? In 'Just One Thing', Dr Michael Mosley tells you all this and many more scientifically proven facts that will make you say, 'No way!'

Join Julia Bradbury as she leads you through the walk of our lifetimes. There's a lot of talk about how we all must connect more with nature. But what does that mean? How do you do it? And what does it do for you in return? Can something as simple as going for a walk really improve your life? The simple answer is: YES. 'Walk Yourself Happy' will explain the elemental link between our own health - both physical and mental - and the natural world.

Want to make a big difference to your mental health by making small, manageable changes over time? In this book, psychologists Dr Emma Cotterill and Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo bring you 50 easy-to-implement strategies that each take a maximum of five minutes to add to your daily routine. Using the sports psychology concept of marginal gains - small improvements that lead to big results - these quick strategies build up to make microgains to your wellbeing as you slowly incorporate more and more of them into your life.

After years of trying different therapies for his crippling anxiety without success, Dr Russell Kennedy had an epiphany: anxiety does not start in the brain. Anxiety starts in the body, where trauma is stored and physical and emotional perception begin. Alarm bells originating in the body are what trigger those anxious thoughts that we call anxiety, and Dr Kennedy realised that true healing starts only when we learn not to conflate the two. He understood that existing therapies focused only on the mind would never get to the root of the problem - at best, they could help manage symptoms, but they'd never truly heal anxiety. Now fully revised and updated, 'The Anxiety Prescription' blends Dr Kennedy's personal story with medical science, neuroscience and developmental psychology.

Are you tired of never getting what you want? Is convenience preventing you from achieving your goals? Do you crave an easier, more meaningful life? An ex-military and a transformation coach, Jay Alderton reveals the game-changing truth: the secret to an easy life is conquering the hard stuff, and the hard stuff is all in your head. Because every great transformation starts from the neck up, all you need to do is learn how to crack the mindset code to make the hard stuff very easy. By breaking down the seven key mindset principles for success, strength and happiness, 'Hard Stuff, Easy Life' will equip you with the tools to overcome any obstacle, tap into your inner strength, and carve out a life that's anything but ordinary.

'Unstressable' applies Mo Gawdat's brilliant engineering mind and Alice Law's psychology and stress-management expertise to the 'stress pandemic'. This follow up to 'Solve For Happy' will show you that chronic stress is not an unavoidable part of modern life, but a predictable - and therefore preventable - response, often as much to do with negative thought patterns as external circumstances. Mo explains how he made it through the most acutely stressful times in his own life, and touches on the idea of post-traumatic growth - both on a personal level and in response to huge events that affected all of us, such as the COVID pandemic and subsequent economic turmoil. Practical exercises will help you build up the skills to manage stress no matter your circumstances, backed up by neuroscience and accessible psychology.

Even before 2020, chronic loneliness was a private experience of profound anguish that had become a public health crisis. Since then it has reached new heights. While we can't cure loneliness the way we can cure strep throat or even cancer, there are concrete, actionable and effective things we can do to manage it and keep it from becoming chronic. For an individual lonely reader, or for anyone who loves, serves, treats, or employs people vulnerable to loneliness in community, work or educational settings, this book will clarify how meaningful reconnection between the self and others begins, and how it can be nourished and sustained.

Many of us expect romantic love to solve our problems and validate our worth. This burden strains modern relationships. Partners become frustrated when unable to meet each other's idealized and impossible demands. Broken dreams of a life-long romance can leave people feeling incomplete and hopping from one partner to another. It's no wonder we struggle, given that society fails to teach us about the true nature of love. We've been misled into thinking love is external - somewhere out there - rather than a force within us. Vex King dismantles the myths and misconceptions surrounding love and relationships. Packed with personal stories, expert advice and inspirational messages, 'Things No-one Taught Us About Love' will help you understand how you love, create healthy habits, set boundaries that work for you, and heal unprocessed emotion and trauma.

We all want to be happier, but our brains often get in the way. When we are too inward-looking, we become overly concerned with our own inadequacies, compare ourselves with others and fail to appreciate the good in our lives. These patterns of thinking make us unhappy, anxious and apprehensive. In 'The Science of Happiness', world-leading psychologist and happiness expert Bruce Hood presents seven simple but life-changing lessons to break these patterns.

We all know that midlife women are often hit the hardest of all health-wise, sandwiched between bringing up our families, juggling work and caring for ailing parents. But whatever stage or age you are there is hope and many ways to take back control of your health - physical, mental and emotional - and make yourself a priority rather than bottom of the to-do list. In 'A Better Second Half', Liz Earle sorts the fads from the fiction in wellbeing and breaks through the noise that surrounds the online advice that can overwhelm us all.

Lisa Lanceford's life was transformed through the power of fitness. After a failed personal relationship and suffering from anxiety and body issues, the daily habit of working out and eating better led to improvements in her mood, confidence and personal life. Today she feels strong, loves her body and is happier in her relationships. Her videos, photos, and advice on Instagram have inspired millions of women across the UK. Written with Lisa's characteristic warmth, accessibility, and humour, and founded in science, '7 Steps to Strong' outlines her essential advice in an easy-to-follow guide.

In 'Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to Happiness', Bill explores the nature of happiness and ways to be, well, happy. Being Bill Bailey however, he does so in his own, remarkable, Bill Bailey way. From paddle-boarding down the Thames in a Santa hat, to wild swimming in a glacial river, Bill considers the exhilaration of the outdoors, as well as the quieter pleasures of clearing out your moth-eaten grey t-shirts. He attempts to see beyond the mumbo-jumbo of the wellness industry and aims for the heart of real joy and contentment - and how we can all achieve it.

Modern life is a minefield for stress. Whether it's juggling work, relationships or money, we often struggle to make time for ourselves and can find ourselves stuck in a rut with bad habits or worries. Owen O'Kane reveals how smart, short techniques throughout the day can form a healthier perspective and let you ditch harmful thought patterns. Using the latest evidence-based tools and techniques from across a range of therapies including CBT, mindfulness and interpersonal therapy, Owen provides empowering solutions to managing what keeps you stuck so you can move forward.