A simple, though not necessarily easy, test may help predict how many years a person has left, according to exercise researchers who have been tracking thousands of middle-aged and older people for more than a decade.
he sitting-to-rising test requires enough balance, muscle strength and flexibility to be able to sit down on the floor without using arms, hands or knees and then to stand up again just as unaided. The movement is a way to determine non-aerobic fitness, and it reveals potential problems that might be otherwise missed, according to the report published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology on Wednesday.
The team at the Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro recruited 4,282 adults, mostly men, ages 46 to 75. After evaluating the participants’ health, the researchers presented them with the test.
Using a zero to five point system, participants got a perfect score if they were able to go from standing upright to sitting on the floor without touching anything on the way down.
