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Elsevier

Biological Measures of Well-Being

  • 1st Edition - May 20, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Colin R. Martin, Vinood Patel, Rajkumar Rajendram, Victor R. Preedy
  • Language: English

Biological Measures of Well-Being is organized into four distinct sections that together examine the interlink between physical and emotional well-being. The first section introd… Read more

Description

Biological Measures of Well-Being is organized into four distinct sections that together examine the interlink between physical and emotional well-being. The first section introduces the reader to the correlation among well-being with the environment, economic status, and biological measures. The second section outlines the blood and body fluids as biological correlates of well-being. The third section reviews physiology and imaging as biological correlates of well-being. The fourth discusses the genetic correlations of well-being. Written by international experts in the field, this book
will be the single source researchers and clinicians will need to understand well-being and its interlink with biological measures.

Key features

  • Reviews well-being and quality-of-life among youth and in the school environment
  • Outlines a range of bodily fluid biomarkers and links with quality-of-life measures and well-being
  • Discusses different ways of interventions and modifiers of well-being, and their impact on other physiological measures
  • Reviews genetic links to quality-of-life and well-being

Readership

Behavioral scientists, psychologists, psychiatrist, neurologists, health scientists, doctors in primary or secondary care and research scientistsStudents in similar fields

Table of contents

Section 1: Introductory chapters, correlates and setting the scene

1. Biopsychosocial aspects of mental health: A focus on the school environment

2. Mental well-being and the use of social media

3. Well-being and quality of life among youth with a mental health

4. The medical professions and their mental and physical well-being

5. The bidirectional relationship of poor physical well-being and stress

Section 2: Body fluids as biological correlates of well-being

6. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in serum and measures of well-being

7. Cortisol, well-being and the older person

8. Endocannabinoid system, inflammation, and mental well-being

9. Beta-endorphin and negative traits of well-being

10. Positive psychological well-being and inflammatory biomarkers IL-6 and CRP: A narrative review

11. Well-being and circulating serotonin

Section 3: Physiology and imaging as biological correlates of well-being

12. Use of electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate quality of life domains: Applications to epilepsy

13. Non-invasive measures of acute mental stress

14. Neuroscience of meditation for holistic well-being

15. Physiological responses to acute and cumulative dance exposures

16. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and well-being

17. Neural processing of odors and measures of well-being

Section 4: Genetic correlates of well-being

18. Meditation and the regulation of immune response genes

19. Genes, polymorphisms and linkage with muscle strength and quality of life

20. GWAS in occupational health: Unraveling gene-environment interactions, from discovery to the ethical frontiers of precision health

21. Single nucleotide variants and their association with subjective well-being

Section 5: Resources

22. Recommended resources for the biological measures of well-being

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: May 22, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editors

Colin R. Martin

Editor
Colin R. Martin RN, BSc, MSc, PhD, MBA, YCAP, FHEA, C.Psychol, AFBPsS, C.Sci is Professor of Clinical Psychobiology and Applied Psychoneuroimmunology and Clinical Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Suffolk, UK. He is a Chartered Health Psychologist and a Chartered Scientist. He also trained in analytical biochemistry, this aspect reflecting the psychobiological focus of much of his research within mental health. He has published or has in press well over 300 research papers and book chapters. He is a keen book author and editor having written and/or edited more than 50 books. These outputs include the prophetic insight into the treatment of neurological disease, Handbook of Behavior, Food and Nutrition (2011), Nanomedicine and the Nervous System (2012), Oxidative Stress and Dietary Antioxidants in Neurological Disease (2020), Zika Virus Impact, Diagnosis, Control and Models (2021), Factors Affecting Neurodevelopment: Genetics, Neurology, Behavior and Diet (2021), Diagnosis and Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury (2022), The Neurobiology, Physiology, and Psychology of Pain (2022) and The Handbook of Lifespan Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Childhood, Adolescence, Pregnancy, Adulthood, and Aging (2023). Professor Martin is particularly interested in all aspects of the relationship between underlying physiological substrates and behavior, particularly in how these relationships manifest in both acute and chronic psychiatric disorder. He has published original research germane to significant mental health disorders including the areas of schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, alcohol and drug dependency, high secure forensic mental health and personality disorder. He has a keen interest in the impact of postviral illness and is actively involved in clinical research post-Covid pandemic and in particular, the impact of Long Covid on psychological, neurological, physiological and social functioning. He is involved in collaborative International research with many European and Non-European countries.
Affiliations and expertise
Visiting Professor of Perinatal Wellbeing, Institute for Health and Wellbeing, University of Suffolk, Ipswich, UK

Vinood Patel

Editor
Vinood B. Patel, BSc, PhD, FRSC, is currently Professor in Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Westminster. In 2014 Dr Patel was elected as a Fellow to The Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr Patel graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a degree in Pharmacology and completed his PhD in protein metabolism from King’s College London in 1997. His postdoctoral work was carried out at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical School, NC, USA studying structural-functional alterations to mitochondrial ribosomes, where he developed novel techniques to characterize their biophysical properties. Research is being undertaken to study the role of nutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals, iron, alcohol and fatty acids in the pathophysiology of liver disease. Other areas of interest are identifying new biomarkers that can be used for the diagnosis and prognosis of disease and understanding mitochondrial oxidative stress in neurological disorders and iron dysregulation in diabetes. Dr Patel is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher and has several edited biomedical books related to the use or investigation of active agents or components. These books include The Handbook of Nutrition, Diet, and Epigenetics, Branched Chain Amino Acids in Clinical Nutrition, Cancer: Oxidative Stress and Dietary Antioxidants, Toxicology: Oxidative Stress and Dietary Antioxidants, Molecular Nutrition: Vitamins, The Neuroscience of Pain, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. He is Editor of the ten-volume series Biomarkers in Disease: Methods, Discoveries and Applications
Affiliations and expertise
Professor, University Westminster, UK

Rajkumar Rajendram

Editor

Dr Rajkumar Rajendram is a clinician-scientist with expertise in internal medicine, anaesthesia, intensive care and peri-operative medicine. He graduated with distinctions from Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School, King’s College London, in 2001, where he received several prizes, merits and distinctions in pre-clinical and clinical subjects.

Dr Rajendram completed specialist training in acute and general medicine in Oxford and subsequently held a Consultant appointment in Acute General Medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He also trained in anaesthesia and intensive care in London, including advanced training in regional anaesthesia and intensive care, and subsequently held a Consultant appointment in Intensive Care, Anaesthesia and Peri-operative Medicine at the Royal Free London Hospitals.

His postgraduate training has spanned internal medicine, anaesthesia, intensive care and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 2009, Fellowship of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine in 2013, and the European Diploma in Intensive Care Medicine in 2014. He is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Dr Rajendram is currently a Consultant at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in the Research Unit, Department of Medical Education, at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

His multidisciplinary clinical background has informed his research interests in nutrition, fluid management and fluid balance in health and disease, particularly in acutely and critically ill patients. His research has also addressed POCUS, COVID-19 phenotypes and nutritional support in illness. Dr Rajendram has contributed extensively to medical research and education and has authored more than 400 textbook chapters, review articles, peer-reviewed papers and conference abstracts.

Affiliations and expertise
Consultant, Medical Protocol Department, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia & Joint Appointment Associate Professor, Research Unit, Department of Medical Education, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Victor R. Preedy

Editor
Professor Preedy has been elected as a Fellow to the following Royal Societies: The Royal Society of Biology, the Royal College of Pathologists, the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, the Royal Society for Public Health, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Royal Society of Medicine. He was founding Director of the Genomics Centre at King’s College London and held the post from 2006 to 2020. He is a leading expert on the science of health and has a long-standing interest in disease processes, biomarkers, and tissue pathology. He has lectured nationally and internationally. Professor Preedy has published over 750 articles, which includes peer-reviewed manuscripts based on original research, abstracts and symposium presentations, reviews and numerous books and volumes.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Clinical Biochemistry, King’s College Hospital, London, UK; Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, UK; Visiting Professor of Health Sciences, University of Suffolk, UK

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