As we age, there are tasks we took for granted when we were younger that we suddenly find we cannot do with ease.
There are three tests which, it is said, will be a good measurement of whether you will live to a ripe old age. Whether that is true or not, they are good tests for your body and will guide you to keeping your body functional.
Middle age is the crucial time to test yourself. However, if you are failing these tests in your 30s, you seriously need to look at your health, exercise and functionality.
Test number one is standing on one leg with your eyes closed for 10 seconds or longer. This is all about balance.
As we grow older, less fit and our soft tissue and bones age, we lose our balance. One of the main functionality tests in an older group’s exercise class is to test balance and then restore it. The good news is that it’s restorable.
So if you fail the balance test, keep practising. Firstly with eyes open to gain confidence on one leg, then with them closed for a longer time. One tip: you will always have better balance on one leg than the other, so allow for the fact that one side of your body will require more work.
The second test is having a strong grip. Once again, this is something we don’t notice until we lose it. You will notice it when you are trying to open the screw top of a jar and the strength you once had just isn’t there.
This, too, is retrievable with functional exercise and grip exercise. Use a stress ball (a soft ball the size of a golf ball), squeeze it regularly throughout the day.
There are also special exercise items you can buy to really develop your grip, including the one used by sports therapists and practitioners to actually measure your grip.
They can be purchased on the internet by googling handgrip dynamometer – there is a huge range of information.
Maintaining decent handgrip strength levels can enable elderly people to more readily complete daily living tasks and may help them stay alive longer.
A 2007 study published in The American Journal of Medicine concluded that lower handgrip strength readings are a reliable predictr of an increased mortality rate.
Testing your handgrip strength can help monitor this decline and give an indication of risk. The equipment required is a hand dynamometer.
Its curved handle mimics the pattern of your hand when making a fist and is pliable and receptive to pressure against it. Attached to the hand grip is a monitor that shows the strength of the squeeze in kilograms.
More advanced models may have a digital readout. The actual test procedure includes performing a series of squeezes on the dynamometer with at least 30 seconds of rest between each to allow for optimal recovery.
Perform the test from a standing position with your elbow bent at 90 degrees to the side of, but not against, your body. Grab the dynamometer with a neutral grip, with your thumb pointing up.
Take a deep breath. As you breathe out, squeeze the dynamometer as hard as you can for around 10 to 15 seconds. Record the highest value reached. Perform at least three trials for each hand. The highest value obtained for each hand is your score.
The last of the three tests is being able to stand up and sit down in a chair a set number of times in a minute. This will show the strength in your legs and core.
Your core strength also diminishes with age, with lack of exercise and being ill, thereby losing functionality. To many, sitting up and down in a chair may sound simple.
Start with a dining chair, which should be easier. Then try an armchair, which is lower, meaning you’re using more leg strength and the temptation will be to use your arms to push yourself up.
Practise this until you are completing it using only your legs. Once again, this is a functional exercise.
Performing well in all three tests at the age of 53 should mean you will be vibrant and healthy 13 years later, when you are 66. Researchers from University College London believe that a 53-year-old who can successfully complete these tests is up to five times more likely to be alive and well at 66 than someone who did poorly, or who couldn’t complete them.
The researchers tested 1,355 men and 1,411 women in 1999 (at 53). They checked again 13 years later in 2012. There were far higher death rates in those who couldn’t complete the tests or who failed to complete them.
Officially, the tests are called: the chair test (39 times for a man, 36 for woman in a minute); the balance test; and the grip test, with a pressure of up to 54.5kg (BMJ, 2014).
kathryn@maltanet.net