“Medical studies on astronauts show that gravity-challenging, all-day movement is more essential to good health than traditional exercise”
Dr Joan Veernikos
Get up! You’re sitting too much!! Just kidding.
Ok, not really. We’ve been very serious for a number of years about the health implications of sitting too much and taking steps every day. So much so that we’ve written two books about it and, yes, we wear Apple watches that count our steps every day.
Why is this so important? Every step you take applies pressure to your feet. Reflexology is quality pressure for the feet. Walking is quantity pressure for the feet. Both are paths to health with benefits documented by research.
So interesting was the topic of pressure to the feet and sitting too much that Barbara spent four years researching it. Actually this lead to a side research project about the challenges of living in space, the role of a living environment without gravity and what reflexology could do to help.
In all those years Barbara had never encountered a newly discovered idea, “gravity deprivation,” as a reason why sitting too much is a health problem. Gravity therapy as presented by Dr. Joan Vernikos is countering the deprivation by, you guessed it, not sitting too much.
(You can imagine our interpretation: gravity deprivation = pressure to the feet deprivation.)
Dr. Vernikos is “a space pioneer researcher and former Head of NASA Life Sciences.” She notes: “My years of research and my background as a physiologist have led me to conclude that many of today’s health problems can be linked to gravity deprivation. Diseases such as Syndrome-X (Metabolic Syndrome), diabetes, balance problems and obesity might be significantly alleviated with a minimum daily dose of gravity. Think of it as gravity therapy.” Dr. Vernikos had thought a lot about the lack of gravity in space living during her 30 year career at NASA. She drew parallels to life on gravity rich Earth, sitting too much and health implications to write her book Sitting Kills.
“From the very moment we are born, gravity is guiding the development of every single cell in our being. Efficient upright posture in standing is our reference point for all other movement. Gravity allows our brains to build maps based on the position of our head in space so we may always control and predict the safety of our own movements and to know where we are in space.
“As gravity is a constant force our nervous systems have developed and are supported by what we may call ‘constant senses’. The constant sensory systems are muscle spindles and the vestibular system.”
(https://spaceref.com/press-release/nasa-space-expert-dr-joan-vernikos-launches-gravity-revolution/)
Why would this be? As noted by blogger AMN Academy:
“Say Hello to the Vestibular System, one of the three most influential neurological systems in the entire brain.
“A phylogenetically ancient system that can drive our parasympathetic state, it lowers our blood pressure, facilitates digestion, keeps us upright, reflexively fires our extensor muscles, and keeps us balanced.
“This part of our brain evolved from our aquatic ancestors, and from sea to land we have evolved in an environment governed by gravity which has resulted in the activity of constant vestibular signalling.…
“The less we move the less we interact with gravity. The advent of modern technology that saves us from washing clothes in the river, washing the dishes and home cooking, hugely reduce the frequency of posture altering, gravity relevant movements that generations before us practiced as standard. Dr Joan’s work showed that the best thing we can do to offset the modern lifestyle is moving from sitting to standing! The more often you alter your posture to that of standing, the greater the effect.”
(https://blog.amnacademy.com/2017/01/19/poop-puke-and-pass-out-a-guide-to-stimulating-the-vestibular-system/)
