The Mind-Body Method: How Moving Your Body Can Stop You Losing Your Mind

by Anders Hansen

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Over 1 million copies sold! • “An essential how-to book to reduce stress, calm anxiety, and keep your brain active.” —Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable

Do you want to reduce your stress levels, boost your memory, mood, and focus, and be more creative? Then it’s time to get moving!

In this groundbreaking international bestseller, The Mind-Body Method, acclaimed psychiatrist and mental health guru Dr. Anders Hansen reveals a simple yet effective method for transforming your exercise. Dr. Hansen explains the evolutionary reason that exercise can reduce stress and anxiety, boost memory and focus, raise IQ, and even slow down the aging process.

Drawing on his vast expertise, Dr. Hansen provides practical and concrete advice on how we can all harness the benefits of daily movement. From understanding why our brains are wired to move to motivating ourselves to achieve our health and fitness goals, The Mind-Body Method offers a life-altering approach to physical and mental well-being.
Dr. Hansen is a renowned psychiatrist, well-being guru, and award-winning author whose expertise in the field has earned him international recognition as a two-time winner of the book of the year Big Health Award and Sweden’s Mensa Prize 2018.Backed by extensive research, data, and studies spanning decades and countries, Dr. Hansen’s insights are not only scientifically proven, but also enriched and explored through his TV series delving into the intricacies of the human brain, making him a trusted authority in the field of mental health, fitness, and overall well-being.If you’re ready to transform your mental and physical health and unlock your full potential, The Mind-Body Method is the essential guide you need. Find out the optimal types of exercise and the duration needed to improve your attention span, memory, and overall mood.With over 1 million copies sold, this book has already been translated in 25 languages, transforming the lives of countless readers across cultures and languages.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Psychology, Brain

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2024

About the author

Anders Erik Hansen (born 1974) is a Swedish psychiatrist.

Reviews

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource for using exercise as brain medicine to produce calm, enhance memory, and slow the aging process. Recommended!

[Karolína · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a nutshell, movement is the quintessential to our lives, to be healthy and happy. You don't have to be an athlete, just take a daily regular walk, which is achievable and started yesterday.

[Felipe Saldarriaga Bejarano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura bastante agil de seguir a la par de estudios científicos de buena categoría.

A veces se sentía un tanto la misma premisa de "haz ejercicio" porque es bueno para tu mente" como el único elemento recurrente y me hubiera gustado más beneficios sobre los demás órganos u otros aspectos de la salud en general.

[Beatrice Tibaldini · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I approach self-help books, I always try to adopt as objective an attitude as possible. This choice isn't arbitrary; it stems from the awareness that subjectivity, although natural, can easily distort one's perception of the content, especially when we're not dealing with a work of fiction. Every reader brings a personal background filled with experiences, expectations, and biases that inevitably influence their judgment. However, when it comes to a book aimed at offering practical advice and guidance for improving one’s life, I believe it’s crucial to set aside personal preferences to focus on the actual effectiveness and applicability of the ideas presented. This critical approach allows me to evaluate the intrinsic value of the text, distinguishing what is truly useful from what is simply rhetoric devoid of substance. With this mindset, I began reading this book with the intent of determining whether it could offer valuable insights or if it was destined to get lost in the sea of similar publications that promise a lot but often deliver little.

Despite a natural skepticism towards the self-help genre, I couldn’t help but approach the reading of *The Mind-Body Method* with a certain amount of enthusiasm. I am often receptive to new opportunities to improve my personal routine—something I’ll discuss more in my next article. The premise of the book immediately piqued my interest. The idea of integrating physical activity into daily life as a fundamental component of personal well-being is a concept that has found broad support in scientific literature and medical practice for several years now. The notion that movement can be not only a remedy for the body but also a pillar on which to build a more balanced and fulfilling existence is undeniably compelling. I expected to find in the text a series of reflections and suggestions that went beyond the simple advice to exercise, exploring how this practice could be integrated into a broader personal growth journey. I was ready to be inspired by an innovative and comprehensive approach to well-being improvement that would not merely repeat the usual, well-known mantras.

Unfortunately, the initial enthusiasm began to wane as I progressed through the book. What initially seemed like an interesting and potentially rich concept turned out to be a fixed point, repeated almost obsessively. The entire narrative revolves around the importance of physical activity, without ever deviating or delving into other aspects that could enrich the discussion. The author seems to get stuck on this one piece of advice, reiterating it in various forms but without adding anything new or particularly impactful. While it’s understandable to emphasize a crucial message—especially when considering the high percentage of the global population suffering from obesity—this repetition ends up boring the reader and draining the content of its potential impact. The lack of a more varied narrative structure or additional elements of reflection makes the text flat and predictable, drastically reducing its effectiveness.

Another major disappointment was the superficiality with which the few topics presented are addressed. The author fails to offer a deep analysis or propose concrete tools to turn the advice into daily actions. Instead of exploring the many facets of personal well-being or suggesting detailed strategies for implementing the desired changes, *The Mind-Body Method* sticks to a series of generic statements that barely scratch the surface of the issues at hand. This superficial approach not only fails to stimulate the reader to reflect more deeply but also risks leaving the impression that personal change is a simple and straightforward matter, which is rarely the case in reality. The lack of practical tools, concrete examples, and a detailed guide makes the book ineffective in its primary goal: helping the reader truly improve their life. Essentially, what could have been an engaging journey towards self-discovery and personal improvement turns into a flat and challenge-free path, incapable of involving the reader. By the time I reached the last page, I was simply reminded that I needed to exercise; everything else was just background noise that my mind couldn’t bring into focus. In short, I made sure to include physical activity in my daily routine, but I was left with no other takeaways.

At the end of the reading, the overwhelming feeling was one of a missed opportunity. Despite the interesting premise and a solid theoretical foundation, this book fails to live up to the expectations it initially created. The continued insistence on physical activity as a cure-all and the lack of substantial and diverse content cause the book to exhaust itself without ever truly taking off. It’s a work that could have made a significant contribution to the self-help genre but instead ends up being just another publication that promises a lot but delivers little. It’s a book that, despite starting with a potentially revolutionary idea and being loaded with excellent rhetorical skills, gets lost in repetition and superficiality, resulting in a disappointing reading experience devoid of the added value one would expect.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that sold so many copies in the author’s home country of Sweden that it’s estimated that one in eight residents of Sweden bought it. With lots of research to back it up, the main point is that regular aerobic exercise (45 minutes, three times a week, getting the heart rate up doing things like running, swimming, biking, playing ball or dancing) has dramatic effects on the brain. Rates of dementia are cut by 30-40% with just this. Anxiety, depression and mental illness respond as well or better to just this than to medication. The brain actually does create new brain cells (which scientists told us for years was impossible) with just this. Even regular short walks benefit the brain in dramatic ways. It turns out that there is absolutely no evidence that all those brain exercises like crossword puzzles and brain building apps help in any way, but countless studies have shown that exercise does strengthen and nourish the brain. A great, motivating read.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

[Audrey Stars in Her Eye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks for the gifted book, Penguin Random House!
Now translated into English, The Mind-Body Method looks at the various ways exercise affects the way our brain works. We know what exercise does for our body, but what does it do for our intelligence and creativity? Science has proven a lot. The author breaks down the basics of how your brain works, but in a way that is easy to understand. Then, each chapter focuses on different aspects, such as mood, memory, etc.
It's a great and educational and will get you off your butt.
So why four stars? Because like so many books about movement, it's ableist. It takes no time to help those with disabilities and look at ways to help them get similar results. And while there are so many disabilities and it's hard to treat each one personally, even giving some thought and care into a large part of the population would go a long way.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't a lot of non-fiction books in this genre that I give 5 stars to. Typically, these kinds of psychology books are dry and uninteresting. However, I found this one to be fascinating. There's just enough information about the brain and specific research about how important movement is to brain health that I felt very educated. But the information was never provided in a boring way. I also appreciated how there were several focuses on different areas of brain health (creativity, memory, etc.), so this felt really comprehensive overall. I'm already thinking of how I can integrate some of this information into my life right now, and that's really the highest compliment I can give a non-fiction book.

[Israa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I found myself almost addicted to workout over the past year and half to a degree that my whole mental wellbeing is dependent on it, I picked this book the very first moment I put an eye on it. I like how it explained to me that I’m not biased or exaggerating what I feel. I liked the fact that the author is specialised psychiatrist and that the book speaks science in an evidence based approach in simple words that anyone can grasp and digest. Yet, I hated the repetition and the fact that it could have been much abbreviated .

[Andrea Salamat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Zeitgeist for providing me with an advanced copy of this book!

We all understand the importance of movement and exercise for overall health, but exploring how these activities impact our brain and, in turn, influence our entire body is truly fascinating. I found this book filled with intriguing and meaningful information, which motivated me to keep my body in motion for better health, happiness, and mental clarity—especially important now more than ever.

[Rachel Heller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mind- Body Method: How Moving Your Body Can Stop Your Losing Your Mind is both a intriguing and eye-opening book. I will start exercising more due to reading this book. In fact, I have I decided to start swimming again soon and I am going to start weightlifting again soon too. Thanks for the free book @ Zeitgeist publishing

[Carlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Good overall. Good studies, that repeat the same results. Surprised me and motivated me as well to get moving, but found it repetitive. In the end you knew where it would all lead to. But I did enjoy it.

[Viviana]

I received a physical galley from the Zeiggeist group under Penguin Random House today.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise and examples but loses track a bit in the second half. I did take on the main message though and will be exercising more!

[Si Jing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get the legs moving
One step two step and so on
Repeat day in out
...
I did not exercise much in the past. However, after being committed to regular jogs (thrice a week) over the past four years and recent weekly dragon boat practices, I am grateful to be where I am now - better mind, better health - work in progress (: