The research followed adults between the ages of 46 and 75 and evaluated their performance on what is known as the sitting-rising test. Participants were scored on their ability to sit down on the floor and stand back up while using as little assistance as possible.
Over the following years, researchers tracked deaths from cardiovascular disease as well as deaths from all causes. The results were striking. Adults who achieved the highest scores were about six times less likely to die from heart disease and other cardiovascular conditions during the next 10 years, and four times less likely to die from any cause, compared with those who struggled most with the movement.
“If you are physically active, it’s good,” but “you have to be good in all the components” when it comes to longevity, he told AARP. “Sometimes people run a good marathon time, but they are unable to lace their shoes.”
‘Powerful predictor’
Medical professionals not involved in the research agree that the findings are compelling. Dr. Anje’le Zhantil Alston, an internal medicine and sports medicine physician at Southern California Permanente Medical Group, explained that she typically uses a sit-to-stand test in her own practice, measuring how many times a patient can rise from a chair in 30 seconds.
“It does seem to be actually a better predictor of longevity than just the sit-to-stand,” she told AARP. “If you can get off the floor, that’s more challenging. Now you’re testing more things. In an ideal world, we would be doing this on every patient at least once a year, to see where they’re at.”
Dr. Karl B. Fields, a sports medicine physician at Cone Health in Greensboro, North Carolina, praised the study’s design and conclusions. “It’s an impressive study. If you can do it, boy, it’s a powerful predictor,” he said.
How to perform the sit-stand test
If you are physically able and want to try the sitting-rising test yourself, here are the basic steps:
- Clear a space on a flat, non-slippery surface, placing an exercise maContinue reading…
