What an inspiring book. I don’t jog or want to jog but it’s not really about that. I’ve always had great admiration for Bella and urge people to read this

This book was really interesting to read, showing the good, the bad, and the ugly. A powerful book. It also convinced me to get my trainers and go for a run, even just for three minutes.

As a runner, I really enjoyed the authors journey. I'm a firm believer that running has a massive impact on your mental health well-being. A really enjoyable read that will appeal to many people.

A great read - lots of interesting information and motivation to run as well. Would recommend to runners and those just starting out.

I really enjoyed this! I've found myself looking forward to my runs a lot more since finishing the book, and the line about never, ever feeling worse after going for a run has really stuck in my head. Bella is a great writer – I'm really looking forward to her new fiction after reading this.

It took me a while to Finally pick this one up but I. So glad I did. I wish I had listened to the audio as I think I’d really enjoy listening to Bella talk. She’s so funny and relatable and I didn’t feel preached at or get annoyed. Her experiences really motivated me and I love the way she talks about running!

The main problem with ‘Jog On’ is that it’s hugely repetitive. Mackie uses the same anecdotes in several chapters Whilst the focus on how running helps her to deal with her anxiety is interesting, she didn’t really have anything original or interesting to say about it. In fact, she references Murakami’s beautiful ode to running ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ in a way that doesn’t build on what he says. She seems to quote him because she likes what he’s saying (to be fair, this is not hard, his prose is gorgeous). However, you can’t just quote something and then go on to corroborate what’s being said without making your own point! She does this with a few other books so I ended up feeling quite annoyed. She’s definitely clever enough to make original points without going, ‘here’s what this person says, I agree, now here’s another time I had a panic attack’, which is pretty much the whole book,.

I admire Mackie's attempt to make running sound less daunting and the way that this book highlights anxiety and other mental health issues.

An inspirational mini-biography centered around how Bella developed a love of running which also functions as a coping mechanism for her anxiety disorder. The book provides deep insight into mental health issues, particularly anxiety and OCD, backed up by clinical studies and anecdotal evidence from Bella and her friends/contacts/colleagues with a touch of humour and a lot of heart.

This is a great book that I would recommend to runners and non-runners alike (if you manage to get hold of a copy!). As a side note the book is a beautiful blue glossy hardback which I love and am reluctant to move from my coffee table!

A well written memoir which clearly demonstrates how debilitating and life limiting mental ill health can be. The joys, benefits, highs and lows of exercise (running specifically in this book) are well depicted.

A much-needed, accessible, encouraging book about running! Packed with practical advice, Bella Mackie also offers a revealing look into mental health. Inspiring!

Ok, confession, I now have a major girl crush on Bella Mackie after reading her brilliantly honest debut Jog On. This is the book I need right now and forever.
From the outside it looked like Bella had it all, working and living in London, married, being a journalist. But things are never what they seem and actually for a very long time Bella had been struggling and hiding her debilitating anxiety, panic attacks, OCD. Things came to a head when only a few months into her marriage, her husband left her. Broken and on the verge of divorce, Bella needs an escape, something to occupy her over thinking mind. She starts jogging in the alleyway beside her house. And these are the first steps to running saving her life.
I have no doubt this book will change and improve so many lives, mine included. I suffer from depression. But I've also always been shy, nervous, introverted. Add to that social anxiety and anxiety in general and you get the picture.
It's full of brilliant advice, never patronising. So many moments I could relate to. She's never afraid to laugh at herself which makes you feel less alone and less afraid.
The biggest compliment I can give Bella and this book is that the day after I finished reading it, I went out for my first ever run. And I am looking forward to doing it more. Anything that can improve my mental health - I'll take!

Things I learned...
Puddle Of Mudd will never get old.
Doritos taste of sadness.
It's not about how far you run.
It's ok to say you take medication.
You can't fail at running.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This honest book tackles how exercise, specifically running assisted one persons mental health recovery. It is not a book about running, nor is it a book about metal health. More of a memoir with a little mental health WebMD thrown in. It’s interesting to read how others help their mental health through exercise and was an interesting read into someone else’s head.

I really enjoyed this book by Bella Mackie. She mixes memoir with pop psychology and praise of running, and manages to inject her own personality and humour into long pieces on anxiety that otherwise would have dragged. Sometimes I felt that she didn't achieve the balance between all these elements and occasionally I would get confused when she switched back to an episode in her own life after talking about an interview she did with someone about their experience with mental illness. However the book was well researched and thougjtful so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to someone who wanted to know more about anxiety

If you’re looking for a running book which focuses on training and times, this isn’t it. (There are many others which meet that need.) Jog On is instead a very honest and personal account by Bella Mackie of her struggles with mental health and how she found that running helped her - and many others - to cope better.

I’m lucky enough not to have experienced significant mental ill-health myself, but I do have a partner with a long and painful history of horrible, debilitating OCD, anxiety and depression, so I have some personal experience of these matters. (I appreciated the author’s ranting at the common misconception of OCD in particular, since this drives me up the wall as well. If anyone’s interested, a great book about OCD is The Man Who Couldn’t Stop by David Adam.)

I can definitely concur though that running has - among its many other benefits - helped me cope with stresses and difficult times.

Bella has written a very important, readable and insightful book which deserves a wide readership.

I am not enjoying this book. I thought it would be more about running and less about mental health. So far it's 90% mental health. Not for me - I don't think I'll be going back to it.

Although the link between exercise and good mental health has, for the most part, been widely accepted, for many people with depression and anxiety the thought of pulling on a pair of trainers and going for a run is something like hell.

That’s why it is great to read a book whose author acknowledges that yes, her first run, and her second, third and fourth WERE hell, but that there is a light at the end of the running tunnel if it’s something you would like to try. There are by no means any quick fixes in this book – reading it will not make anxiety and depression disappear into thin air, but it does show that the author was able to make genuine improvements in her mental health, starting from her being prostrate on the floor and unable to leave the house.

Jog on by Bella Mackie is just one woman’s story of how she began to take control of her own mental health, but there is a lot in it whatever position you’re coming from. Alongside her own experience, there is a lot of information and stats about the state of the UK’s mental health and – most importantly I think – loads of information on where you can go next after reading the book, in the form of phone numbers and online information services.

All through the book, it very much feels like you’re reading along with someone who knows what it’s like to have really poor mental health (I hesitate to say suffer from…) and can offer something more than solutions – she can offer companionship and a sense that whatever your mental state, you are not alone.

I was inspired several years ago to start the C25K programme, after reading Running Like a Girl by Alexandra Heminsley, but with one thing or another I let it drop and my fitness lagged once again. Reading Jog On has persuaded me to don the trainers again and get back out there, with the ultimate aim of completing the Race for Life but, whatever your goals for your own fitness or your mental health, this book is definitely a must-read.

I am not a natural runner. Too chubby, too self conscious, too unfit with bad knees. So I approached this book more for the 'anyone can run, just get up and try' viewpoint. What I found was a fascinating look at how exercise, particularly running, taps into basic instincts within us and can help us to find balance when we are feeling distinctly wobbly.

Informal in tone, irreverent and self deprecating in places, it is packed full of testimonials and resources to dip into as and when you need.

Not what I was expecting , but very enjoyable.

An interesting and in depth look at mental health and how it affects people in different ways.

A fascinating read.

This is an honest, open memoir about how running helped Ms Mackie deal with serious mental health issues. It is honest about the symptoms, consequences, and impact of severe anxiety as a disorder and it is honest about the fact that running is difficult to begin with. Getting shoes on and out the door for the first time as an unhealthy overweight woman is never easy but I am inspired to give it a go as I am in a much better place than the author was when she started! Ms Mackie had places she couldn't go because of her anxiety and eventually she manages to run there. She also runs with her highly competitive sister - and keeps up! I like that the author isn't competitive herself. She is running because she wants to run and have the meditative time to ponder her thoughts, not to get further/faster or improve her PB's. She is a true inspiration. The mental health aspects of the book are beautifully written and will be helpful to anyone with similar issues (wow I'm not alone aspect) or anyone who has family or close friends suffering from anxiety disorders (wow is that really what is in their heads, no wonder its debilitating). This is an excellent books and might just encourage some people to get their trainers on!

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

It’s wonderful when you read a book and know that someone “ gets you” . Bella began running after her short lived marriage broke down. A life long sufferer of agoraphobia and anxiety issues made most things a challenge let alone going out for an activity. I believe we all run for a reason and how and why we started can be anything from a nightmare to a comedy. (This book has lots of light moments in it to make you smile). Mental health is one of the big reasons for many. As Bella says “your body takes your mind along with it”. If you are not sure about this- try counting in sevens down from a hundred whilst running- harder than you might think- thinking you can do whilst you run- however your mind will literally have a mind of its own and take you to calmer places. There are lots of stats to tell us how good exercise is for us not just in body but in mind too. Bella takes us though some of them and they make for very interesting reading. I empathise. Having recently been diagnosed with complex-PTSD, running is my best and go-to therapy. I can think of bad things when running but before I know it I am thinking of a hundred good things as well. There is an excellent section on definitions of types of mental health issues to put things in perspective. For example OCD is not just liking your towels folded in a particular way. For anyone who thinks they have a little more than “ a little of the blues” and for any runner this is a very interesting read. A brave book and a brilliant one 5**
For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
or follow me on Twitter @nickijmurphy1
Amazon Top 1000 reviewer.
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