1001 Days

How Our First Years Shape Our Lifelong Health

Sue Gerhardt

$36.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Cornerstone Press
22 July 2025

Child & developmental psychology; Popular medicine & health

Discover the shocking truth about how your pre-natal and early experiences continue to shape your body and health throughout adulthood

'Fascinating . . . an essential guide to some of the biggest and most compelling issues in healthcare and psychology.' PHILIPPA PERRY, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

'A vital, riveting book that challenges established ways of thinking about health . . . I loved it.'JULIA SAMUEL, author of Grief Works

'Jaw-droppingly important.' STEVE BIDDULPH, author of Raising Boys and The Secret of Happy Children

'An extraordinary tour de force . . . a game-changing book of the utmost importance, with a message that urgently needs shouting from the rooftops' DR. GRAHAM MUSIC, Consultant Psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic and author of Nurturing Natures

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We think of babyhood and old age as polar opposites on the spectrum of life. Yet they are profoundly linked. Our early experiences set us up for a lifetime of good mental and physical health, or for future health challenges.

1,001 Days will explore the vital and often overlooked factors that determine our lifelong health. Delving into the latest research in the fields of medicine, neuroscience and psychobiology, acclaimed psychotherapist and author Sue Gerhardt explains how many of the most common illnesses affecting our society today - from type 2 diabetes to cardiovascular disease, depression and dementia - have their roots in pre- and post-natal childhood development.

She challenges the political and cultural assumptions that hinder us from acting on what science is telling us - for example, that ill health is often seen as a result of wrong 'lifestyle' choices. The evidence she brings to light could change the way we approach illness, prevention, screening and cure within our healthcare and wider social systems.

There is no simple cause and effect that explains an individual's health outcomes. But in learning about the ways your childhood continues to shape your health today, you can feel empowered to seek the help you need.

By: Sue Gerhardt
Imprint: Cornerstone Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 360g
ISBN: 9781529928686
ISBN 10: 1529928680
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 22 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Sue Gerhardt is a British psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She has been awarded an honorary doctorate for her work in educating the public about neuroscience and child development. She is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Why Love Matters, which explains how affection shapes a child's brain in the first few months of life. Poignantly, she has also recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a disease thought to have some of its roots in infancy.

Reviews for 1001 Days: How Our First Years Shape Our Lifelong Health

Jaw-droppingly important, far-ranging, and yet easy to read. Caring for babies, in and out of the womb - and for their mums and dads - emerges as the engine of lifelong health. Personally, and politically, Sue Gerhardt’s message is of immense importance. Should we ever achieve a society of glowing health, this book will be seen as a turning point that made it possible. -- Steve Biddulph, psychologist and author 1001 Days is an extraordinary tour de force, one every policymaker, doctor, parent, indeed anyone who cares about the future, should read. Gerhardt seamlessly integrates an incredible breadth of research into a riveting account of how the roots of adult health, both good and bad, lie in infancy and childhood. In contrast to the world of biohacks and quick fix quackery, Gerhardt uses the latest science to show how it's the quality of our earliest relationships that etches our future health into our very cells, and how stress and trauma are irrefutably linked to the likelihood of later illnesses. This is a game changing book of the utmost importance, with a message that urgently needs shouting from the rooftops. -- Dr. Graham Music, Consultant Psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic and author of NURTURING NATURES