Any book that tells me I don’t need to exercise is my kind of book. This one tells me to just stand up every 30 minutes to stay youthful. I can do that while eating.
It is so refreshing to find an expert who espouses a simple lifestyle, that’s backed by scientific research, but without marketing and hype. She is not pushing any product or system.
Distinguished NASA scientist Dr Vernikos pioneered studies on the deleterious effects of weightlessness on the health of astronauts. She found that just 1-2 hours of uninterrupted sitting or lying down ages our bodies. This cannot be counteracted by daily vigorous exercise.
Vernikos discovered that gravity maintains our body’s mobility and enduring health. How? The body takes its cue from Earth’s gravitational force to direct the optimal operation of our systems like the nervous, vestibular, hydrostatic, metabolic, circulatory, muscular, skeletal, and neurological. Read page 64 for scientific jargon if you’re not convinced.
“How we use gravity determines our health and longevity. The benign neglect that comes with too much sitting has taken away our health, our ability to move about easily, and our ability to retain a youthful life.”
Previously, science had been unable to explain why weightlessness in space and inactivity lead to atrophy, health problems, disease, and earlier death. Vernikos pioneered the link between inactivity and accelerated aging.
Inactivity has become a global health problem because it leads to so many disorders and diseases like diabetes and heart disease that the World Health Organization prescribes at least 20 minutes of moderate aerobic activity. Or we can just keep moving against gravity.
“Changing posture, as in alternating standing up and sitting down, is the most efficient single signal to give our body in making friends with gravity.”
Since Vernikos’ breakthrough, many reputable studies have corroborated the lifelong benefits of moving often to avoid inactivity. Doctors have long observed that patients who are quickly mobilized heal faster. Insurance companies have pushed for increased patient activity to shorten hospital stays and decrease the chances of illness. Studies found that healthy elderly with moderate leisure activity showed longer telomeres, a biomarker of health and aging, than the athletic elderly who had shorter telomeres (shorter means older).
We all know we have to exercise to stay strong, but simply moving normally is sufficient. Remember our grannies who lived long? Sure they were thin, but they also moved a lot. Maybe that’s why they were thin. They didn’t sit still.
Vernikos synthesizes the latest findings in this concise book and even gives her sources and an index. She prompts us with simple lifestyle changes we can easily integrate into our daily life to increase our movement throughout the day. Now there’s really no excuse. Just stand up for your life.
Learn more at http://www.joanvernikos.com