Latest news with #longevity
CNN
9 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Focus more on strength and mobility and less on weight
Food & health Wellness Chronic diseasesFacebookTweetLink Follow Editor's note: Shift Your Mindset is an occasional series from CNN's Life, But Better team. We talk to experts about how to do things differently to live a better life. Anti-aging aspirations have turned longevity products and services into a wellness-industry gold mine. But who wants to add on years only to spend them struggling to move, dependent on others and unable to enjoy basic activities? What's the point of sticking around longer if you can't actually live life? Building and maintaining strength and mobility helps preserve the independence you need to age with dignity — and the actions you take now make all the difference. In their new book 'The Complete Bone and Joint Health Plan: Help Prevent and Treat Osteoporosis and Arthritis,' dietitian and personal trainer Sydney Nitzkorski and orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein share the strategic diet and exercise choices you can make now to help maintain your quality of life well into your later years. Nitzkorski is a sports dietitian at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York, and she runs a private fitness and nutrition practice. Wittstein is an associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. CNN: What's the biggest misconception about bone and joint health? Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein: Most people don't realize that bone mineral density (BMD) peaks at around age 30. After that, your goal is to maintain your BMD and try to slow down bone loss. For women, bone density decreases about 1% annually until menopause and then accelerates to 2% a year. Men experience a roughly 1% annual decline. The key is to build a strong foundation early and continue supporting your bone and joint health throughout your life. Another misconception is that cardiovascular exercise alone is enough to preserve mobility, but strength training and light impact exercises are critical, too. These activities can elevate the peak bone density of people in their teens and 20s, while people older than 30 need those same exercises to minimize loss. This is important considering that 1 in 4 adults will get osteoarthritis, and anyone older than age 50 has a heightened risk for both arthritis and osteoporosis, women in particular. A full 77% of postmenopausal women reported joint pain in a randomized study. Sydney Nitzkorski: As a dietitian, I find that people don't think enough about how much calcium they're taking in, and most people are not getting enough. Your body can't make the calcium it needs, not just for bones and teeth but also heart, muscle and nerve function. If you're not consuming enough, your body will raid the reserves in your skeleton to meet its requirements. This is why everybody, at every age, needs to get enough calcium. If you have kids, make sure they're consuming enough now, because this is when they're building bone mass. But sufficient calcium is still important even if you're 60 or beyond. Boosting your bone health is incredibly important at every age, and it's never too late to start taking proactive steps. CNN: Are calcium supplements necessary? Nitzkorski: Whole foods are the best sources for calcium, with supplementation as a secondary option. I recommend that people track their intake for a typical week and then adjust accordingly. Adults need 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily. Good sources include milk, fortified plant milks, broccoli and kale, as well as sardines and anchovies because you eat the bones. Wittstein: Plus bok choy, which I consider a superfood. It's the green vegetable with the highest bioavailability of calcium. The calcium your body gets from a food depends on two factors: the total calcium the food contains and the bioavailability of that calcium, or how well the body absorbs and uses the mineral. A cup of milk has 300 milligrams of calcium that is 30% bioavailable, while a cup of bok choy has 160 milligrams that is 55% bioavailable. Yet, each one provides the body with an equivalent amount of calcium: about 87.5 milligrams. Along with bok choy's excellent calcium bioavailability, it also provides fiber and vitamins A and C. I love to prepare this green vegetable superfood with garlic, ginger and olive oil, making it an excellent anti-inflammatory food for joints and overall health. CNN: Pressing question: Can we count the calcium from milk in coffee? Nitzkorski: Yes! In the book, Jocelyn and I share that we both nail our calcium targets by drinking a lot of milk with a little bit of coffee. It's true that consuming more than 300 milligrams per day of caffeine lowers your body's calcium absorption — but that's a high bar when you consider an 8-ounce cup of coffee contains around 100 milligrams and a double shot of espresso contains about 140 milligrams. Wittstein: Milk, whether it's from cows or a plant-based type that's been supplemented, is a good source of vitamin D, too. We know that consuming 2,000 IU of vitamin D a day can benefit bone health and may help decrease joint pain. When it comes to coffee, people are often glad to learn that it is rich in anti-inflammatory antioxidants. It contains the polyphenol quercetin, which may help alleviate pain and has anti-inflammatory properties. I like to add cinnamon to my coffee for added anti-inflammatory effect and glucose control. You can also add whey protein — which provides amino acids that your body uses to build muscle — and/or collagen supplements, which can improve both bone density and joint pain, depending on the type. CNN: What's the connection between inflammation and joint health? Wittstein: Inflammation can break down cartilage and contribute to joint pain. Chronic inflammation accelerates joint deterioration. Anti-inflammatory nutrition taken in through diet and supplements like omega-3 fatty acids and curcumin, for example, can help ease symptoms like pain and swelling. CNN: What does an anti-inflammatory diet look like? Nitzkorski: What I love about recommending anti-inflammatory foods is that they provide so many other benefits, too, such as decreasing heart attack risk, increasing longevity, improving digestion and giving you more energy. An anti-inflammatory diet is rich in lean proteins, which could be animal-based — such as non- or low-fat dairy, eggs, fish, chicken or turkey — or plant-based like beans, lentils and soy as well as pea proteins, which are found in a lot of protein powders. An anti-inflammatory diet also includes healthy fats, such as olive oil and foods containing omega-3 fatty acids like fish as well as walnuts and flax, chia and basil seeds. Alliums — including garlic, onion, leeks and shallots — are flavorful plants that have multiple anti-inflammatory properties. And there's a whole spectrum of spices including turmeric, cayenne, black pepper and ginger. Wittstein: Also important is dietary fiber from fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains that provides short-chain fatty acids, higher levels of which are associated with lower levels of inflammation. Fruits and vegetables also contain myriad anti-inflammatory phytochemicals — naturally occurring compounds that provide an array of health benefits. Avoiding or limiting inflammatory ingredients like processed meats, red meat, fried foods, saturated fats and processed carbohydrates is also important. CNN: What types of exercise promote bone and joint health? Wittstein: It's critical to incorporate resistance training and impact exercises. The goal is to work into your 150 minutes of weekly activity a combination of the following: three days of weight-bearing aerobic exercise, two days of resistance training, and two days of balance work and light-impact exercises. That might sound like a lot, but these don't have to be long, intense sessions, and several of these types of conditioning can be combined. Standing on one leg and doing an overhead press counts as resistance training as well as balance work, for example. There are multiple things we want you to do to stimulate your bones and your muscles in different ways, but some of these activities can count as two. Nitzkorski: You can also integrate little exercises into your daily life. Just as we lose muscle and bone mass with age, we also lose our ability to balance. Practice intentionally throwing yourself off balance a little bit so your body must work to find its equilibrium again. Stand on one foot while brushing your teeth. Instead of sitting while watching TV, stand on one leg. Pretend a paintbrush is strapped to your toe and try to write your name or the alphabet. Write A through M on your right leg, and then switch and do N through Z on your left. To work on muscular endurance, do little arm circles. These start out super easy, but if you do them for two or three minutes it becomes exhausting. CNN: What do you mean by light-impact exercises? Wittstein: These include small jumps, jumping jacks or jumping rope. Studies show that doing 10 to 50 jumps three times a week is enough to stimulate your bone density. I encourage people to weave them into their day. By doing a little bit of hopping while you're waiting for the bus, you're getting your heart rate up and getting in some light-impact conditioning. CNN: Do you recommend jumping if it causes knee pain? Nitzkorski: No, people should listen to their joint pain! If jumping hurts your knees, focus on other kinds of conditioning like shallow squats, for example. You can also spread out your jumps over the course of the day or a week so you are not doing too many in a row. Or you can modify jumping exercises by using the back of a chair, or something else, for balance. Wittstein: Or try modifications like pool jumping, which adds resistance and partly reduces impact. Water-based exercises are not as effective as land-based jumping exercises, but they are definitely beneficial for bone mineral density. Although the gains from some of these exercise-based interventions may seem small, they actually translate to big risk reductions. We know from studies of pharmaceutical interventions that a 2% increase in lumbar-spine-bone density reduces spine fracture risk by 28%. A 4% improvement in hip-bone density decreases hip fracture risk by 32%. So even small improvements matter significantly. CNN: Is it ever too late to start boosting your bone and joint health? Nitzkorski: Absolutely not. While it's ideal to start early, you can always benefit from improving your diet and exercise routine. Start small — even 10 minutes of activity is better than nothing. Over time, small dietary changes can become a habit that sticks. The goal is consistency and gradual improvement so you can enjoy the life you live for that much longer. Editor's note: Sign up for CNN's Fitness, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide will help you ease into a healthy routine, backed by experts. Jessica DuLong is a Brooklyn, New York-based journalist, book collaborator, writing coach and the author of 'Saved at the Seawall: Stories From the September 11 Boat Lift' and 'My River Chronicles: Rediscovering the Work That Built America.'
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists Say This 10-Second Test May Predict How Long You'll Live
Our society is obsessed with longevity. Our cultural focus on working out, eating whole foods, and managing stress isn't just about improving our health now, it's about increasing lifespan and improving quality of life for years to come. And while some people turn to psychics or mediums to ask, 'When will I die?' a new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests there may be a simple, science-backed test to gain insight—one you can try at home. The sitting-rising test is simple. To complete it, study participants sat on a non-slippery flat surface barefoot with clothes that didn't restrict their movements. A researcher told the participants, "Without worrying about the speed of movement, try to sit and then rise from the floor, using the minimum support that you believe is needed." Basically, people were expected to go from standing to sitting down with their legs crossed, and back up again, while using as little support as possible. For the study, researchers at the Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro enlisted 4,282 adults between the ages of 46 and 75. After evaluating participants' health markers, the researchers had them perform the sitting-rising test. Each person's performance was scored from zero to five for sitting and zero to five for rising (totaling up to 10), based on how easily and independently they could complete the participants could cross their legs while sitting, they couldn't use the sides of their feet, hands, forearms, knees, or the side of their leg for support as they lowered to the ground or stood up. Each time they did, one point was subtracted from their score. Participants also lost half a point for being wobbly. If the individual completely failed at sitting or rising from the floor without external help, they were given a 0. After 12 years, researchers followed up with participants and found that 665 had died. Death rates rose sharply among those with lower sitting-rising test (SRT) scores: just 3.7 percent of people who scored a perfect 10 died, compared to 42.1 percent of those who scored between 0 and 4. They also discovered that despite other health factors, low scorers had a 3.8 times higher risk of death from natural causes and were also six times more likely to die from heart-related issues. While the study doesn't directly prove that a perfect score guarantees longevity, the authors say that health professionals can use the SRT to tailor exercise plans and gain important insights into survival prospects for middle-aged and older adults, whether healthy or with medical conditions. Scientists Say This 10-Second Test May Predict How Long You'll Live first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 20, 2025
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
The 10-second fitness test you can do at home to predict your lifespan
If you can't stand up without needing help, you're more likely to die in the next 10 years, a study suggests. Researchers in Brazil gave over 4,000 adults a flexibility test to lower themselves on to the floor from a standing position and then get back up. They were asked to do so with as little assistance as possible, such as using their hands, furniture or other people around them for balance. Participants were then scored on a scale of zero to five for both sitting down and standing up, starting with five points and then losing one for each type of support needed. The team found people who needed no help to sit down or stand up were six times less likely to die of heart disease or other cardiac issues within the next decade than those who wobbled or had more trouble. And each one-point decline in score was associated with a one-third greater chance of dying of heart disease or other natural causes like cancer. The test may be a good approximation because muscle strength and flexibility are thought to lower blood pressure and resting heart rate and reduce full-body inflammation, which can lower the risk of heart disease. Researchers said while other studies have used balance and flexibility tests to measure longevity, the new study is the first to measure 'muscle strength/power, flexibility, balance and body composition' all at once. Claudio Gil Araujo, lead study author and research director at an exercise-medicine clinic in Rio de Janeiro, where the data was collected, told the Washington Post: 'What makes this test special is that it looks at all of them at once, which is why we think it can be such a strong predictor.' The researchers looked at 4,282 adults in Brazil ages 46 to 75, two thirds of whom were men. The average age was 59. After 12 years on average, 15.5 percent of participants died of natural causes. Of those, 35 percent died of cardiovascular disease, 28 percent of cancer and 11 percent of respiratory diseases like pneumonia. At the outset of the research, each participant was asked to sit down from a standing position and then get back up after. They started with five points for each test and lost one point for every level of support they needed. This could include using their knees, holding on to a chair or taking someone's hand. Participants also lost half a point every time they lost their balance or seemed unsteady. Researchers then combined each person's sitting and standing scores to get the final result, with a maximum of 10. People who scored zero to four points total had a six-fold increased chance of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who got a perfect 10. Half of those who scored a zero on the test to get up off the floor died during the follow-up period compared to four percent of those who got a perfect score, an 11-fold difference. Additionally, participants who scored between 4.5 and 7.5 were two to three times more likely to die in the next decade from heart disease or other natural causes. Each one-point score decrease was associated with a 31 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death and 31 percent greater chance of death in the next decade from other natural causes. The researchers also found after adjusting for factors like age, sex and body mass index (BMI), people with a history of coronary artery disease were three times more likely to die from natural causes compared to healthy participants. There were several limitations to the study, however, including all of the participants being from a private clinic in Brazil, leading to a less diverse sample size. There was also no data on smoking status, a leading cause of death from heart disease and lung cancer. To try the test for yourself, Dr Araujo suggests finding a partner to score you and steady you if you start to fall. People with joint issues should avoid trying it due to the risk of unnecessary injury. Clear space around you but ensure there is a wall, chair or other support object nearby. Remove your shoes and socks and consider putting a pad down on bare floors. Stand with your feet slightly apart and cross one foot in front of the other. Lower yourself until you are sitting on the ground and then stand back up, trying not to use support. While there was a correlation between the scores and mortality, it is important to visit a doctor to get a full picture of health, as well as risk factors for different diseases.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
This simple fitness test might predict how long you'll live
A simple test of your balance, strength and flexibility, known as the sitting-rising test, could be an early indicator of how long you'll live, according to a large-scale new study of mobility and mortality. The study, published Wednesday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, looked at how well 4,282 men and women aged between 46 and 75 could lower themselves from a standing position to the floor and then stand back up again with as little assistance as possible from their hands, knees, furniture or human helpers. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. The test assesses 'all the aspects of fitness that are not aerobic,' said Claudio Gil Araújo, the study's lead author and research director at an exercise-medicine clinic in Rio de Janeiro, where the data were collected. Those aspects include muscular health, balance, flexibility and body composition, he said, each of which is important for longevity and health. In the study, middle-aged and older people who needed no support to sit or stand were about six times less likely to die of heart disease and other cardiovascular conditions during the next decade or so than people who wobbled and had great difficulty completing the task. They also were less likely to die of other natural causes, including cancer. There are many tests of balance or strength or flexibility, Araújo said. 'But what makes this test special is that it looks at all of them at once, which is why we think it can be such a strong predictor' of longevity, he said. - - - Want to try the sitting-rising test yourself? First find a partner. 'Don't do this test on your own,' Araújo said. Your partner will watch you, score your test and, most important, steady you if you start to topple. (If you have disabilities or serious joint problems, such as hip, spine or knee arthritis, you probably shouldn't do the test, Araújo said, since it could cause unnecessary pain or injury.) Next: -Clear a level space so you have room to maneuver but also, if needed, still have a wall, chair or other support nearby. -If the floor is bare, put down a pad in case you land with a thump while sitting. -Remove your shoes and socks. -Stand with your feet slightly apart, then cross one foot in front of the other. Hold your arms however you'd like. -Lower yourself until you're seated on the ground. Try not to wobble or use any support to get yourself settled, such as a hand, forearm or any part of your legs. -From this seated position, stand back up, trying to remain steady and not rely on any support, including using your hands. To score your test, start with 10 points. Your partner then subtracts one point every time you use a hand or any other support to help you lower down or rise up and half a point every time you noticeably wobble. - - - In the new study, men and women who scored between 0 and 4 were far more likely to die of cardiovascular problems and other natural causes during about a 12-year-long follow-up period than those scoring a perfect 10. (The scientists screened out deaths from suicides or accidents, such as car crashes, that wouldn't be considered natural causes.) Men and women scoring between 4.5 and 7.5 had about a threefold heightened risk of dying during the follow-up period, compared to those who scored a 10. A relatively low score, below about a 7.5 for healthy middle-aged and older people, 'should be a cause for some concern,' Araújo said. He's 69 and recently scored an 8.5, he said. (No one in the study group was older than 75, so it's not clear if the findings apply to anyone 76 or older.) These new results update a 2014 study from Araújo's group that likewise showed an association between how people scored and their longevity. A score between 8 and 10 'indicated a particularly low risk of death' in subsequent years, Araújo and his co-authors wrote. That study involved about 2,000 men and women and a follow-up period of about six years. The new study doubled both the participants and follow-up time, making the updated results 'that much stronger,' Araújo said. - - - The sitting-rising test is not a foolproof indicator of our health or longevity, though. It incorporates so many aspects of fitness, for one thing, it's hard to know which are weakest if our scores are low, said Avril Mansfield, a professor of physical therapy at the University of Toronto, who studies mobility and balance. She wasn't involved with the new study. Is the problem mostly our flexibility, strength, range of motion, balance or some combination of several of those? 'Working with a professional like a physiotherapist or a clinical exercise specialist could help you identify the specific physical limitations' that are impairing your score, she said, 'and design an exercise program to address those limitations.' This test also could be daunting or inappropriate for many people, said Lora Giangregorio, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada who studies falls and bone health and wasn't involved with the study. 'It requires people to get off of the floor in a prescribed way that requires very good joint mobility.' If you have joint pain or other disabilities or are older and feel infirm, other tests of mobility are likely to be safer and more reliable, she said. Try, for instance, the 30-second chair stand test, which is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess physical performance in older people, she said. Simply count how many times you can rise from and sit back onto a chair seat in 30 seconds, without using your hands. Men younger than 60 should manage, at minimum, 15 and women that age at least 13. Average scores decline by one or two per decade after that. The sitting-rising test and the new study also don't tell us why the test predicts mortality, although Araújo believes low scores indicate underlying disease and frailty. People who are inflexible also often have stiff arteries, he said, contributing to heart disease, while people with poor balance could be predisposed to serious falls, which can precipitate physical decline and death. Perhaps most important, though, a low score is a portent, but not a promise, he said. 'People ask me all the time, 'If my score is low, does that mean I'll be dead in five years?' I tell them, 'Of course not,'' Araújo said. But it can be a wake-up call, he added. 'It's telling you, maybe you need to make some changes.' 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The Sun
a day ago
- Health
- The Sun
The 30-second test that could reveal health ‘red flag' – and predict how long you'll live
A SIMPLE test that focuses on a person's balance, muscle strength and flexibility could predict how many years they have left. It can help determine non-aerobic fitness, say researchers, while revealing potential health problems that might otherwise be missed. 1 The sitting-to-rising test requires a person to be able to sit down on the floor without using their arms, hands or knees, and then to stand up again, also unaided. A team of researchers at the Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro looked at whether the test could indicate how long a person would live. They recruited 4,282 adults, mostly men, aged 46 to 75. After evaluating their health, they got them to carry out the test. Using a zero to five point system, participants were given a perfect score if they were able to go from standing to upright to sitting on the floor without touching anything on the way down. Each body part used to guide or help balance the person resulted in a subtraction of one point from their total. They lost half a point if they wobbled. When they stood back up again, points were again subtracted if any body parts touched anything. The participants were then followed up 12 years later. By then, there had been 665 deaths overall due to "natural causes", say the researchers. 10 second one leg stand test The vast majority of those with perfect scores were found to be still alive. A little more than nine in 10 of those who were still alive had lost two points, and just under half who scored between zero and four. Among participants who were initially diagnosed with heart disease, those with low scores on the test were more likely to have died by the 12-year mark. While aerobic fitness is important, muscle strength, healthy body mass index (BMI), balance and flexibility are also vital for healthy ageing, said Dr Claudio Gil Araújo, director of research and education at the clinic and the study's lead author. While the research doesn't directly link a perfect score to longevity, "it is quite reasonable to expect this," said Araújo. Keith Diaz, a professor of behavioural medicine at Columbia University Medical Centre, said the new test can be a conversation starter for doctors to get patients thinking about what it takes for healthy ageing. If someone scores poorly "you might be able to get them to start working on their flexibility and balance," said Diaz. "If the patient is struggling to get off the floor, it could be a red flag for their overall health." Other fitness tests for longevity include the balance test and the grip test. The balance test, also referred to as the ' flamingo test ', involves standing on one leg without any other support, with hands on the hips, and timing how long you can maintain that position. Studies have shown that individuals who cannot maintain this balance are at a higher risk of mortality within the next decade. The hand grip test measures the force of your hand's squeeze - in clinical settings, they usually use a device known as a hand dynamometer. Stronger grip strength is associated with better muscle mass, cardiovascular health, and reduced frailty, all of which contribute to a longer, healthier life. How to prolong life expectancy Diet Consume a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Limit processed foods, sugary drinks, and excessive amounts of saturated and unhealthy fats. Physical activity Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week, plus muscle-strengthening activities at least two days a week. Sleep Ensure you get seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night. Establish a regular sleep schedule and create a relaxing bedtime routine. Stress management Practice stress-reducing techniques like mindfulness, meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises. Find healthy ways to cope with stress rather than resorting to unhealthy habits like excessive drinking or overeating. Avoid smoking Smoking is a major risk factor for numerous diseases and significantly shortens lifespan. Quitting smoking, especially before the age of 40, can dramatically reduce the risk of premature death. Limit alcohol consumption If you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation. Excessive alcohol consumption can negatively impact your health and lifespan. Social connections Maintain strong social connections with family and friends. Positive social interactions can boost your overall well-being and potentially increase longevity. Regular medical checkups Schedule regular checkups with your doctor to monitor your health and detect any potential problems early on. Early detection and treatment of diseases can significantly improve your chances of living a longer, healthier life. Maintain a healthy weight Weight management is important for overall health and longevity. Aim to maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise. Engage in lifelong learning Stimulate your mind by engaging in activities that challenge your cognitive abilities. This can include learning new skills, reading, or participating in mentally stimulating activities.
