Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free

*Shortlisted for Sunday Times Book of the Year*
*A Greater Good Science Center Best Book of 2022*

An eye-opening journey into the power of human movement and how we can harness it to optimize our brain health, boost our mood and improve every aspect of our lives

For our earliest ancestors who hunted and gathered, movement meant survival. Our brains evolved to reward physical activity. Moving, thinking and feeling have always been inextricably linked.

Yet what happens when we stop moving? Today, on average, we spend around 70 percent of our lives sitting or lying completely still. Our sedentary lifestyle—desk jobs, long commutes and lots of screen time—is not only bad for our bodies. It can also result in anxiety, depression and a lower overall IQ.

But there's good news. Even the simplest movements can reactivate our bodies and open up a hotline to our minds, improving our overall well-being and longevity. And we don't have to spend countless hours in the gym. In fact, exercise as we understand it misses the point.

Veteran science journalist Caroline Williams explores the cutting-edge research behind brain health and physical activity, interviewing scientists from around the world to completely reframe our relationship to movement. Along the way she reveals easy tricks that we could all use to improve our memory, maximize our creativity, strengthen our emotional literacy and more. A welcome counterpoint to the current mindfulness craze, Move offers a more stimulating and productive way of freeing our caged minds to live our best lives.

Caroline Williams is a science journalist and editor. A consultant for, and regular contributor to, New Scientist, she has also written for the Guardian, BBC Future and BBC Earth, among others. She has worked as a radio producer and reporter for BBC Radio and holds a BSc in biological sciences from Exeter University and an MSc (Distinction) in science communication from Imperial College London.