Newest test of longevity: Getting up off the floor
A simple test that looks at how easy — or difficult — it is for you to sit down on the floor and then get back up may help predict how long you’re going to live, a new study shows.
Middle-aged and elderly people who needed to use both hands and knees to get up and down were almost seven times more likely to die within six years, compared to those who could spring up and down without support, Brazilian researchers reported Thursday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Doctors have long used the chair test — where a person stands up from a sitting position — to determine leg strength and lower body fitness of seniors. But the new test is more difficult and can be used with a younger group, said cardiologist Dr. Kathryn Berlacher, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
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I am almost 40 and can spring up from the floor while holding my 18 pound baby. Clearly I shall live to 140.
myrenovations on December 14, 2012 at 10:13 PM
Hmph. Well maybe I like it down here!
Texan on December 14, 2012 at 10:20 PM
I’m so screwed…
flipflop on December 14, 2012 at 10:27 PM
Duh. If your body has deteriorated that far, then you are probably closer to some sort of biological failure. You could also probably use a test of whether or not someone can get out of bed, or a dozen other things that measure the failure of the bodily systems.
GWB on December 14, 2012 at 10:44 PM
So if you can’t do that, it’s over in six years…so I have beaten the odds by about 2 years or more, and I still am nationally ranked as a tennis player…I can swim still pretty good, sub minute 100 yard, and can play tennis for more than a couple of hours…it’s the knees, forget how strong, if your knees are shot you are not going to “spring” up…
right2bright on December 14, 2012 at 11:28 PM
Went to the see some kids perform and there was a large crowd leaving some adults to sit on the floor on mats. ROFLMAO. Needless to say there was a lot of cracks showing.
Some people could not even figure out how to sit down on the floor. The kids were seated before the adults. Fun times.
Come on people. Move that thing or it will become your anchor.
Capitalist Hog on December 15, 2012 at 12:21 AM
The fact that I am going to live six more years is not very heartening, seeing as I’m only in my mid-fifties. Now, if I live 60 more years, that’s impressive.
Meryl Yourish on December 15, 2012 at 12:38 AM
The good news is that my wife and I (both 51) are both going to live at least six more years (noisy ones if the crackling body sounds of our efforts are any indication) … the bad news is, I just about blew out one of my knees.
/Whom can I sue?
ShainS on December 15, 2012 at 12:54 AM
With a bad hip and two bad knees, count me out!
Blake on December 15, 2012 at 4:48 AM
Let’ see: the first 4 of those years are under the current administration, and according to the pundits, the next four are the Years of the Hillarybeast.
I’m staying on the floor.
Kraken on December 15, 2012 at 7:42 AM
If the conclusions of the study as given here were valid, then the country has no problem with Social Security or Medicare. 90+% of those who are currently eligible will be gone in seven years, and it’s probably not much better for those who become eligible during that time frame.
Let’s all give a big sigh of relief.
And I’d say ROFLMAO, but I might never get up without a 0 score.
new2wnc on December 15, 2012 at 2:27 PM