These simple tests reveal how well you're ageing

By Kimberly Gillan|


If you're in your 50s or 60s there are some important questions you ought to ask to make sure you're heading towards a sprightly old age.

1. Can you get up from a chair with no hands?

Being able to plant your feet on the ground and easily pop out of a chair is an important predictor for your future life quality.

"A lot of physios use a sit-to-stand test [with] hands across the chest to stand up," Wendi Carroll, over 50s exercise specialist behind Voome's 50 Fit and Firing program, tells Coach.

"If you can't do that, you're not going to be able to sit on a toilet and get off a toilet or get out of bed or into a car."

Carroll says leg strength in the quads and thighs is very important for this sort of mobility.

2. Can you stand on one leg?

You might think of tripping over as no big deal, but given people over 70 are three times more likely to die after a ground level fall than those under 70, it's clear having good balance as you enter old age is critical.

"Can you stand on one foot and hold the other foot off the ground for a count of 10 or longer without holding onto anything?" Carroll asks.

"If you can't do that, there's weakness in your legs and core control. You don't want to get to the point where you have a fall – you'd rather be stronger and not have the fall, or have the power to catch yourself before you fall."

3. Can you get up off the floor?

If there's one thing active grandparents need to be able to do, it's get down on the floor to role-play and muck around – and being able to do so will not only warm the cockles of your heart, but it will put you in good stead for health in your later years.

"Old people say to me, 'I can't get up off the floor!' because they have lost leg strength and agility," Carroll says.

"You need to keep practising getting on and off the floor. Watch how toddlers stand up and sit down with their legs apart, using their thighs. You've got to keep doing it so you won't be scared of doing it."

4. Can you climb a flight of stairs?

A good indicator of your cardiovascular fitness is whether you can climb a flight of stairs or walk around a block, which are two questions that are often asked in doctors' frailty predictor tests.

"Start by gradually increasing daily incidental physical activity, such as the distance you walk between shops and home, climbing a flight of stairs with fast, purposeful steps and standing to break up long sitting times," exercise physiologist Michael Inskip, who is researching exercise in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and dementia at the University of Sydney, tells Coach.


5. Have you gained a bit of weight?

As much as the health focus in younger years is usually around weight loss, as you get older, it's often protective to have a bit of extra cushioning. That's because if you experience a period of sickness, weight loss will often be accompanied by loss of muscle.

In fact, having a body mass index in the "overweight" category in older people has been associated with a longer life

"Frailty questionnaires ask simple questions, such as, 'Have you lost more than 5 percent of your weight unintentionally in the last six months?'" Inskip points out.

6. What do your medical tests say?

As much as we think of frailty as being a muscular thing, it is a complex condition that can also involve poor cognition, health and mental wellbeing. Inskip says many common chronic diseases significantly increase our risk of frailty.

"Large studies have correlated high cholesterol, blood pressure and obesity in mid-life to physical frailty in later life," he says.

7. Are you lifting weights?

While cardiovascular fitness is important as you age, Inskip says you can't underestimate the importance of doing regular strength training.

"Generally speaking, individuals should aim to reach a weekly total of 150 minutes of [at least] moderate intensity aerobic exercise each week and perform two to three moderate to high intensity strength training sessions," he explains.

"Strength training is important for preventing sarcopenia [muscle loss] and loss of physical function."

A good strength program will target thighs, buttocks, hips, calves, ankles and upper arms.

"These muscles are strongly associated with maintaining independence [because] when weak, they contribute to loss of balance and falls," Inskip explains.

"It is important to have adequate support and supervision while performing these tasks to ensure your safety and allow you to challenge yourself in order to improve your balance." 

8. Are you willing to make changes?

It's never too late to start setting yourself up for health in old age.

"Even nursing home residents in their 90s who have done no prior strength training can improve their strength by over 100 percent in three months with robust resistance training and additional calorie intake," Inskip points out.

"Keeping our health in our middle age strong and robust reduces the risk of experiencing a significant medical episode in later life, such as a heart attack, stroke, fall-related fracture or incident dementia."
