Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Physical Illness & Disease

In March 2020, Kate Garraway's husband, Derek Draper, contracted COVID-19 and was placed in a medically induced coma. Initially, Kate was told that he would not survive. Still in hospital and in a critical condition, he is thought to be the UK's longest-fighting COVID-19 patient. In this intimate book, Kate shares her deeply personal story.

Dementia is an unmaking, a de-creation - an apocalypse of meaning. Since my father's slow-motion dying and his actual death in November 2014, I have been much preoccupied with dementia: by those who have it, by those who look after them, by the hospital wards whose beds are occupied by those in advanced stages of this self-loss, by the way society denies it, by the science of it, the art and literature about it, the philosophy, by what it means to be human, to have an identity. What is it to be oneself, and what is it to lose one's self?

One in four adults sleeps badly. Sleeping pill prescriptions have increased dramatically over the last three decades, and our bookshelves and browser histories are littered with experts promising to 'fix' our insomnia. But is this so-called sleep crisis anything new? Our relationship to sleep has always been irregular and changeable, shaped by social conventions, commercial imperatives and personal psychologies. Look beneath the headlines and it seems that there is no such thing as a perfect night's sleep. Here Darian Leader reveals the history and pathology of sleeplessness.

Keggie Carew grew up in the gravitational field of an unorthodox father who lived on his wits and dazzling charm. As his memory begins to fail, she embarks on a quest to unravel his story and soon finds herself in a far more consuming place than she had bargained for. Tom Carew was a maverick, a left-handed stutterer, a law unto himself. As a member of an elite SOE unit, he was parachuted behind enemy lines to raise guerrilla resistance in France, then Burma, in the Second World War.

Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, Scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet, despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu and the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles, to the 1930 'parrot fever' pandemic and the more recent SARS, Ebola and Zika, the last 100 years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms.

No one can prepare you for the sleep deprivation of having a newborn. The truth is, there is no magic wand - but there is straight-forward, actionable advice that will set your baby on a path towards a settled night's sleep. Baby sleep guru Rosey Davidson has been helping new parents with sleep for over a decade. She knows first-hand that every baby is different and that no parent needs to suffer with sleep struggles long term. In this empowering and non judgemental book, Rosey sets out clear, practical solutions to help you make the right sleep decisions for your family.

New science has revealed low-level, smoldering inflammation, simmering quietly and undetected, behind everything from heart disease and cancer to mysterious autoimmune conditions. Hidden inflammation even weakens our immunity and increases the likelihood that our immune system will mount an overwhelming, inappropriate attack against infections. In this story of scientific discovery by a doctor at the forefront of this field, A Silent Fire brings together the science of immunology, nutrition and the microbiome to explain what we know of this elusive phenomenon.

On 26 March 2020, a new law appeared. In 11 pages, it locked down tens of millions of people, confined us to our homes, banned socialising, closed shops, gyms, pubs, places of worship. It restricted our freedoms more than any other law in history, justified by the rapid spread of a deadly new virus. You might have expected such a law to be fiercely debated in Parliament. But it wasn't debated at all. A state of emergency was declared, meaning the law came into force the moment it was signed.

Charlotte Raven had never heard of Huntington's disease when, in her mid-30s, she discovered that her father was suffering from the illness. Life for her and her young family would never be the same again. Patient 1 is her brutally candid account of coming to terms with this inherited neurodegenerative disease, which can manifest at any time in life for people who carry the faulty gene.

Most people don't realise that the main reason we are exhausted is that we are living out of sync with our biology. In Energize!, renowned sleep expert Dr Michael Breus teams up with SoulCycle founding instructor Stacey Griffith to present a revolutionary science-based plan that will give you the energy you need to succeed and optimise your health. Using core principles from chronobiology and biology, they outline an easy-to-follow, personalised programme based on your body type that will give you incredible energy, promote happiness and fight off fatigue for good.

What is a dream? Why do we dream? How do our bodies and minds use dreams? These questions are the starting point for this unprecedented, astonishing study of the role and significance of dreams, from the beginning of human history. An investigation on the grand scale, encompassing literature, anthropology, religion and science, it articulates the essential place dreams occupy in human culture and how they functioned as the catalyst that compelled us to transform our earthly habitat into a human world.

"We all have trapdoors in our lives. Sometimes we jump off just in time: we defuse an argument with a joke; we swerve to prevent a traffic accident. But sometimes we are unlucky enough to be on the trapdoor when the lever is pulled. My own trapdoor was hidden in the consulting room of an Oxford neurologist." When the trapdoor opened for Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, he plummeted into a world of MRI scans, a disobedient body and the crushing unpredictability of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. But, like Alice tumbling into Wonderland, his fall did something else.

ASMR to Wake Up Gently is a must for anyone looking to tune out anxiety and greet the new day gently. Using bespoke sounds and meditative techniques, Emma will guide you through a quiet wake up and morning routine. ASMR to Wake Up Gently is a must have for ASMR fans, beginners and those searching for deep, joyful and meditative ways to relax.

Having been told by doctors that due to Izzy's polycystic ovarian syndrome they would have difficulty conceiving - and after two years of trying - Izzy and Harry turned to IVF. Izzy's aim drawing on her own experience is to break through some of the taboos surrounding miscarriage, IVF and fertility issues. This brutally honest and deeply personal account will acknowledge the struggles that so many couples go through but will ultimately focus on the positive life-changing and remarkable results that IVF can yield.

Shortly before his 44th birthday, John Diamond received a call from the doctor who had removed a lump from his neck. Having been assured for the previous 2 years that this was a benign cyst, Diamond was told that it was, in fact, cancerous.

ASMR to Drift Back to Sleep is a must for anyone looking to tune out the noise of the night and find comfort and relaxation in bed. Using sound-bathing and meditative techniques Emma will keep you in a hypnotic state and allow you to gently drift back to sleep. ASMR to Drift Back to Sleep is a must have for ASMR fans, beginners and those searching for deep, joyful and meditative ways to relax.

ASMR to Ease Insomnia is a must for anyone looking to tune out the noise of the day and find comfort and relaxation before sleeping. Using bespoke sounds, meditative techniques and roleplay Emma will guide you through a session at a sleep clinic. ASMR to Ease Insomnia is a must have for ASMR fans, beginners and those searching for deep, joyful and meditative ways to relax.

When Dr Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. In The Soul of Care, he delivers a deeply inspiring story about what it means to grapple with illness from both sides, as an experienced doctor and a loving husband. Caregiving is long, hard, unglamorous work - at moments joyous, more often tedious, sometimes agonising, but always rich in meaning.

In Tell Me the Planets, Ben Platts-Mills tells stories about his work with survivors of brain injury, offering a rare glimpse into the world as seen through their eyes: charismatic Danny, whose criminal past has left him paralysed down one side, but who now helps others worse off than himself; Sid, whose memory for the present lasts only moments; and Liah, who is caught in a battle with the care system threatening to make her homeless. 

When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science-writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is that a revolution is now under way – an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. He combs through the realms of epidemiology, clinical trials, laboratory experiments and scientific hypotheses.