The simple at home chair test that predicts your risk of dying in the next 7 years – the 4 key signs to know

IT may sound strange, but using a chair to do some simple tests at home could predict your risk of dying in the next seven years. What’s more, your performance on seven basic exercises could predict whether or not you’ll die early, a new study has suggested. Doing some simple exercises involving a chair could predict your risk of dying in the next seven years Credit: Getty Your performance on seven basic exercises, including the chair test, could predict whether or not you’ll die early Credit: Getty Writing in the JAMA Network Open journal, researchers in Taiwan wanted to explore whether there was an association between physical fitness and when older adults die (from 65 onwards). Among the seven exercises, they asked 13,423 participants to see how many times they could stand up and down on a chair in 30 seconds as well as how quickly they could stand up from a chair, walk 8ft, turn around and sit down again. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! These tests were done to measure muscle strength, while flexibility was measured by analysing how far people could reach behind their back and towards their toes while sitting down. The scientists found that people able to do the most chair stands in 30 seconds had a 45 per cent lower risk of death in the following seven years. But they noted that these benefits began to level off for men after sitting down and standing up around 15 times. For those who were quickest at getting up from a chair and walking 8ft, they had a 59 per cent lower risk of death in the same time period. Looking at the women’s results, the researchers found that their death risk began to rise when the test took longer than around seven to eight seconds. Of the more than 13,000 participants taking part in the study, the average age was 73 and almost two-thirds of the group were female. Most read in Health Combined with the chair tests, the seven exercises were split into four categories – cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, flexibility and balance and agility. Other exercises included counting the number of steps taken in two minutes, the number of bicep curls participants could do in 30 seconds, how well they could balance on one leg and a back scratch test. The researchers found that participants who performed well on all the tasks were around two-thirds more likely to live longer than those who performed less well. Those who were the best at standing on one leg had a 50 per cent lower risk of dying in the seven-year study period. Participants who were best at standing on one leg had a 50 per cent lower risk of dying in the seven-year study period Credit: Getty Four signs that could indicate a risk of dying earlier From the study, there were four main findings that indicated how likely people were to still be alive in the following seven years. These were: People who were quickest at getting up from a chair and walking 8ft had a 59 per cent lower risk of death Participants who were the best at standing on one leg had a 50 per cent lower risk of death Those who could do the most chair stands in 30 seconds had a 45 per cent lower risk of death And for women who took longer than around seven to eight seconds to get up from a chair and walk 8ft, their death risk began to rise. And those who performed the best at the two-minute step test had a 42 per cent lower risk. When scientists combined all seven fitness tests into one score, the fittest group had around a 61 per cent lower risk of death than the least-fit group in the next seven years. The study called for routine fitness check-ups to be incorporated into older people’s doctor’s appointments. It argued that testing people’s balance, for example, could indicate which older adults were particularly at risk of serious falls. Researchers also said that the balance issues could indicate early declines in neuromuscular control, which is the function between the brain and muscles. Comment now