5 Signs You’ll Live a Long Life After 70 (I Check Them on Myself)
The short version: Researchers have found five simple things that predict how long older adults live: how fast you walk, whether you can balance on one foot for 10 seconds, your grip strength, whether you can get up off the floor without your hands, and how connected you are to other people. You can check all five today, for free. I check them on myself.
I’m 71 and I plan to live to 200. People laugh when I say that, but I’m serious. So I keep an eye on the signs that researchers say can predict how long you’ll live. Here are the five I watch, what the studies found, and how I’m doing on each one.
1. How Fast Do You Walk?
Walking speed is one of the best predictors of how long older adults live. A pooled analysis of nine studies published in JAMA followed 34,485 people aged 65 and older for 6 to 21 years. The faster they walked, the longer they tended to live, and people who walked about 1 meter per second (a little over 2 miles per hour) or faster usually outlived what their age and sex would predict.
People who walk at a brisk pace tend to outlive people who shuffle. Here’s an easy check: can you cross the street before the light changes, without rushing? So when I walk, I walk with purpose.
2. Can You Stand on One Foot for 10 Seconds?
Stand on one foot for 10 seconds without holding on to anything. A study of 1,702 adults in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that about 54% of people aged 71 to 75 couldn’t do it. Over an average of 7 years of follow-up, the people who failed had an 84% higher risk of dying from any cause, even after adjusting for age, sex and existing health conditions.
I do 60 seconds on each foot every morning. I wrote about how I got there in The One-Legged Stand, and the rest of my balance work is in my balance routine for not falling over 70.
3. How Strong Is Your Grip?
This sounds like a small thing, but it isn’t. The PURE study in The Lancet measured the grip strength of 139,691 adults in 17 countries. Every 5 kg (about 11 pounds) drop in grip strength was linked to a 16% higher risk of dying from any cause.
Grip is an easy test of your overall strength. So carry your own groceries, hang from a bar, squeeze something.
4. Can You Get Up Off the Floor Without Your Hands?
Sit down on the floor and stand back up without using your hands. Researchers in Brazil scored 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80 on this “sitting-rising test” and reported in 2012 that people in the lowest scoring group had a 5 to 6 times higher risk of death than people in the highest group. Each point on the 10-point score was linked to a 21% lower risk.
If you can’t do it yet, practice next to a sturdy chair. I’ll be honest: I still have to touch the floor with one hand to get up. I’m working on it.
5. Do You Have Friends and a Reason to Get Up?
Loneliness is hard on your body. A review of 148 studies and more than 300,000 people in PLoS Medicine found that people with strong social relationships had about a 50% greater likelihood of survival than people with weak ones.
People with strong friendships and a reason to get up in the morning live longer. That’s one reason I make these videos. Call a friend today.
How Did You Do?
How many of these five did you pass? Tell me in the comments on the Short. These are all things you can improve, and none of them costs a dime. If you want to see everything I’m doing to try to live to 200, look at my protocols, my fitness routine and my test results.
Live long and prosper,
Gary
A note from Gary: I am not a doctor, and I am definitely not your doctor. I’m a 71-year-old running a public experiment on myself, and these tests are screening signs from research, not a diagnosis. Balance and floor tests carry a real risk of falling, so do them next to something sturdy, and talk to your physician before changing your exercise routine.
These are products I use on my push to 200. I only put something on this list after I’ve tested it on myself. The links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.
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