How Long Will You Live?

We are living longer.  Unfortunately, what can sadly be missing with this gift of longevity is a high quality of life.  The ability to fully enjoy our time walking this Earth.  Studies have unequivocally shown that a lower level of fitness is predictive of a higher risk for all cause mortality in middle aged people.  Fortunately, there are tests that can give us indicators as to whether our longevity will be a blessing or a curse.

Over the last number of years a few screening tests have been developed that give us an idea if we will age gracefully and be able to enjoy a high quality of life.

First, a disclosure.  As with any test there are limitations.  These are indicators only and not guarantees.  Injuries, disabilities and other factors can all influence performance on these.  If you do not score well on any of these tests do not automatically assume that you will not age well.  However, you may wish to work on your overall fitness and health to build as much of a base as you can.

Sitting Rising Test

The first test is called the sit to stand or sitting rising test.

This test was first published in 2012 in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention. Simply put it’s an assessment of your ability to sit down and then stand up unaided. You can view the test HERE

The reason the sit to stand test is predictive of quality of life and longevity is because to do it you need a high level of strength, flexibility and balance.  The authors state a high score can “reflect the capacity to successfully perform a wide range of activities of daily living, such as bending over to pick up a newspaper or a pair of glasses lying under the bed or table.”

It also “likely indicates a reduced risk of falls”.  As we know falls are a major risk as we age.

In brief, they found that over the study period 159 people died.  Of these deaths the majority were in people who scored low on the test.  Only two of the deaths were in people who scored 10/10 on the sitting rising test.  You can read the study here. Sit to Stand Test

Push-up Test

In 2019 a study called the “Association Between Push-up Exercise Capacity and Future Cardiovascular Events Among Active Adult Men”  was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

They looked at over 1000 men with an average age of 39.6 years.  They found that men who could “complete more than 40 push-ups were associated with a significantly lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease event risk compared with those completing fewer than 10 push-ups”  A 95% lower risk!

At Lifestyle Integration we have written about cardiovascular disease before and as a man over 50 we need to pay attention as it is the leading cause of death. If you want quality of life and longevity you need to pay attention to your heart health and if doing a few push-ups might make a difference I’m all in.

Walking Test

A third test that can help to predict our quality of life as we age in walking speed.

It was found that “of the 34,485 adults in the studies, people with average life expectancy walked at about 0.8 meter per second. For those with a gait speed of one meter per second or faster “survival was longer than expected by age and sex alone.”

Lifestyle Integration is all about your health, well-being and longevity.  We hope these simple little tests can start to give you a baseline or indicator of where your health might be.  Remember they are only indicators not guarantees.

For other tools and products that can help with your quality of life visit our website or click on the links to see more about things like fish oil, Vitamin D, near infrared saunas or Hair Mineral Analysis