Joan Vernikos - Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death -- and Exercise Alone Wont

Sitting Kills, Moving Heals

Copyright 2011 by Joan Vernikos. All rights reserved.

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Published by Quill Driver Books

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ISBN 978-1-610350-18-1

135798642

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

Information contained in this book is not to be construed as medical guidance. Before beginning any exercise program, consult your physician.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vernikos, Joan.

Sitting kills, moving heals : how everyday movement will prevent pain, illness, and early death-- and exercise alone wont /Joan Vernikos.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61035-018-1 (pbk.)

1. Exercise. 2. GravityPhysiological effect. I. Title.

RA781.V47 2011

613.71--dc23

2011035984

I could not have conceived, written, and gotten this book to this point without the invaluable support, encouragement, and integrity of my husband Geoffrey. My son Georges prodding kept me on track, as did endless encouragement from friends Molly Macauley, Dr. Bill Chadduck, and James Pagliasotti. Their suggestions got to the heart of what I was trying to say and were most useful in keeping me focused.

My thanks to my editor Elsa Peterson, who helped me let go of stylistic constraints of years of writing science papers. Her work and encouragement were invaluable. Thank you to Steve Mettee for sensing something worth telling and for the invaluable work, support, and enthusiasm of my publisher and editor Kent Sorsky.

My deepest gratitude and respect go to those remarkable men and women, including the magnificent John Glenn, who volunteered to be test subjects in space or in ground studies. They knew their contribution would help other astronauts remain fit and healthy on their way to Mars. Little did they imagine that their experience would help each one of us remain healthy here on Earth.

O ne day in 1997, former astronaut John Glenn walked into my office at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with a pile of notes. At that time, he was chair of the Senate Committee on Aging, and he found himself intrigued by the similarities between his personal experiences in space and my research observations at NASA on the effects of gravity on the human body. Amazingly, Senator Glenn wanted to return to spacebut he was eager that his experience should somehow yield practical scientific benefits. I was thrilled to help, and I began to make plans to carefully track his health during and after his flight.

In November 1998, a very fit 77-year-old Glenn made his long-awaited return voyage into space on the shuttle Discovery. He was no passenger. He went through the same grueling astronaut training his crewmates did, all while putting in a full schedule in the Senate. And, he carried out his fair share of experiments and assignments during the mission.

Most people are unaware that astronauts who spend much time in space always return home having suffered some degree of physical debilitation. This is because the lack of gravity in space wreaks havoc on the body. Upon Glenns return, and much to the surprise of most, we found that his bodys response to spending nine days in space was indistinguishable from that of his six much-younger crewmates! Had his results been different, his advanced age would naturally have been viewed as the culprit. However, the fact that his condition was the same as the others reinforced our growing belief at NASA that the determining factor in ones ability to withstand and respond to unusual challenges is not chronological agerather, the critical factor is how healthy and active a life one leads

Sadly, our modern sedentary lifestylewhich mimics the lack of gravity experienced by astronauts in spaceproduces a wide variety of spaceflight-like symptoms, and these problems are becoming apparent at an ever-younger age, and even in children. It wasnt too long ago that the United States government reported more healthy persons than unhealthy. However, recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate a stunning 61 percent of the American population is now unhealthy. There has been much debate about our healthcare system, but it is evident that no system can cover the costs of health care when almost every citizen is unhealthy, and at current rates that is where we are heading in the next ten or twenty years.

So let me tell you why I wrote this book. While the country was figuring out who pays for health care, here I was, sitting on a practical, inexpensive, scientifically-proven solution derived from research paid for by the taxpayer! Astronauts, chosen on the basis of being the healthiest and the fittestof possessing the right stuffare transformed by the lack of gravity in space into the likes of seniors thirty of forty years older. Yet, despite the debilitating effects of spaceflight, astronauts fully recover soon after they return to Earth. Why not use what we have learned about astronauts at NASA to benefit the rest of us?

It became my passion to share, in plain language that anyone could understand, the knowledge we acquired from our research at NASA. If astronauts could regain their good health after shaking off the ill effects of spaceflight, so could people suffering similar health problems due to their sedentary lifestyles. My challenge was to provide clear, practical guidance to show the public the value of making use of our old friend gravity, simply through doing everyday activities that were of a different nature than traditional vigorous exercise in the gym.

Perhaps its just the facts-loving scientist in me, but I have found people are more likely to persevere in a lifestyle change if they understand why what they do matters. I therefore parted ways with agents and publishers who advised me to just tell people what to do; I needed to explain the why of this exciting, life-changing research. This book does just that, in addition to providing an action plan that can give you a lifetime of physical health. Why wait to be sick before you decide to be well?

Heres to your continuing good health!

Joan Vernikos, Ph.D.

W hen you wake up in the morning, do you feel full of energy? Can you smile at the weather, your children dashing off to school, the dog begging to be taken for a walk? Is there a spring to your step as you look forward to your days work? If you answer yes, you are one of the lucky ones. But if youre like most people, you probably have the urge to just plop down in front of the computer or the TV, or maybe even slip into bed for another hour of sleep. The energy just isnt there. Youre sluggish. You sometimes wonder if theres something wrong with you? Maybe the doctor could run some tests or give you a pill to take the pain and sluggishness away. All you know is that youre tired of feeling like the weight of the world is resting on your shoulders and aching joints, slowing you down and turning your day into a grind.

Heres something that might surprise you: Did you know that what makes you feel so heavy, tired, and unfit is the same thing that makes the apple fall straight down off the tree? Gravity! You can let it pull you down, as so many of us living sedentary lives quite literally do. Or you can enlist it as a powerful and faithful ally in your efforts to be healthy and feel good. You can use gravity to achieve and sustain good health. Its your choice.