Home Dee Dee Health Tip – Feb. 27 – Sit on the Floor, Now Get...

Health Tip – Feb. 27 – Sit on the Floor, Now Get Up

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How quickly and easily you can sit down on the floor and then get up may give you a hint about how long you’ll live. A study from Brazil looked at how adept some 2,002 men and women ages 51 to 80 were at performing these moves. We know that aerobic fitness correlates with a longer life span, but this study suggests that flexibility, muscle strength, balance and co-ordination are also important factors in determining longevity.

Study leader Claudio Gil Araújo, Ph.D., explained that “if a middle-aged or older man or woman can sit and rise from the floor using just one hand – or even better without the help of a hand – they are not only in the higher quartile of musculoskeletal fitness but their survival prognosis is probably better than that of those unable to do so.”

The study showed that each additional support needed to sit down on the floor and then get up – hand, forearm, knee, side of leg, or hand on the knee – was associated with a 21 percent lower chance of survival over the approximately six years of the study’s follow-up.

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