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What Is Health?: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design (The MIT Press) by Peter Sterling is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

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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 possibili

Who reads What Is Health?: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design (The MIT Press)?

Author

Peter Sterling

Publisher

The MIT Press

Published

2020

Language

EN

ISBN

9780262043304

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Science, Medical, Medicine

Rating

4.7 / 5 (61 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14