*thank you to Netgalley, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee and BenBella Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*


4.5 stars

I highly approve this book. Not only is it informative, it's easy to understand and follow and it just makes so much sense.

So many people think they are to blame if they find losing weight so hard. Which I get. It takes a massive amount of mental energy and focus and by the end of the day you are usually so drained that it feels not worth it. But it shouldn't be this hard and this book can help with that.

It's easy to dismiss how important and helpful a teeny tiny baby step of a change can help. But this book explains how much it can. Weight loss isn't about going full force or even 50% full force. That's simply too much. Dr. Rangan Chatterjee knows this. He's a GP and has had alot of experience with clients trying and failing to lose weight. He knows what he's talking about and I am so glad for this book.

Not only does this book include information on his experiences with clients, but also so many helpful tips covering a wide range of areas including exercise suggestions. Now I know that for alot of people, the very suggestion of exercise comes with a groan and not surprising because most people think that they need to set an exercise goal to be meet each day or every however often, per week goal ASWELL as tackling and setting up too many food rules. No wonder it overwhelms and drains people so fast. It's simply too much. But if you take Dr. Rangan Chatterjee approach and take things very slowly and in very small amounts, it is possible to change something that seems like a task to becoming a habit that you don't think twice about doing.

I can definitely see this book helping alot of people. I also really liked the photos in here. There was something so calming about them. Maybe it was the objects themselves in the photos or it was the colouring, I don't know. But they were definitely a nice welcomed touch to this book.

I highly recommend.

Dr. Chatterjee is a genius. I have never read a book that made the pathway to be healthy so achievable! His explanations are brilliant. I feel energized and ready to add these little health "snacks" to my routine 3 times a day for 5 days a week each snack only taking 5 minutes. If you play with your smart phone, you can swap out 15 minutes a day playing a match a three game. These are things everyone can do from 5 to 80 years of age.
Everyone should read it, doctors should have it out like a prescription! There are three people on my Christmas gift list getting it this year.

All you need to do is pick one five minute health snack from each category : Mind, Body, and Heart, to do each day for 5 minutes 5 days a week. Doing this regularly, these snacks will become habits like brushing your teeth. You will see your health improve. It has worked for me these past two weeks I have been doing my snacks, Simple Breathing, Desk Jockey workout, and Daily Pleasure are my go to snacks. What will yours be?

Interesting concept...to feel better in five. Simple approach to giving yourself five minutes three times a day to help heal your mind, body, and heart. Something that pretty much anyone can give and the goal is as simplistic as the work.

What did I like? Kudos to the author at handing us a simple approach to a healthier life. I approve of the method and enjoyed the complimentary e-book. I feel like this could become the new dog eared book in my life. We all deal with life’s issues differently but most people need a healthier way to adapt to life. Five minutes....three times a day could give us that healthy kick to succeed. From exercise, meditation, yoga, all the way to helping forgiveness....I loved it.

Would I buy or recommend? Absolutely think this book is a must have ....and I’m going to buy some copies to give to people I think it will help. Not only do I feel like it will help me but it’s simple. Ebook copy is fun but I’d rather have a paper copy. I’ve read a ton of books on all these ideas separate and this is the first time I’ve seen something like this all in one book.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review. Five stars! Great book!

This is one of those titles best served by a physical copy. The advice given on particular issues often references an appendix like list of "fixes." It's well written, easy understand and apply, but not overly user friendly for an e-reader. I'd rather be able to flip here and there, tag with post-its and write, which I know can be done with an e-reader, but it's so much more difficult. Format aside, I enjoyed the book and have implemented quite a few of the tips!

This is an excellent self-help book from a medical doctor who proposes doing just three five-minute "health snacks" a day to greatly improve physical and emotional health. He breaks them down into sections -- mind, body and heart. You anchor each of these new habits to something you already do every day, like brushing your teeth. All you have to do is commit to doing each one for 5 minutes, 5 days a week (I plan on every day, personally).

What I especially like about the plan is that you get to pick which habits you do, and you're supposed to do the ones that sound the most enjoyable to you. There are several that really appealed to me, like painting for 5 minutes a day. I never would have even considered painting for 5 minutes because it would take that long to just get out the supplies, but it occurred to me that if I had the supplies all ready in one place and had little index cards as canvases I could totally paint for 5 minutes each morning sometime and would likely do more (which is fine). Many are much simpler, like just going outside in the sunlight and being outside for 5 minutes at the start of each day. There are habits that strengthen connections with others, help relieve stress and much more.

Chatterjee also has recommended habit lists to help a huge variety of issues, from diabetes to depression.

The book is a quick read and has illustrations of all of the yoga poses and such to help you. It's also very encouraging, with case studies of his patients who greatly improved their lives with small changes like these. I never stick to huge changes but the combination of short duration and getting to choose habits that sound fun makes this something I'm excited to begin.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

This book takes an interesting approach to incorporating new habits into your life. The idea is that you choose three new habits: one for body, one for mind, and one for heart. You practice each one for five minutes a day, five days a week. You tie each one to an already established habit (like making coffee in the morning) to make it easier for the new habit to stick.

The author gives dozens of simple, actionable behaviors to choose from, but it's important that you only choose three new habits at a time. Otherwise, you can become overwhelmed..

It would be helpful, before reading this book, to read "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg. He provides a a powerful analysis of how new habit formation works.

"Feel Better in 5" provides a cursory overview of these principles, but it felt 'salesy" to me. I was eager to get past the introductory material and get to the meat of it.

Also, I found the organization of the book confusing and difficult to use in ebook form. The book isn't really meant to be read linearly—you're choosing three habits out of dozens—and there was no easy way to navigate from one habit to the next. Maybe in the final, published form, this problem has been fixed.

If you're willing to put in the work, this book provides actionable, small steps you can take to make big changes in your life.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

I like a lot of the ideas in this book. Not all of them will work for me but there are many, many good ideas and advice. Will try it and see if it works for me. A terrific and helpful book!

I am a huge fan of these kind of self help books. There's so many different ways to coping and emotional support and strategies

I really enjoyed this book and found it helpful. I already want to re-read it, as I think it’s very useful and informative. I like the way it’s written and easy to take on board the information/advice.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Who doesn't want their bodies to feel better? And what if I told you that all it took was 5 minutes, three times a day? "Feel Better in 5" by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee lays out a roadmap of a variety of 5 minute activities that will arguably improve both your mind and your body. Implementing these habits is easy and functional, often creating a more sustainable routine than other health practices.

The biggest perk of this book is the specificity of not only the "Feel Better in 5" routine options, but also the detailing of each 5 minute routine. Chatterjee leaves no aspect without a description, unlike some health routines. Even exercises are explained and modifications given. These details leave people with little excuse to not create these habits. Everything is flexible and personalized to whatever you're looking to improve or gain.

I also love how Chatterjee works with our natural behaviors to create new behaviors. He often encourages patients to add in the new behaviors to things you already do, such as brushing your teeth or boiling a pot of tea. These routines are already a natural part of your day. By connecting the new thing to something you always do, you are more likely to pick up the new habit as well. Chatterjee goes a step further and encourages you to place the items for the new routine next to your old routine items, like placing a journal next to your coffee pot. By keeping items in plain sight you will be more likely to complete the habit.

I gave this book 4 stars. I like the routines and the practicality of it all, but I think that this book is missing a new step on what to do after you have established the new habits. Is there a next step or is this it? In the end though I think this book is extremely helpful and a great place to start focusing your mental health, especially as Covid continues to plague many of our minds and bodies.

Thanks to NetGalley and BenBella Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is now available for purchase! Be sure to check it out and see if this book could be beneficial to you!

Didn’t connect to this book. The idea of the health snack doesn’t connect. I do like the idea of starting with 5 minutes of redirection a few times a day.

Amazing tips and suggestions! Wellness culture is often defined by its unattainability, but Dr. Chatterjee is turning that narrative on its head, as he offers simple and easy ways to improve your mood and your life in just a few minutes, with suggestions ranging from breathwork exercises, to yoga poses, and ways to take care of your gut.

"Feel Better in 5" is a self-help book by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee that is meant to inspire you to live your best life daily. I enjoyed how the author split the sections into various ways to strengthen your mind, body, and heart. Chatterjee also gave very practical and easy tips to inspire the reader to take small steps to improve your life. While I don't think I read anything that I haven't read before, I felt that the author did a good job of inspiring his readers.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and BenBella books for the chance to read a copy!

I love the idea of this book -- starting with the lowest possible barrier to entry to step into change. 3 small habits, 5 minutes each, 5 days each week. The author does a great job encouraging flexibility in the approach and offering "make it stick" sections about how to tie habits to existing ones like brushing your teeth or drinking a morning cup of coffee.

I also liked the "mind-body" approach of focusing on mental, physical, and emotional health, even if the "mind" and "heart" categories kind of muddle together a bit (journaling everything that's on your mind is under mind, but journaling 5 things you're grateful for is under heart?). The physical workouts have a great variety from strength and HIIT to yoga and stretching. Toward the end he points out that if you already have an exercise habit, you can select a habit that complements it, like yoga if you're a runner (I wish this had been mentioned earlier, it's a great point).

And I like the way that this book is laid out, giving you all the structure and background before diving into the different techniques. One unusual but helpful thing included was recommending certain approaches for different health goals -- for example doing yoga for stress and low-impact HIIT for weight loss, or working on a forgiveness practice for anger or a reframing practice for being kinder to yourself. This was great because the book has so much flexibility that it's not trying to make you do *everything* in its pages. Especially important, it points out a few places where simple self-help habits are not appropriate, such as how trauma survivors should seek professional help rather than selecting the forgiveness exercises.

As I mentioned above, the similarity of mind and heart exercises were a little frustrating and feel arbitrary. Additionally, some of the heart exercises are harder to do daily and start to overflow the 5-minute boundary -- having tea with another person or calling a friend seem a little hard to cut off after 5 minutes. And the flip side of the flexibility is that there isn't much talk about how to know when you could pick up a new habit or try a different one in its place.

I also have quibbles about various things that seemed extraneous: first of all, the "instragram"-type photos of the author's house, or the author drinking tea, or whatever. The pictures of people performing the physical exercises or yoga poses were really helpful, but everything else just kind of made me giggle. There are also a lot of case studies where having mint tea every day or journaling helped change someone's life; maybe it will be inspiring for other people, but I mostly just skimmed these. Finally, there are these cute little icons about exercises that are good for morning, or evening, or building strength, or lowering blood pressure...but after the key saying what they were I never noticed them again. Looking back I see those icons are at the bottom of each page, but they're very easy to skip over and so probably aren't working as well as intended.

Overall, I liked this book and I'll be trying to pick up a few of the mentioned habits. I really need to get better about stretching, so I'll be taking a look at some of those physical routines. And I find it very cathartic to write things down but haven't been able to stick to a journaling habit, so I might try the approaches he suggests. I think this is a fun read that has some good ideas for starting small and developing new habits so that they stick and blossom into a ripple effect.

Easy and concrete suggestions for a book that does not require much to make great promises, but we must also admit that hope is the last to die.....

Facili e concreti suggerimenti per quello che é un libro che non pretende molto per fare grandi promesse, ma bisogna anche ammettere che la speranza é l'ultima a morire....

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Chatterjee offers really actionable steps you can take to address many of life's challenges.

Most personal growth books get bogged down in extraneous information, and bury the actual advice. Chatterjee transcends this and give you specific tools for specific challenges. He even provides step-by-step instructions on how to implement his suggestions

A strong recommend!

This is an absolutely fascinating book It’s full of easy to implement ideas and habits to feel better in three different five minute increments throughout the day. I’m excited to get started using my five minute segments to improve my health and happiness!

What an effective book with easy changes to improve mind, body and emotions.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, a pioneer in progressive medicine and star of BBC's Doctor in the House, offers a program based on the newest scientific research that makes lasting health achievable in just three 5-minute periods per day, five days a week.

Features 30+ health tips including:
. Yoga for agility
. Breathwork for calm
. Snacks for gut health
. Portable workout for strength

I can’t wait to try it!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 01 Sep 2020

Thanks to the author, BenBella Books and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#FeelBetterin5 #NetGalley