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Review
...an accessible and thought-provoking book … serious popular science - BBC Focus magazine.
Review
Forget fish oil and sudoku - it's exercise that makes you brainier This book is the first time scientific evidence from all over the world has been pulled together to show that the fitter you are, the better your brain works' Daily Mail. If exercise came in pill form, it would be plastered across the front page, hailed as the blockbuster drug of the century. So what you waiting for? Get moving!' Focus Magazine.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Excellent book and it provides us with another very powerful reason why we should exercise. Anyone who has ever exercised on a consistent basis will attest to the benifits and now this new research makes it even more important that we develop an exercise program that we can enjoy and that has the power to lift depression, make us more sociable, grows more brain cells, improves our mememory, keeps dementia at bay and so on. In an era where psychiatrists are keener than ever to prescribe anti-depressants that often have the most horendeous side effects its great news to know there is a better way to help ourselves. In many ways the whole concept makes perfect sense but when Ratey provides the research to support the ideas then we can easily see why it is so.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a decent book with an optimistic message. We can alter our brain growth, chemistry and function by the simple expedient of moving ourselves and doing some exercise. The exercise will boost our physical and mental effectiveness, and counteract, or prevent entirely, our tendencies to be anxious, down, depressed, irritable, poor concentration or "hormonal". Exercise will boost the function of our brains and our bodies to our own and our family's, friends' and colleagues' benefits.
Exercise does this by boosting BDGF and rebalancing the levels of sertraline, norepinephrine (noradrenalin) and dopamine and by helping it get the right balance of excitatory and inhibitory traffic across synapses. The microscopic effects lead on the good macroscopically observable (psychological) effects we can feel and observe. Oh and the exercise is helping your body develop well too.
By the time you have read this book you will have come to realise that exercise is a GOOD THING for your brain and your body. As animals we are meant to move, and we feel better when we travel a certain distance each day under our own efforts.
The real question is does the author establish his case fully? I think mostly he does, but we are taking a lot on trust here. It is obvious in the text that at times the author is referring to specific papers (as he should be in a text making large claims as this one does). The corresponding references are not given so we have to take the author's assertion and we cannot check the references for ourselves. So we are having to take the facts presented on trust...although the author does come across as trustworthy. The lack of references does make for faster reading, but as the book is not long they could have been given.(..or maybe the modern way would be to put the links on a website?)
The second potential drawback of this book is that exercise comes across as a bit of a panacea, which it isn't. I know this book is written as advocacy, but a bit of perspective and review wouldn't go amiss. There's an element of preaching in the book which is within tolerable limits.
The basic thesis of this book is that mental dysfunction is often a reflection of our sedentary and stressed lifestyles and that seems a reasonable proposition. The idea that thinking is a motor act, and intimately related with movement is plausible. The idea that exercise will help a lot of people with mental health problems to get better is one that I hope will become more widespread with time. It offers many people a way out of mental illness that is entirely self help, drug free and readily available. I hope the ideas of this book Spark many of us into action.
I recommend this book, and acting on it. It lost a star for the lack of references and slightly preachy style.
Exercise does this by boosting BDGF and rebalancing the levels of sertraline, norepinephrine (noradrenalin) and dopamine and by helping it get the right balance of excitatory and inhibitory traffic across synapses. The microscopic effects lead on the good macroscopically observable (psychological) effects we can feel and observe. Oh and the exercise is helping your body develop well too.
By the time you have read this book you will have come to realise that exercise is a GOOD THING for your brain and your body. As animals we are meant to move, and we feel better when we travel a certain distance each day under our own efforts.
The real question is does the author establish his case fully? I think mostly he does, but we are taking a lot on trust here. It is obvious in the text that at times the author is referring to specific papers (as he should be in a text making large claims as this one does). The corresponding references are not given so we have to take the author's assertion and we cannot check the references for ourselves. So we are having to take the facts presented on trust...although the author does come across as trustworthy. The lack of references does make for faster reading, but as the book is not long they could have been given.(..or maybe the modern way would be to put the links on a website?)
The second potential drawback of this book is that exercise comes across as a bit of a panacea, which it isn't. I know this book is written as advocacy, but a bit of perspective and review wouldn't go amiss. There's an element of preaching in the book which is within tolerable limits.
The basic thesis of this book is that mental dysfunction is often a reflection of our sedentary and stressed lifestyles and that seems a reasonable proposition. The idea that thinking is a motor act, and intimately related with movement is plausible. The idea that exercise will help a lot of people with mental health problems to get better is one that I hope will become more widespread with time. It offers many people a way out of mental illness that is entirely self help, drug free and readily available. I hope the ideas of this book Spark many of us into action.
I recommend this book, and acting on it. It lost a star for the lack of references and slightly preachy style.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Though the message of this book is important, it does not take a book to tell it. Save your money and read this:
"Exercise is good for the body and the brain at any age."
There.
This is an annoying read, endless anecdotes and reports of reports, a sort of neverending mush of the same message. It has a breathless style which makes me think of the poorer self-help books, though to be fair this is better than your normal self help book.
Annoyingly they speak of aerobic exercise as if everybody knows that that is. And guess what? "Aerobic exercise" is not in the index or glossary!
Save your money, read this:
"Exercise is good for the body and the brain at any age."
"Exercise is good for the body and the brain at any age."
There.
This is an annoying read, endless anecdotes and reports of reports, a sort of neverending mush of the same message. It has a breathless style which makes me think of the poorer self-help books, though to be fair this is better than your normal self help book.
Annoyingly they speak of aerobic exercise as if everybody knows that that is. And guess what? "Aerobic exercise" is not in the index or glossary!
Save your money, read this:
"Exercise is good for the body and the brain at any age."
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Get off your ass...
As a weight loss "guru" I recommend people read their latest diet book whilst walking daily for one hour round the local park... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Mark Stipanovsky
Just what the doctor ordered ...
Or what my daughter ordered me to buy. She thinks the book is great and has helped her with her university course. Well worth the buy.
Published 1 month ago by P. Evans
Get beyond the first chapter
I can see how the book would get a poor review based on the first chapter. Beyond that there is more depth, backed with scientific studies into the workings of the brain and reward... Read more
Published 5 months ago by louiseandmike@netscapeonline.co.uk
inspired
i have not read the book but who it was got for it has inspired them. before reading the book they didn't do much in the way of fitness and there state of mind was a little on the... Read more
Published 23 months ago by lilly siddons
Enlightening
Apart from some overly deep digressions into brain chemistry, this was a very enlightening book. The frivolous nature of the cover is at odds with the value of the message within.
Published on 21 Feb 2010 by Mr. N. Moffatt
Fascinating book
This book really makes so much sense and was an enjoyable read. Links in well with 'Why love Matters' by Susie Gerhardt
With reference to the one star review about lack... Read more
With reference to the one star review about lack... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2009 by Ding Dong
A science based book without science
A science based book without a single reference? This is the most useless of potentially very useful books I have ever encountered. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by Elena
brilliant book
Brilliant book...
Describes how brain plasticity is effected by physical exercise or by activities that include complex body/limb movements and how most common psychiatric... Read more
Describes how brain plasticity is effected by physical exercise or by activities that include complex body/limb movements and how most common psychiatric... Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2009 by Ozgur Guler
The interdependence of mental, emotional, and physical health
With Eric Hagerman, John Ratey has written a book in which he explains -- in layman's terms (to the extent that is possible) -- how physical exercise can "supercharge [provide a... Read more
Published on 30 July 2008 by Robert Morris
Regular Aerobic Exercise Helps School Performance and Improves Mental...
I've read a lot about the brain in the last decade, and I thought this book was the most helpful summary I've seen of what to do differently. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2008 by Donald Mitchell
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