Pull: How Gravity Shapes Your Body, Steadies the Mind, and Guides Our Health

Gravity doesn’t just pull apples from trees--it shapes our bodies, minds, and even our emotions. In PULL, Brennan Spiegel, M.D. reveals how this invisible force influences everything from digestion to depression--and how building gravity resilience can help us find balance, stand stronger, and live longer.

As long as life has existed on Earth--from the simplest organisms to Homo sapiens--gravity has inexorably shaped our world. Gravity dictated how we were built, the mechanisms that allow us to stand upright, to pump blood to our extremities, to support our capacious brains. But to what extent does gravity also shape our sensations, emotions, and overall well-being? And how can we take this force of nature into account for better health?

In PULL, Brennan Spiegel, M.D. presents a groundbreaking exploration of how gravity influences conditions of body and mind that have puzzled medical professionals for centuries. Starting with a simple observation at a family dinner and culminating in a new approach to gravity-based health and wellness, PULL is a captivating journey through the human body’s inner struggle to keep us upright and healthy.

Why do people with depression literally feel like they’re being dragged to the ground? Why do you get that butterfly feeling in your stomach when going down a roller coaster? Why do you get it when you are ＂falling＂ in love? What can we learn from astronauts with heartburn and swollen faces to inform our lives back on Earth? How do gut microbes help us fight gravity? And most importantly, how can we change our relationship with gravity for the better? To get there, Spiegel proposes the concept of ＂gravity resilience,＂ a fresh perspective on traditional interventions like weight loss, exercise, diet, and meditation. Rather than just lifestyle choices, these treatments share something profound and unexpected in common: they all enhance our resilience to gravity.

Rooted in hard science, buttressed by compelling storytelling, and punctuated with actionable strategies to boost your own gravity resilience, PULL is an eye-opening, life-changing book.

Brennan Spiegel, M.D., is director of Health Services Research for UCLA Medical Center/Cedars-Sinai and the George and Dorothy Gourrich Chair in Digital Health Ethics. He directs the Cedars-Sinai Center for Outcomes Research and Education, which investigates how digital health technologies, including wearable biosensors, smartphone apps, virtual reality headsets and social media can strengthen doctor-patient bonds and improve outcomes. He lives in Los Angeles.