Loose Women: Dr Hilary discusses how to live longer

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Implementing various lifestyle practices into your routine, ranging from a healthy diet and social exercise, may indeed boost your longevity. But in case you want to check how long you’ll live and how well you’re ageing, then you might want to try Dr Mosley’s test that could reveal the answer from the comfort of your home. 

You might have read the doctor’s column from 2019 that looked at how standing on one leg can give you answers when you are wondering about how healthy you are.

“It sounds bizarre, but the length of time you are able to stand on one leg is a powerful predictor of how long you will live and how healthy you will be,” penned Dr Mosley.

But now, the doctor has revealed yet another simple test for longevity.

And what’s more, all you need for this test is a chair.

Dr Mosley explained how to do it: “For this test you have to sit in a chair without arms and see how many times you can go from sitting to standing in a minute.”

The test is as simple as that, which has been verified by research.

The doctor explained: “Researchers, who started their study in 1999, found that participants who managed to do it more than 36 times were twice as likely to still be alive 13 years later compared with those who could manage to do only 23.”

This research done by Medical Research Council looked at 2,760 men and women in their 50s.

Sitting and standing up from a chair wasn’t the only thing the team examined as tasks; standing on one leg with the eyes closed and measuring a person’s grip were also included in the research.

After doing the initial tests, the researchers revisited their participants 13 years later.

The evidence gathered showed that the performance in these simple tests were a predictor for the likelihood of dying from cancer or heart attacks.

These two risk conditions combined are responsible for more than 300,000 deaths in the UK, according to Cancer Research and British Heart Foundation.

The one task that came to the top of the researchers’ list was standing on one leg.

If you’re not familiar with this test, the doctor explained how to do it. He said: “Get a friend with a stopwatch. Put hands on hips, stand on one leg and close your eyes. 

“Stop timing as soon as you begin to lose balance. Take an average of three attempts.”

The research from 1999 found that those who stood for two seconds or less were three times more likely to die over the next 13 years, compared to those who stood for 10 seconds or more.

Dr Mosley added: “In your 40s you should do 13 seconds. In your 50s you’ll do well to get over eight seconds. 

“At 60-plus, you will probably manage about four seconds,” the doctor wrote for Daily Mail.

If you want to find out more about your health, you can also take an easy NHS test that can reveal how old your heart actually is.

The test will also suggest lifestyle changes you can pick up to improve your heart age.

 

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