{"id":516773,"date":"2026-04-07T00:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/516773\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:42:20","slug":"6-easy-tests-to-tell-how-well-youre-ageing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/516773\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Easy Tests To Tell How Well You’re Ageing"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no way to predict exactly how long any of us will live<\/a> or precisely how well we\u2019re ageing<\/a>, but scientists have created a series of tests they think might give us a rough idea.<\/p>\n

It looks, for instance, like the condition of key muscles<\/a> might be linked to how we\u2019re ageing overall. Your balance<\/a> and even personality<\/a> seem to matter, too. <\/p>\n

Here are just a few of the science-backed challenges:<\/p>\n

1) The sit-to-stand test<\/p>\n

A recent study conducted<\/a> with women aged 63-99 looked at unassisted sit-to-stand chair raises (going from a seated position to standing without leaning on something, as quickly as possible). <\/p>\n

Scientists tracked participants\u2019 speed in seconds for five of these raises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it came to chair stands, moving from the slowest time to the fastest time in 6-second increments, researchers saw a 4% lower mortality rate,\u201d the University of Buffalo<\/a>, whose researchers were involved in the study, said.<\/p>\n

A separate 2012 study called <\/a>the sit-to-stand test a \u201csignificant predictor of mortality\u201d among 51-to-80-year-olds.<\/p>\n

2) The grip strength test <\/p>\n

The same study involving older women<\/a> found that for every seven extra kilograms of pressure participants could apply to a hand dynamometer in a grip test, they saw a 12% lower mortality risk on average.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far from the only paper to note such a link. <\/p>\n

Described by researchers as<\/a> an \u201cindispensable biomarker for older adults,\u201d weaker grip strength has been linked to<\/a> an increased likelihood of diabetes, fractures, cognitive decline, depression, and low quality of life.<\/p>\n

3) Standing on one leg, nicknamed the \u201cflamingo\u201d test<\/p>\n

The amount of time you can stand on one leg serves as a \u201cvalid measure of frailty, independence, and fall status and… a useful tool in identifying patients with peripheral neuropathy,\u201d researchers have previously said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Per the NHS, <\/a>you should aim to \u201cstand like a flamingo\u201d for:<\/p>\n

Even if that\u2019s a walk (or hop) in the park for you, the NHS added, you shouldn\u2019t stand on one leg for more than a minute.<\/p>\n

4) The gait speed test<\/p>\n

\u201cA slow walk is a problem sign decades before old age,\u201d Professor Terrie Moffit, senior author of a 2019 ageing study, told King\u2019s College London<\/a>. The trait was linked to<\/a> faster brain and bodily ageing among participants; their lungs, teeth, and immune systems also aged faster.<\/p>\n

A \u201cgait speed\u201d or \u201cfour metre\u201d test<\/a> can help you work out where you stack up. For a four metre test, you\u2019ll need a 10m path, with two metres for the person to speed up to their normal pace and two to decelerate; mark it out and get a timer.<\/p>\n

Once you pass the acceleration zone and enter the four metres in the centre, time your walk, ending once you enter the deceleration zone. Then, divide the number of seconds it took you to complete the course by the number of metres you walked.<\/p>\n

Less than 0.8m\/s is considered a low gait speed, according to the<\/a> Clinical Oncological Society of Australia.<\/p>\n

5) The NHS heart age test <\/p>\n

Yes, cholesterol figures and your blood pressure can say a lot about your heart health. But the NHS has created a questionnaire<\/a> to help you work out the approximate biological age of the organ, too (it\u2019s only suitable for people aged 30-95 without an existing heart condition).<\/p>\n

6) Check your instinctive response to questions like \u201cWhich country was the first to allow women to vote?\u201d or \u201cWhat does the word \u2018dinosaur\u2019 mean?\u201d <\/p>\n

Questions like these were among those asked in a study <\/a>looking at the link between ageing and curiosity.<\/p>\n

Participants were asked how curious they were to hear the answer to the questions; their general curiosity was also assessed.<\/p>\n

General curiosity among people who love things like reading broadly and exploring the world \u2013 far-reaching, or \u201ctrait,\u201d curiosity \u2013 \u201chas been shown to relate to better cognitive outcomes,\u201d study author Dr Mary Whatley shared<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But older people tended to have more \u201cstate curiosity,\u201d or temporary interest in a specific question or subject, with most people\u2019s trait curiosity declining over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no way to predict exactly how long any of us will live or precisely how well we\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5079,402,59,102,6958,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-516773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ageing","tag-evergreen","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-longevity","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}