Move! summary

Unlike sloths, humans aren’t built to be motionless for hours on end – and staying still can pose a host of harmful health consequences. 

Beyond the increased risk of obesity, sedentary lifestyles are also linked to falling IQs, increased antisocial behavior, shortened attention spans, memory loss, decreased creative thinking, and even a global epidemic of mental illness – with a particular emphasis on anxiety and depression.

Charles Darwin needed to move – in more ways than one. 

Five years after returning from his now-famous Beagle voyages, the young biologist was struggling to transform his field notes into a fully realized theory of evolution. Thinking was much easier said than done amid the hustle and bustle of London life, so Darwin relocated to a quiet corner of the English countryside. 

Ever been told it’s time to “move on?” It’s no coincidence that the word move features so prominently in this phrase. In fact, exercise can serve as a major mood-booster – breaking you out of many a mental rut.

Experiments suggest that physically moving forward can instill an emotional sense of progress while also promoting positive thinking. With each step, you’re mentally transported away from the past and moving toward the future. 

Many are intimidated by the prospect of everyday exercise. But improving your physical and mental health doesn’t have to mean running up mountains or reverting to hunter-gatherer ways. For proof, let’s take a quick trip to five global destinations: Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California. 

Scattered across the map, these places may not seem to share much in common. But take a closer look at their populations, and you’ll notice a remarkable trend. In each destination, ten times more people than average live to be 100 years old. What’s more, residents of these longevity hotspots are less likely than average to suffer dementia and mental health issues. 

Of course, one person alone can’t break a species-wide cycle of sloth. To improve human health on a global scale, we need to collectively act and adopt what the author calls a movement manifesto.

The first step? Encouraging frequent movement from an early age. As the nineteenth-century American social reformer Frederick Douglass said, “It’s easier to build strong children than mend broken men.” Healthy habits should be instilled in childhood – laying the foundation for long, active lives.