
The Miracle Pill
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.14
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Walker
-
By:
-
Peter Walker
About this listen
'This book is pretty life-changing – encouraging, optimistic, rich with information. It got me off the sofa.' Jeremy Vine
'This is such a lovely, ambitious, fascinating book. Essential lockdown reading. It allows us to reimagine our world and our bodies: we can move more.' Dr Xand van Tulleken, TV presenter
'Truly uplifting' Chris Boardman
What is the 'miracle pill', the simple lifestyle change with such enormous health benefits that, if it was turned into a drug, would be the most valuable drug in the world? The answer is movement and the good news is that it's free, easy and available to everyone.
Four in ten British adults, and 80% of children, are so sedentary they don’t meet even the minimum recommended levels for movement. What’s going on?
The answer is simple: activity became exercise. What for centuries was universal and everyday has become the fetishised pursuit of a minority, whether the superhuman feats of elite athletes, or a chore slotted into busy schedules. Yes, most people know physical activity is good for us. And yet 1.5 billion people around the world are so inactive they are at greater risk of everything from heart disease to diabetes, cancer, arthritis and depression, even dementia. Sedentary living now kills more people than obesity, despite receiving much less attention, and is causing a pandemic of chronic ill health many experts predict could soon bankrupt the NHS.
How did we get here? Daily, constant exertion was an integral part of humanity for millennia, but in just a few decades movement was virtually designed out of people’s lives through transformed workplaces, the dominance of the car, and a built environment which encourages people to be static.
In a world now also infiltrated by ubiquitous screens, app-summoned taxis and shopping delivered to your door, it can be shocking to realise exactly how sedentary many of us are. A recent study found almost half of middle-aged English people don’t walk continuously for ten minutes or more in an average month. At current trends, scientists forecast, the average US adult will expend little more energy in an average week than someone who spent all their time in bed.
This book is a chronicle of this very modern and largely unexplored catastrophe, and the story of the people trying to turn it around. Through interviews with experts in various fields - doctors, scientists, architects and politicians - Peter Walker explores how to bring more movement into the modern world and, most importantly, into your life. Forget the gym, introducing quick and easy lifestyle changes can slow down the ageing process and even reverse many illnesses and increase mental wellbeing.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Comfort Crisis
- Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
- By: Michael Easter
- Narrated by: Michael Easter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
-
-
Couldn’t finish it
- By Laura H. on 06-06-23
By: Michael Easter
-
Burn
- New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy
- By: Herman Pontzer PhD
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pontzer's groundbreaking studies with hunter-gatherer tribes show how exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. This was a brilliant evolutionary strategy to survive in times of famine. Now it seems to doom us to obesity. The good news is we can lose weight, but we need to cut calories. Refuting such weight-loss hype as paleo, keto, anti-gluten, anti-grain, and even vegan, Pontzer discusses how all diets succeed or fail: For shedding pounds, a calorie is a calorie.
-
-
Went from Science to Psuedo Science
- By Brad on 03-10-21
-
Built to Move
- The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully
- By: Kelly Starrett, Juliet Starrett
- Narrated by: Kelly Starrett, Juliet Starrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After devoting years to working with pro-athletes, Olympians, and Navy Seals, fitness gurus Kelly and Juliet Starrett began thinking about the physical well-being of people who are not elite athletes. What are the fundamental qualities that make a human being durable, and how do we ensure that we continue to feel great as we age? Organized around ten assessments and ten physical practices that anyone can do, Built to Move is designed to improve the way your body functions in daily activities and boost overall quality of life.
-
-
So good!
- By Damien Evans on 04-08-23
By: Kelly Starrett, and others
-
Dopamine Nation
- Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
- By: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Narrated by: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting....
-
-
Interesting but feels incomplete
- By Chris on 09-02-21
By: Dr. Anna Lembke
-
Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
-
-
Too Much Filler
- By J. Badaracco on 04-09-23
By: Peter Attia MD, and others
-
Lifespan
- Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To
- By: David A. Sinclair PhD, Matthew D. LaPlante
- Narrated by: David A. Sinclair PhD
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an acclaimed Harvard professor and one of Time’s most influential people, this paradigm-shifting audiobook shows how almost everything we think we know about aging is wrong, offers a front-row seat to the amazing global effort to slow, stop, and reverse aging, and calls listeners to consider a future where aging can be treated.
-
-
Incredible
- By Nikolai B.G on 09-13-19
By: David A. Sinclair PhD, and others
-
The Comfort Crisis
- Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
- By: Michael Easter
- Narrated by: Michael Easter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
-
-
Couldn’t finish it
- By Laura H. on 06-06-23
By: Michael Easter
-
Burn
- New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy
- By: Herman Pontzer PhD
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pontzer's groundbreaking studies with hunter-gatherer tribes show how exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. This was a brilliant evolutionary strategy to survive in times of famine. Now it seems to doom us to obesity. The good news is we can lose weight, but we need to cut calories. Refuting such weight-loss hype as paleo, keto, anti-gluten, anti-grain, and even vegan, Pontzer discusses how all diets succeed or fail: For shedding pounds, a calorie is a calorie.
-
-
Went from Science to Psuedo Science
- By Brad on 03-10-21
-
Built to Move
- The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully
- By: Kelly Starrett, Juliet Starrett
- Narrated by: Kelly Starrett, Juliet Starrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After devoting years to working with pro-athletes, Olympians, and Navy Seals, fitness gurus Kelly and Juliet Starrett began thinking about the physical well-being of people who are not elite athletes. What are the fundamental qualities that make a human being durable, and how do we ensure that we continue to feel great as we age? Organized around ten assessments and ten physical practices that anyone can do, Built to Move is designed to improve the way your body functions in daily activities and boost overall quality of life.
-
-
So good!
- By Damien Evans on 04-08-23
By: Kelly Starrett, and others
-
Dopamine Nation
- Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
- By: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Narrated by: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting....
-
-
Interesting but feels incomplete
- By Chris on 09-02-21
By: Dr. Anna Lembke
-
Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
-
-
Too Much Filler
- By J. Badaracco on 04-09-23
By: Peter Attia MD, and others
-
Lifespan
- Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To
- By: David A. Sinclair PhD, Matthew D. LaPlante
- Narrated by: David A. Sinclair PhD
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an acclaimed Harvard professor and one of Time’s most influential people, this paradigm-shifting audiobook shows how almost everything we think we know about aging is wrong, offers a front-row seat to the amazing global effort to slow, stop, and reverse aging, and calls listeners to consider a future where aging can be treated.
-
-
Incredible
- By Nikolai B.G on 09-13-19
By: David A. Sinclair PhD, and others
-
Getting Old Sucks!
- 101 Ways to a Happier, Healthier and Fun Senior Life
- By: Michael Pace
- Narrated by: Chris McKenna
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For many of us seniors, life can become boring, lonely, and unfulfilling. We live with the aches and pains of aging and loss of friends, relatives, and significant others. For some, this can be a downward spiral of depression and unhappiness. For others it's just a feeling that you have little to look forward to and that life is slowing down and monotonously coming to an end. Really sort of depressing.
-
-
A Great guide for living a healthy life
- By lilfetz22 on 04-21-23
By: Michael Pace
-
Life Force
- How New Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine Can Transform the Quality of Your Life & Those You Love
- By: Tony Robbins, Peter H. Diamandis, Robert Hariri
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Tony Robbins, Peter Diamandis, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Transform your life or the life of someone you love with Life Force - the newest breakthroughs in health technology to help maximize your energy and strength, prevent disease, and extend your health span - from Tony Robbins, author of the number one New York Times best seller Money: Master the Game.
-
-
Intresting, great information for the wealthy.
- By K. Smith on 02-19-22
By: Tony Robbins, and others
-
Keep Sharp
- How to Build a Better Brain at Any Age
- By: Sanjay Gupta MD
- Narrated by: Sanjay Gupta MD
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our minds sharp and effortlessly productive. Now, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta offers “the book all of us need, young and old” (Walter Isaacson, number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Code Breaker) with insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age.
-
-
A Master Class in Brain Resilience
- By Chad B Wickland on 01-06-21
By: Sanjay Gupta MD
-
Anti-Diet
- Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating
- By: Christy Harrison
- Narrated by: Christy Harrison
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixty-eight percent of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. But upwards of 90 percent of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years. And as many as 66 percent of people who embark on weight-loss efforts end up gaining more weight than they lost. If dieting is so clearly ineffective, why are we so obsessed with it? The culprit is diet culture, a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue, promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others.
-
-
Processed food industry fights back
- By jamal liles on 12-29-19
By: Christy Harrison
-
Invisible Women
- Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
- By: Caroline Criado Perez
- Narrated by: Caroline Criado Perez
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, treating men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias in time, money, and often with their lives. Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women.
-
-
A statistical fire hose
- By B. Andresen on 09-11-19
-
The 24/7 Body
- Everyday Diet and Training Advice for Long Term Results
- By: Matt Morsia
- Narrated by: Matt Morsia
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a former PE teacher, athlete, personal trainer and now one of the biggest fitness YouTubers in the world (a.k.a. an absolute weirdo who films themselves doing stuff), the most common question I get from followers and even people in the street is, 'How do I get a body like yours?' People will almost whisper it, as if I'm going to usher them into a dark alleyway and reply with some kind of mystical secret.
-
-
Knowledge and Relatability
- By Justin Martin on 06-05-24
By: Matt Morsia
-
Exercised
- Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
- By: Daniel E. Lieberman
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise - to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.
-
-
Great book to listen to in the gym!
- By aaron on 01-22-21
-
The A-Fib Cure
- Get Off Your Medications, Take Control of Your Health, and Add Years to Your Life
- By: Dr. John D. Day, Matthew D. LaPlante, Dr. T. Jared Bunch
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Atrial fibrillation strikes one in four American adults. Not only do people suffering from this condition suffer from shortness of breath, fatigue, chest discomfort, decreased ability to exercise and do activities of daily living, arrhythmia, and palpitations, but their risk of a stroke, cognitive decline and dementia, heart failure, or premature death also shoots way up. Today, a whole new body of research - one most physicians are unaware of - shows that biomarker and lifestyle optimization may put half the cases of atrial fibrillation into remission without drugs or procedures.
-
-
very informative
- By Suki on 12-15-22
By: Dr. John D. Day, and others
-
Fasting the Fat Away: A Guide to Intermittent Fasting for Beginners
- The Quick & Easy Way to Lose Weight & Supercharge Your Mental & Physical Health While Still Enjoying the Foods You Love
- By: Linda Becker
- Narrated by: Elise Black
- Length: 1 hr and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a reason why everyone wants to know about intermittent fasting. It is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most effective and healthy weight loss strategies around. This audiobook is a comprehensive guide everything you need to know about intermittent dieting. You will understand the science, the strategies, and the dos and don’ts. You’ll come away from this audiobook with everything you need to implement your new intermittent fasting program.
-
-
Just powerful
- By noah on 04-09-18
By: Linda Becker
-
Walk This Way
- The Proven "Step-By-Step" Low Impact Exercise Guide to Lose Weight, Ease Anxiety, Increase Productivity, and Regain Your Health
- By: Parker Scripps
- Narrated by: Zac Cash
- Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you're a beginner just starting out, or a seasoned walker looking to take your fitness to the next level, Walk This Way has got you covered. With easy-to-follow tips, tricks, and workouts tailored specifically to men and women of all ages, this book is the ultimate resource for anyone looking to improve their health and happiness through the power of walking.
-
-
Great guide
- By Jean on 08-07-23
By: Parker Scripps
-
Chasing Life
- New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today
- By: Sanjay Gupta MD
- Narrated by: Sanjay Gupta MD
- Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is not an anti-aging audiobook. It's a groundbreaking guide to functional aging - extending our healthy and active lives longer than ever thought possible. Practical immortality may be within our grasp, due to cutting-edge scientific research and amazing medical breakthroughs that are coming at an astonishing speed. In Chasing Life, prominent neurosurgeon and medical journalist Sanjay Gupta, MD, blends accounts of discoveries from around the world with advice for optimal health and longevity.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Samantha Davis on 05-13-07
By: Sanjay Gupta MD
-
Healthy at 100
- By: John Robbins
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do some people age in failing health and sadness, while others grow old with vitality and joy? In this revolutionary audiobook, best-selling author John Robbins presents us with a bold new paradigm of aging, showing us how we can increase not only our lifespan but also our health span.
-
-
Changed my Life
- By David Shear on 05-23-13
By: John Robbins
Critic reviews
"This book is pretty life-changing - encouraging, optimistic, rich with information. It got me off the sofa." (Jeremy Vine)
"This is such a lovely, ambitious, fascinating book. Essential lockdown reading. It allows us to reimagine our world and our bodies: we can move more." (Dr Xand van Tulleken, TV presenter)
"Truly uplifting." (Chris Boardman)
What listeners say about The Miracle Pill
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sheri Ready
- 04-20-21
Great listen Important message. Get Moving
This book has changed the way I think of every opportunity to move. In fact, I purposely got the audible version as I knew I would want to listen while waking everyday after work. (My new routine ) The author is a great listen and it’s not hyperbole to say this book could change your life, one step at a time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!