To predict how long you’ll live, you don’t need any fancy wearables or expensive blood tests. Instead, a new study suggests, just see how easily you can sit on the floor and stand back up without help.
This “sitting to rising” test is backed up by new research, which found that middle-aged adults who could sit down on the floor and stand back up with no or little assistance from their hands or knees and without wobbling were much less likely to die prematurely from natural or heart-related causes compared with people who struggled.
No Hands and No Knees Means a Perfect Score
To perform the test, researchers asked each participant to sit on the floor with their legs crossed in front of them and then get back up, using as little support as possible.
The researchers assigned each action (sitting and rising) a value of 5 points total, with points subtracted for each support used:
