How Much Longer Can You Live?

Note: If you are looking for apocalyptic stuff please see my post from a couple of days ago and yesterday. They tell you what to do to take advantage of the alignment of the earth with the center of the galaxy tomorrow.

You can take a simple test to get a very good idea of how much longer you are likely to live. The test is used by doctors to try to convince their patients of their need to get in better shape.

I did rather poorly on the test. I believe I have already outlasted the estimate of how many years I have left according to the test. You don't have to give up just because the test says you are going to die in the next year or ten years.You can work at it and raise your score.

The test basically consists of you sitting down on the floor and then getting back up. You lose points for everything you do to give yourself help getting up besides simply standing up. Points go off for pulling up on a chair, table or wall. Points are off for each help from one hand or two hands or knee or knees, etc.

Being able to get up when you fall is part of what the test measures, but it also involves things like general fitness and balance, etc.

Any work you do to improve your general fitness will probably raise your score on the longevity test. This is something you can easily re-test yourself for as you improve your fitness level. That puts you squarely in charge of how long the rest of your life can be.

I particularly like yoga because a good yoga workout alternates between standing and seated or lying down positions. This will have a fairly rapid and direct effect on your longevity test results.

Here is a link to an article about the test for your longevity: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/13/15870881-can-you-do-this-simple-sitting-test-predicts-longevity?lite

It tells you how to score yourself and how many years usually go with different scores. The article says, "Ultimately the test gives a quick window into a patient’s ability to function from day to day."

"A person’s score matched well with risk of death. People who scored zero to three were 6.5 times as likely to die during the course of the study, compared to people who scored from 8 to 10. Those who had scores of 3.5 to 5.5 were 3.8 times as likely to die as the high scorers -- and those who scored 6 to 7.4 range were 1.8 times more likely to die than those with the highest scores."

"If you get ten points you have very good chances of living for the next six years if you are in the age group of 51 to 80."

Here is how you get the maximum ten points:  Sit down on the floor without touching your knees, legs, hands, or arms on the floor. If you can get back up without cheating either, you get another five points.

You lose a point for each body part that you lean on while getting down or up. 

Touch the floor with just one knee and you score four points. 

If you need to touch a hand and a knee on the floor when you get up, you lose two points for a score of three. 

If you wobble on the way down or up, you lose half a point.

If you are 51 to 80 years old and you want to live for the next six years you now have a very clear idea of what you need to work on. 

It is not much use preparing for emergencies if you are in such bad shape you will die before the emergency or during it. Your choices are very simple if you can't ace that test. You have a very high chance of dying in the next six years if you do nothing. The other choice is to work on your fitness so you pass that test.