Book of the Day – Move

Today’s Book of the Day is Move, written by Caroline Williams and published in 2022 by Hanover Square Press.

Caroline Williams is a British science journalist and editor. She contributed to The Guardian, The Boston Globe, BBC Future, and BBC Earth, among others.

Move by Caroline Williams

One topic that you always encounter during and after the festive days is how to exercise to recover from excessive eating and lack of physical activity during the celebrations.

So did I, when I read Move, an interesting book written with the clear goal of making people aware of the risks coming from a sedentary lifestyle.

Scientifical evidence shows that when we do not move enough – or at all, for someone – what gets affected is not just physical health but our mental health, too.

The core assumption of the book is that our bodies evolved to move, over thousands of years. If we do not move enough, our bodies start sending messages to the brain that can alter our well-being until the point of creating depression, fears, anxiety, lack of certainty, and lack of self-confidence. Even our ability to think, solve problems, and create new ideas and things gets impacted, negatively, by a sedentary life.

According to the studies, sedentary life is also responsible for an overall reduction in IQ and the increased incidence of mental issues.

On the contrary, when we move enough, our entire being – body, mind, and soul – starts improving our general health, building strength, and giving us more joy, happiness, and confidence.

This book gives not just a general overview of the advantages we can get from physical movement, but also several tips on how to start bringing a series of healthy moving habits into our hectic lives.

“Moving is at the heart of the way we think and feel. If we stay still, our cognitive and emotional abilities become seriously compromised.”

Caroline Williams – Move

Many are the books about the subject, so for someone into the matter, the idea presented in this one could be something well known, but the way Williams gives her ideas and introduces her points is brilliant as it directly correlates the benefits on the brain to the amount of movement we do with our bodies.

So, I found the book interesting. It’s packed with lots of helpful information, and well-presented advice.

The good news is that even if we start with just a very little movement, we can immediately reactivate the positive feedback loop between our body and brain, thus increasing our health.

I would recommend this book to everyone who is thinking about starting to incorporate some movement in their busy routine, yet are not fully convinced about how to do it and when to do it.

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