TAKE GOOD CARE

“Having worked closely with professionals who have successfully converted their casual awareness of healthy habits into hard-wired, strategic Wellness Rituals, I know what the human body is capable of when healthy choices are stacked together,” writes the author, a chiropractor who is the co-owner of the Toronto-area High Point Wellness Centre, the team chiropractor for the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, and the on-site clinician for The Globe and Mail. Chapin categorizes these stackable habits under the headings “Prioritize Sleep, Rest & Recovery”; “Consume Healthy Fuel”; “Fight for Your Waistline”; “Move To Stay Young”; “Protect Your Strength”; “Nurture Mental Fitness”; and “Play With Purpose.” The author provides case-study narratives detailing how 21 professionals, whom he calls “mentors,” practice these rituals in their lives while also highlighting the scientific research that supports these protocols. The book concludes with Chapin describing how he recently conducted “formula tweaks” to his diet and physical and mental fitness routines following a less-than-ideal medical checkup; “I needed to recognize the emotional toll working as a primary care practitioner during the pandemic had on my health,” he writes. The author is a caring and convincing advocate throughout the text, describing his book as a “moonshot, evidence-based call-to-action” and a “wellness performance playbook.” Chapin’s seven rituals function as useful “dials” (as one case study subject describes them) for considering and calibrating one’s overall wellness. He provides helpful distillations of scientific research (including material explaining why the waistline is such an important metric in managing one’s weight and health) and a wealth of “ritual activation” steps to follow. While the book arguably contains too many case studies, they do provide powerful testimony attesting to the value and importance of incorporating these rituals into daily life.