How many happy new years do you have left? Try these basic strength and flexibility tests designed by doctors around the world to determine your expected life expectancy.
They evaluate indicators of poor health. While this won’t automatically extend your life expectancy, it will improve your chances – and improve your test results when combined with a healthy diet and monitoring your weight.
1. Get up from sitting on the floor – without help
Stand barefoot and then sit with your bottom on the floor. Try to get up from this position with minimal support. (Make sure someone is nearby in case you fall.) Ideally, you should be able to get up without the help of your hands or knees.
HOW IT WORKS: This test is based on a survey of more than 2,000 people over the age of 55 by Gama Filho University in Brazil. It showed that middle-aged people (50 years and older) and older people (75 years and older) should use both. As the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reported in 2012, those who did not need assistance when getting up and down on their hands and knees were almost seven times more likely to die within six years.
For a more detailed measurement, the researchers suggested starting with a score of five and deducting one point each time you use a hand or knee for support or propulsion while standing up. Each remaining point at the end of the test increases your chances of survival after six years by 20 percent.
The test evaluates our flexibility, balance and motor coordination, but it works crucially because it measures the strength of your body’s largest muscles in your core and thighs, the researchers said. Our muscle strength is strongly linked to longevity because we lose muscle mass as we age (known as sarcopenia).
Muscle mass not only makes us physically more robust, it also helps to regulate important body functions.
For example, muscle fibers regulate blood sugar levels by absorbing glucose from the blood, which is burned during exercise. Loss of muscle means this mechanism is largely lost, which in turn increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in older people, according to Diabetes UK.
It is the most famous longevity test and is now also considered a strong predictor of future brain health (file image)
After age 50, most people lose up to 1 percent of their muscle mass each year. By the age of 80, half of us may suffer from severe effects of sarcopenia.
2. SITTING AND STANDING FROM A CHAIR
Sit in an armless dining room chair with a straight back and arms crossed so that each hand holds the opposite shoulder. Place your feet flat on the floor, your back straight and your arms against your chest. Measure ten times how long it takes to stand up completely and sit back down in the chair.
HOW IT WORKS: A less strenuous sit-stand test than above that also measures major muscle strength and is often used by doctors to assess strength and general health. A healthy, fit man over 55 should be able to complete the test in less than 18 seconds; a healthy, fit woman of this age, 19 seconds. Men aged 35 to 55 should be able to hit 13 seconds; Women 15 seconds.
3. CHECK YOUR RUNNING SPEED
Walk in your normal style for six meters at your usual speed and measure the time it takes. Divide this sum by six to get your walking speed in meters per second.
HOW IT WORKS: A large American study found that people who naturally walk faster than average for their age have a longer life expectancy, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported in 2011.
If you are 60 years old or older, your average speed should be about 0.8 meters per second.
Walk in your normal style for six meters at your usual speed and measure the time required (file image).
If you walk faster than a meter per second, your life expectancy is likely to be significantly longer than average, said Stephanie Studenski, a professor of geriatrics at the University of Pittsburgh, who led the study.
Walking speeds of less than 0.6 meters per second may indicate an increased risk of early death as it “may be due to damaged body systems”. This test makes sense, she says, because “walking requires energy, movement control, and support—and places demands on multiple organ systems, including the heart, lungs, circulatory system, nervous system, and musculoskeletal system.”
In particular, brisk walking can indicate good heart health. A 2019 study of more than 50,000 people published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that faster than average walking was associated with a 53 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease in people over 60 compared to slow walkers.
4. How many push-ups can you do?
Perform a standard push-up – lie on your stomach, balancing on your hands, with your arms outstretched and legs in line with your back – then bend your elbows to lower your chest and push back up (this is one rep) .
HOW IT WORKS: According to a 2019 study of more than 1,500 middle-aged men, the more they did in a row, the lower their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Performing fewer than 10 push-ups indicates a higher-than-average risk of heart disease, reports JAMA Network Open.
Perform a standard push-up – lie on your stomach, balance on your hands, with your arms extended and legs in line with your back – then bend your elbows to lower your chest and press back up (file image).
And above the magic number ten, the cardiovascular risk decreases with each additional push-up. If you can do 40 or more in one session, your cardiovascular risk will be reduced by 97 percent.
These figures only apply to middle-aged men because the study conducted among firefighters did not include enough women to provide reliable statistics.
Push-up power is a good measure of your muscle strength. A separate study from the University of South Wales found that it stimulates the release of BDNF, a chemical that stimulates the growth of new brain cells and may help protect against dementia.
5. TEST YOUR GRIP STRENGTH
Ask a friend to judge whether your handshake is overwhelming, mediocre or weak.
You can also test your grip strength by hanging on to a pull-up bar as long as possible. For men, 60 seconds is a reasonable goal; for women 30 seconds.
According to a 2018 study in the BMJ, men who can hang for just 30 seconds and women just 15 seconds may have a higher risk of premature death.
HOW IT WORKS: Traditionally, GPs use the handshake test when greeting patients as a measure of their physical robustness.
Ask a friend to rate whether your handshake is overwhelming, average, or weak (file image)
Studies confirm that this is a reliable indicator. For example, a 2016 study of nearly 7,000 people at University College London found that those who had poorer grip strength at the start of the 17-year study had higher than average rates of premature death from all causes. And an analysis of previous research involving nearly 140,000 people found that poor grip strength is a more accurate predictor of premature death than high blood pressure, The Lancet reported in 2015.
In addition to being a reliable measure of overall muscle strength (and longevity), grip strength is also linked to brain performance. A 2021 University of Manchester study of almost half a million Britons found that healthy middle-aged people with strong hand grips perform better in memory, reasoning and acumen.
Those with greater grip strength also showed significantly fewer signs of age-related loss of white matter in their brains – the bundles of nerves that enable them to function efficiently – the journal Schizophrenia reported.
6. The time it takes to climb 60 steps
Find a staircase with 60 steps and measure how long it takes to climb it.
HOW IT WORKS: Research presented at the 2020 European Society of Cardiology conference found that in middle-aged people, walking 60 steps in less than a minute indicates good heart health and a lower risk of death in the coming decade.
The lead researcher Dr. Jesus Peteiro, a cardiologist at Coruna University Hospital in Spain, warned: “If it takes you more than a minute and a half to do this test, your health is not optimal” – and you need to exercise think. more.
The study found that people who took it that long had a 30 percent increased risk of death in the next decade.
7. Can you balance on one leg?
It is the most famous longevity test and is now also considered a strong predictor of future brain health.
Take off your shoes and socks and place the front of one foot on the back of the other lower leg. Keep your arms at your sides and your gaze straight ahead. Keep track of how long you can hold this (try three times and use your average time as the result).
HOW IT WORKS: People who can’t stand on one leg for 10 seconds in midlife have nearly twice the average risk of dying within the next 10 years, according to a global study of 1,702 people which was done last year.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine reported that those who performed the worst (an average of just two seconds or less) were three times more likely to die than normal over the next thirteen years than those who could stand for ten seconds or longer.
Last year, researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan reported that the better people perform on balance tests, the more robust their hippocampus.
This is an area of the brain associated with memory, but also plays a role in our balance, which is why it is such a useful test.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
