Energize!: Go from Dragging Ass to Kicking It in 30 Days

by Michael Breus, Stacey Griffith

A renowned sleep expert and a SoulCycle founding instructor team up to present a revolutionary, science-based program to give you the energy you need to achieve your dreams.

Are you desperately seeking more energy? Dr. Breus and Stacey heard it every day from their clients, so they decided to do something about it: write a book and jumpstart a movement. In Energize! Dr. Breus and Stacey Griffith have teamed up to teach you how to get your groove back. Using the scientifically proven core principles of chronobiology and your biological body type (remember that from high school?), they offer an easy-to-understand, personalized program of small, daily movements, sleeping and fasting on schedule, and mood hacks that will give readers incredible energy, promote happiness, and fight off fatigue for good. Sounds too good to be true? Their program boils down to living the way nature and your DNA programmed you to live. But don’t worry, it's really simple—and super fun.
 
With fascinating science, quizzes so that readers can identify their chronotype (Lion, Wolf, Bear, or Dolphin) and their body type (Fast, Medium, or Slow Metabolism), and easily implemented advice, Energize! will have you feeling happier and more energetic in 30 days. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Personal Development, Audiobook

Audiobook

First published December 14, 2021

About the author

AKA: Dr. Michael Breus

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and ended up implementing a lot of it into my daily life. I love the premise -- that an expert on sleep and an expert on exercise teamed up to develop personalized plans for how to live based on your own natural sleep/energy patterns. They say that there are four main types of people: eagles (early birds), wolves (night owls), bears (average) and dolphins (insomniacs, those who get interrupted sleep or those who need little sleep). You have to tailor when you sleep and how you move to your type, and you can use exercise, foods, naps and other things to give yourself great energy all day.

One of the things I liked best was their set of 5 sets of exercises that are each 5 minutes (5 one minute exercises, that you do according to when you need to wake up, stretch, when you are most efficient at building muscles for your type, etc. These are something like stretch, shake, build, bounce and tone. In my case, I am a bear leaning towards wolf. I wake up tired and have my best energy in the early evening. Everybody starts the day with the stretch exercises in bed. In mid-morning, I do the shake exercises to loosen up stiff muscles and joints (side bends, squat thrusts, etc.). Mid-afternoon is when I am dragging the most and I do my bounce exercises then because they provide energy -- jumping jacks, skaters, skipping, etc. I do my build (strengthening, muscle building) exercises in the early evening when I have energy and the tone (gentle yoga to calm the mind and prepare for sleep) right before bed (as all types do). They are all designed to need no equipment and not get you sweaty, so you can do them at work, at school, at home, whatever and not need to change or go anywhere. You end up getting 25 minutes of built in exercise each day, which is a great start towards meeting your movement needs if you're out of the habit. They suggest that I do my own additional exercises in late afternoon or early evening because that's when I'll have the energy and willpower to do them. My friend Tiffany is an eagle who wakes up early full of energy, and it's recommended that she do her exercises early when she has all that energy. Her plan has her doing her bounce exercises in early evening when she is her sleepiest and needs a boost.

There's also lots of other advice on everything from foods to sleep, but I especially appreciated the moving aspect. I loved it all though, and kept sharing it with Tiffany as I was visiting her in Nebraska. She has adopted her routine and we had fun doing our mutual exercises together.

This is a great read and one that I really enjoyed. Highly recommended.

[Eglė · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise is interesting and I can see how it could benefit many people. I personally took note of a couple of changes I could make to live more in tune with my energy profile. The gripe I had was a lot of the advice just wouldn't work for an average person with a 9-5 and family responsibilities. Similarly, unless you're a health nut in LA then insisting that you have a nice dinner outing at 4pm because your feeding window should finish at 5pm may not win you many friends. Finally, this does not really work as an audiobook so if you were gonna read it, get a physical copy.

[Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook which is most of my reason for 2 stars. This book is not meant to be listened to. It is pretty dense and has a lot of information that (in my opinion) is better consumed by reading and writing along at the same time. Further, a lot of this information I already learned about in "Why We Sleep." All that to say, I think it's useful for anyone who hasn't read the sleep book and/or wants a very practical guide on getting better sleep. I even bought it as a Christmas gift for a relative (print copy) this year. One more thing, I couldn't get the energy quiz to work at the website they kept mentioning, so that was also a bummer and made a lot of the info kind of irrelevant.

[Carmen Shea Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wished you could be one of those people who wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning wide awake and ready to work out and start the day? Have you, like me, ever held to the belief that everyone should aspire to be like that and there's something inherently wrong with you if you're not?

Surprise--this book does NOT show you how to be one of those people. Why? Because, according to Dr. Michael Breus, otherwise known as the Sleep Doctor, people fall into one of four chronotypes: lions (early risers), wolves (night owls), bears (those who are in the middle) or dolphins (insomniacs).Our chronotype is genetic a gene called PER3), and although it can change as we get older and need less sleep, we can't force it to change on our own.

This book shows you how to find your chronotype (https://thesleepdoctor.com/sleep-quiz...) and your body type and then outlines the ideal schedule for you based on this info. It lays out the best time to eat, exercise, nap and go to bed and even suggests specific exercises to do at certain times of the day based on your type. The book also goes into detail about how our diet affects our sleep and energy levels, sleep medications and supplements and even advice on what to do when you're living with people who have different chronotypes, as well as how to adjust if you're ill or going through a stressful situation.

One area I was dissatisfied with was with the "ideal schedules." Many people simply cannot live by these prescriptions due to their work schedules (especially those who work erratic retail hours) or other extenuating circumstances. This subject, from what I remember, is not addressed at all. Over all, however, this book is a great guide chocked with useful information that can change your life for the better. No more guilt over not being "one of those people." If you are a lion, great, but being a bear (like me), a wolf (like Dr. Breus) or a dolphin has its perks, too. Whatever you are, this book shows you how to make it work for you, not against you!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this team effort from Dr. Breus and Stacey Griffith. As someone who had read the "Power of When" by Dr. Breus, I was very familiar with the chronotype model, and the addition of Stacey's expertise around body type really locked in where I was running into trouble despite following "healthy" plans. I also really enjoyed the look at each type of energy to further refine the sources of energy drain. I'd recommend the book to anyone looking for a fresh perspective, with the note that you'll still likely have to customize things base on what works for you.

[buyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read if you want to focus on your health in a different way

I would highly recommend this book to folks who are seriously thinking about improving their health and fitness. it was an eye opener as it talks about how you need to change your exercise, food based on who you are which they call body type which was an insight i did not know. i would highly recommend this book for people who want to lose weight. i am following the steps now given in this book and hope to gain from it.

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am very confused that this book is written by a doctor. The majority of it is just not evidence based, particularly the four sleep types. It makes no sense to conflate sleep type with such specific personality traits. The book is also extremely repetitive. I did like some bits and definitely got a few ideas but it was really about 20 pages worth of reasonably good content and most of the rest was just sort of ridiculous / overly simple and very very repetitive.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best health books I have read. To anyone looking start a new health journey or thinks their current health journey is lacking. I would start here. Great, taking baby steps or jump right in. Slip a little start up again. You deserve to give yourself at least thirty minutes a day. And it not all at once. You deserve to be a happy, healthier, more energized you.

[Jacqueline A Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Putting it all together

Identifying my chrono and metabolism type seems to address many of the problems I have had with obtaining and maintaining consistent good energy levels. I am looking forward to implementing the suggestions and having a consistent good energy level.

[DoDo · Rating 3 out of 5]

เอาจริงๆคิดว่าคนอ่านเล่มนี้อาจจะอยากรู้ประเภทตัวเอง บริหารพลังยังไงดี

แต่ถ้าอยากมีแรง แต่ขี้เกียจออกกำลังกาย ขอ shortcut หน่อย เล่มนี้ไม่ค่อยเหมาะ มีลงเวลาตื่น-หลับ ทำ if ออกกำลังเหมือนเทรนเนอร์มาก แบ่งเช้าสายบ่ายเย็น

หักไปดาวนึง หนังสือไม่เหมาะสำหรับคนรักกินและไม่ชอบออกกำลัง

[Dina Capone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I think this book is going to change my life. I learned so much!
Highly recommend for people struggling with weight and sleep issues.

[✿✿✿May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good practical tips!

[Jessica-sim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very practical book, you need to invest a bit of time into figuring out which chronotype you fit in. Then you only have about 40 pages left to deal with.

I put my “optimal” day schedule in my agenda and will stick to it to see if I’ll be nicely energetic by the end of January.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The information in this book is safe, conservative, interesting and an easy read. I started the protocols and it seems to be improving my energy even after a few days. No one book can cover anything, and there were questions I had or it would have been five stars. Really I'd say it was almost five but not quite. Since it's a program book I'll update this review after the month is up.

[Julia G · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read! Stacey Griffith is a motivating fitness instructor and health advocate. She practices what she preaches and this book is an example of her healthy lifestyle. Highly recommend this book!

[KLCreative · Rating 3 out of 5]

✅ got me thinking in a different way about my healthy habits
❌ a bit generalised and didn’t fit my current lifestyle with full time work and small kids