The Energy of Life:

The Energy of Life:
Guy Brown

This edition does not include illustrations.‘A book that lives up to its title – Guy Brown handles an exciting topic with the energy and expertise it deserves. A first-rate read!’ Roy PorterEverybody knows what it is like to be short of energy, or even full of energy, but what is this stuff that drives our bodies and our minds? Where does it come from, and where does it all go? How does it move our muscles and stir our imaginations? Above all, how can I get some more? This brilliant book follows the development of our ideas of biological energy, from their origins in the very concept of life itself to the latest research on body clocks and brain energy.The Energy of Life answers questions like ‘How is it possible for me to lift my arm just by willing it?’; ‘Why can living things move and dead things not?’; ‘Is there a relationship between mental energy and physical energy?’; ‘Is plenty of orange juice the best prevention of cancer and heart disease?’; ‘Is one girl a fat slob and the next a slim livewire by the accident of metabolism, by having too much or too little thyroid hormone?’; ‘Why are there epidemics of obesity in the developed world and of starvation in the developing world?’; ‘Why don’t diets work?’; ‘Are we born shy or bold?’; ‘What are boredom and fatigue for?’; ‘Why is it that some people are more creative, productive or energetic than others?’ Brown explains our sexual energy too: what causes us to be aroused, and how sexual arousal is sustained; what drives our motivations and passions and why does biting your partner beforehand lead to better sex?

THE

ENERGY

OF LIFE

GUY BROWN

Copyright (#ulink_80e61229-e715-5160-92fd-420f4a551d0b)

Fourth Estate

An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Published by Flamingo 2000

Published in hardback by HarperCollinsPublishers 1999

Copyright © Guy Brown 1999

Guy Brown asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Source ISBN: 9780006530473

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007485444

Version: 2015-12-31

CONTENTS

Cover (#u02fa309e-091e-5dad-a111-7dad87fb61a0)

Title Page (#uc11530d4-0ddf-5417-93b8-4b154259d5d7)

Copyright (#u8027c440-0078-5e69-b989-1f23edf6f729)

Introduction (#uf9d3a2ab-0113-5464-9b88-43d1a1ee91ca)

Chapter 1: ORIGINS (#uaf8eac62-1eb3-5820-8353-cf66f2b3aac7)

Chapter 2: THE STORY OF LIVING ENERGY (#uf439b9c1-3ebf-58f4-bcb5-16a9296e4e51)

Chapter 3: ENERGY ITSELF (#u6653089d-c672-5343-96bf-2c92ed37c01c)

Chapter 4: THE MACHINERY OF LIFE (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5: The Body Electric (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6: MITOCHONDRIA: THE MONSTERS WITHIN (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7: THE PACE OF LIFE AND DEATH (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8: GETTING FAT AND STAYING THIN (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9: EXERCISE, FATIGUE AND STRESS (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10: MIND ENERGY (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11: BRAIN ENERGY (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12: SEX AND SLEEP (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13: MOOD, MADNESS AND CREATIVE ENERGY (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14: HOW TO GET MORE ENERGY (#litres_trial_promo)

Sources & Further Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

Glossary (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Introduction (#ulink_50a513c4-322e-59c3-9bd0-183fffe11514)

Every morning of our lives we wake up and reach out from unconsciousness to consciousness, from nothingness to being, from dream to reality. And when the full force of reality hits us, we must choose between falling back into nothingness, or grabbing hold of reality. To wake up and get on with life we need energy: both body energy and mind energy. We need body energy to get out of bed, make the tea, run for the bus, beat our competitors, and drag ourselves home again. Whereas mind energy arouses and motivates us, to actually want to get out of bed and do something. This book is about what energy is, how we get it, and how we lose it again. But in discussing these practical things we will also be touching on more fundamental issues. What is life? How does it work? And why do we bother getting out of bed in the morning at all?

But what is this thing – energy – that divides the strong from the weak, the young from the old, the living from the dead? How does energy animate the body and mind? How does it enable a body to grow, a finger to move, a mind to think? Energy is the basic constituent of the Universe, even more fundamental than matter. Energy is the origin of all change. Every event in the Universe, from the collision of atoms to the explosion of stars, uses energy. And our own bodies, even when in dreamless sleep, require large amounts. To be alive is to be a continuous transformer of energy, a machine transmuting the food we eat and the air we breathe into a dancer’s leap and a poet’s dream.

There is abundant evidence that how energetic we feel is a major element of how happy, healthy, productive and creative we are. It may be more important for our overall well-being to track what boosts or drains our energy, than to follow our calorie intake or bank accounts. Energy is a central aspect of our lives. Without it, our personal world shrinks to a few essential tasks, people, and places: for we have no energy to face anything more than an essential minimum. But with an abundance of body and mind energy our world opens up, as we expand our interactions with people, projects and places to fill all the available time.

Vitality, passion, dynamism, confidence, the ability to concentrate and work without rest, to think fast and coherently, to resist fatigue and exhaustion – in short ‘energy’ – are the essential qualities, above all else, required to succeed in life. Top of the Harvard Business Review’s list of vital qualities for business success is ‘a high level of drive and energy’. Everyone looks for that sparkle in friends and lovers to ‘make things happen’. Most of all, everybody is looking for energy within themselves: the motivation and drive to get up and do something; the endurance, stamina and resolve to carry through what we are already doing and need to do; and the courage and will-power to change direction and break out of the old routines, when necessary. We may know how to do something, but without will and energy, it is not going to happen. Without mental energy there can be no joy, excitement or enthusiasm. But physical and mental fatigue seem to have infected almost everyone: the most common symptom reported by patients to their doctors today is lack of energy. Depression and exhaustion appear to be endemic to our society. Everybody wants more energy.

The Energy of Life follows the evolution of our ideas about biological energy, from their origins in the prehistoric concepts of life itself, to the latest research on the body electric and psychological motivation. The story of living energy twists through various manifestations as the vital heat or pneuma concocted in the furnace of the heart in ancient Greece; as chi energy coursing through meridian lines of the Chinese body; as prana convulsing the body of yogis in India; as the vital force sought by the alchemists in their dreams of gold and life everlasting and through, in more modern times, to the discharge of Freudian sexual energy.