Health · Similar reads
Books like The Relaxation Response
The best books like The Relaxation Response are Why We Sleep, The Body Keeps the Score, and Full Catastrophe Living. The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson is about stress reduction, meditation, mind-body medicine. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Why We Sleep
01
Matthew Walker · Science
Why We Sleep is Matthew Walker's attempt to do for sleep what no amount of public health messaging has managed: make people genuinely afraid of what they're losing.
A kindred health read.
Read the summary → - The Body Keeps the Score
02
Bessel van der Kolk · Psychology
The Body Keeps the Score is Bessel van der Kolk's account of four decades spent studying and treating trauma, from Vietnam veterans at the VA in the 1970s to survivors of childhood abuse, accidents, and domestic violence.
A kindred health read.
Read the summary → - Full Catastrophe Living
03
Jon Kabat-Zinn · Health
Full Catastrophe Living is Jon Kabat-Zinn's foundational text on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the eight-week clinical program he developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979.
Shares stress reduction and meditation with The Relaxation Response.
Read the summary →
- The Upside of Stress
04
Kelly McGonigal · Health
The Upside of Stress is Kelly McGonigal's evidence-based argument that the harm of stress is mediated less by stress itself than by the belief that stress is harmful.
A kindred health read.
Read the summary → - Mindfulness for Beginners
05
Jon Kabat-Zinn · Health
Mindfulness for Beginners is Jon Kabat-Zinn's entry-level introduction to mindfulness meditation.
Shares stress reduction and meditation with The Relaxation Response.
Read the summary → - The Diabetes Code
06
Jason Fung · Health
The Diabetes Code is Jason Fung's argument that type 2 diabetes is a dietary disease, not a genetic destiny, and that it is therefore reversible through the right interventions.
Both dig into chronic disease.
Read the summary → - The Good Gut
07
Justin Sonnenburg · Health
Justin Sonnenburg is a microbiologist at Stanford who studies the gut microbiome, and The Good Gut is his attempt to translate that research into something useful for non-scientists.
Both dig into chronic disease.
Read the summary → - The Microbiome Solution
08
Robynne Chutkan · Health
Robynne Chutkan is a gastroenterologist who founded the Digestive Center for Women in Washington DC, and The Microbiome Solution is a practitioner's-eye view of what she sees as a microbiome crisis in her patients.
Both dig into chronic disease.
Read the summary → - Ultraprevention
09
Mark Hyman · Health
Ultraprevention, written by Mark Hyman and Mark Liponis, is an early statement of the functional medicine approach to chronic disease.
Both dig into chronic disease.
Read the summary → - Wherever You Go, There You Are
10
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Jon Kabat-Zinn · Health
Wherever You Go, There You Are is Jon Kabat-Zinn's accessible introduction to mindfulness as a way of living rather than a formal therapeutic program.
Both dig into meditation.
Read the summary → - Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
11
Robert M. Sapolsky · Health
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers is Robert Sapolsky's definitive popular account of the biology of stress.
Both dig into chronic disease.
Read the summary → - 10% Happier
12
Dan Harris · Memoir
10% Happier is Dan Harris's account of discovering meditation after a panic attack live on Good Morning America in 2004 forced him to confront an anxiety problem he'd been managing with cocaine and a punishing work schedule.
Both dig into meditation.
Read the summary →
Books like The Relaxation Response: quick answers
What are the best books like The Relaxation Response?
The best books like The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson are Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal, Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Relaxation Response, such as stress reduction, meditation, mind-body medicine.
What should I read after The Relaxation Response?
A natural next read after The Relaxation Response is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. A kindred health read. Other strong choices are The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal.
What books are similar to The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson?
The Relaxation Response centers on stress reduction, meditation, mind-body medicine. Books with a similar feel include Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal, Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn, The Diabetes Code by Jason Fung — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
