Have you ever checked the creases in your palm for a superstitious analysis of your life expectancy? Or perhaps a fortune teller has consulted a mystical crystal ball on your behalf for a prediction of your impending doom? As depressing as the subject may be, many of us nevertheless remain fascinated with the notion of attempting to guess how long we might have left.

While we certainly still enjoy the palm-reading and crystal ball effects, thankfully we have come up with some more useful predictors of good health and longevity.

An interesting study conducted in Brazil has spawned one such predictor, as cardiologists attempted not only to lecture others about the positive effects of improved fitness, balance and muscle strength, but to prove it with some hard figures, pardon the pun.

They conducted research on over 2,000 participants between the ages of 51 and 80,and developed a simple test not reliant on any equipment or other variables that could affect the accuracy of their results.

With such a test in hand, they could assess balance and strength in a large number of people and compare the results with mortality rates over a six-year period. They came up with some truly fascinating discoveries. Performance in the test showed significant correlations with the degree of risk of impending death.

People who scored in the medium range were twice as likely to die within the next six years from any cause as those who scored high. Most surprisingly, the people who scored very low on the test were as much as five times more likely to die in the next six years than the high achievers. The test they developed and used was the ‘sitting-rising test’. All you need to do is sit down on the floor and stand up again, with a few little rules of course. To try the test out for yourself, take your shoes off and find an area in the middle of the room away from anything you can hang onto or grab for support. You should also be wearing comfortable, loose-fitting clothes that do not interfere with your movement.

Cross your legs and simply lower yourself down, under control, into a seated cross-legged position on the floor. You should try to do this without touching the floor at any time. Keep your hands out by your sides or to the front for balance.

If you score poorly, there’s no need to panic. Perhaps it’s just time to adopt a more active lifestyle

You start with 10 points. For every time you touch the floor with your hands, forearms, knees or sides of your legs, you get a point deducted. If you touch your knees with your hands for support, you also get a point deducted, and if you lose balance, you get half a point deducted.

Now comes the harder part: you must stand back up again, with the same rules in effect. Keep score through the whole test, deducting points where necessary, and see how you measure up. If you ended up with a score of eight or more, congratulations; you are a high scorer. If you scored between four and seven, you are in the medium range and, according to the research, twice as likely to die within the next six years as those who scored eight or above. If you scored three or less, your risks increase to five times that of the high scorers.

The results of this study were published in the European Journal of Cardiology. It should be noted, however, that cardiologists in some countries do dispute the method, suggesting that the ability to sit down on the floor in such a fashion is easier for some cultures than others.

In the UK, where people rarely sit on the floor, the 30-second chair test is the preferred method for older people. The amount of repetitions performed sitting down and standing back up again off a chair are compared with a set of standards indicating a similar assessment of fitness and risk of disease. We do not, however, have the same data related to this test as we do for the sitting-rising test used in the Brazil study. Also, the height of chairs can vary slightly, so data might prove difficult to gather or be less reliable.

So, criticisms aside, how does the sitting-rising test ultimately affect us? Well, why not just give it a try? It won’t take you more than a few seconds. If you score poorly, there’s no need to panic. Perhaps it’s just time to adopt a more active lifestyle or start a basic exercise programme.

Increased strength, fitness and balance are benefits few would shun, whether you truly believe your life expectancy has been affected or not. Whichever way you look at it, medical conditions and diseases constitute a leading cause of death. We know this.

And the benefits of improved health and fitness in reducing these risks, likewise, are well-documented, so you really do have nothing to lose.

matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt