On May 20th the Culpeper County Parks and Recreation’s Silver Citizens Club was elated to host local author Joan Vernikos, PhD, a former Director of NASA's Life Sciences Division. She spoke the group about ways to cope with stress later in life.
Vernikos was promoting her newest book, Stress Fitness for Seniors that was published in 2009. Senior citizens from the group listened to a brief talk by Vernikos then they had the opportunity to ask questions and even get a signed copy of her newest book.
As an expert on stress management and effective coping skills, she advocates stress fitness as the foundation of good health. She speaks on this and related topics for optimizing health and wellness.
“My seniors group was highly impressed with Vernikos and benefited from her vast knowledge and candor about stress management,” said Marshall Conner, Recreation Coordinator for the Silver Club. “She has a nice blend of humor and thoughtfulness that my group could relate to. They also enjoyed her prop, an Easy Button.”
Over the course of her life she has been an author, speaker, consultant, entrepreneur, mentor, publisher and coach. Vernikos is also a member of the Space Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences.
Active in the international space policy arena she serves as space correspondent for Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy and consults for the European Space Agency.
Vernikos’ involvement in conducting gravity-related pioneering research both in the microgravity of spaceflight and in ground-based simulations has been well documented.
She holds several patents on technologies important to gravity's role in good health
Her book, The G-Connection: Harness Gravity and Reverse Aging, applies lessons learned from U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts living in space without gravity's influence, to healthy living on Earth. The book, due to its broad international interest, is published in Greek and Japanese. A Portuguese version is due out in Brazil in October 2009.
She has written articles on this and other topics, several of which are available online.
Vernikos is a sought-after speaker and consultant and she has developed simple methods to counter the consequences of our increasingly sedentary life style that now also impacts the health of our children.
Joan is a great role model for the benefits of active living and brings both passion and humor to all her endeavors.
Vernikos’ biographical information came from her website www.joanvernikos.com, it also has helpful articles and interviews.
Joan Vernikos and Marshall Conner of the Parks and Recreation Deparment pose for a photo at the Silver Citizen's Club meeting.