The old adage, “money can’t buy you happiness” seems to be particularly true in the case of the new book penned by psychologist and Santa look-alike, Andrew Weil, MD. In his new book, Spontaneous Happiness, he discusses why affluent people in the western world have a higher risk of depression than people who live in impoverished countries.

Andrew Weil is an interesting guy. Born in 1942 in Philadelphia, he attended Harvard for his undergraduate work at medical school, but he never completed his medical residency. In his undergraduate studies, he wrote his thesis on nutmeg as a narcotic. He didn’t stop writing since then, and has published nine books. He is a proponent of drug use and altered mindsets, but has started to focus in more on the health of aging Americans in his more recent books.

Weil makes the argument that the human body wasn’t made for the kind of lifestyle that most Americans and westernized people lead. He says that the way our lives are organized makes us that more likely to develop depression. For example, Weil says that we are too disconnected from real human interaction because of new media sources that allow us to conduct our interactions remotely. We eat food that is removed from its source and we are sedentary for too many hours of the day.

Weil says that all of these behaviors are anathema to what man was for most of his time on earth, as well as to what he actually needs.

Weil continues to popularize the term “nature-deficit disorder,” or the problematic symptoms that arise in people who do not live close enough to nature. He suggests getting more vitamin D and improving our sleep by spending more time in the sun. He also says that our eye problems stem from too much reading and writing at a young age, and that our bodies are not equipped to deal with the noises of cities to which we become accustomed. Weil goes on to claim that the kinds of “social” interactive tools—the Internet, cell phones, television—create a social bonding replica that does not provide us with the kind of real human interaction that our bodies need.

The book tries to offer remedies to these problems. Weil suggests more aerobic exercise, healthier sleep, more social interaction, and more omega-3 fatty acids.

What do you think about Weil’s theories? Will you be reading his book?