Many of us worry about our health as we enter midlife and beyond. Little changes—a slowdown in our daily run, a wobble on the stairs, a task that slips our mind—can raise nagging questions.
Visiting the doctor regularly and undergoing recommended screenings are important ways to monitor your health. However, home tests can yield useful information to discuss with your doctor, according to physicians and researchers. They say simple exercises like standing on one leg, measuring the distance you can walk and standing up from sitting can all provide helpful data.
Doctors say it isn’t a bad idea to start thinking about tracking your performance on these tests when you’re in your 40s or 50s, the recommended starting ages for many professionally administered screenings for aging-linked diseases. Here are some exercises you can do at home that doctors suggest. None is a substitute for regular medical care and professional assessments, and you should talk with your doctor before doing them. Dr. Araújo was the lead author of a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which found that the ability of middle-aged and older adults to stand barefoot on one leg for 10 seconds was associated with higher rates of survival years later. Researchers used an adjusted model that accounted for factors including age, body-mass index and comorbidities. In this test, measure how far you can power walk (not run, not stroll) in six minutes. If you don’t get farther than 350 meters, or about 1,150 feet, that could indicate other health issues, according to physicians.
The exercise helps measure endurance and fitness, which can provide clues to your cardiovascular and lung health.
Try it at home while brushing your teeth, but make sure you have a nearby wall or person to hold on to if you start to wobble. Keep your arms and elbows extended naturally by your side, and place the front foot of the lifted leg on the back of your opposite calf. If you can’t maintain a static stance for 10 seconds, you should consider consulting a physical therapist or doctor about your fitness level. In some cases, they may recommend further neurological testing, says Dr. Araújo. The average person in their 60s should be able to complete this sequence in 11.4 seconds, a person in their 70s should be able to complete it in 12.6 seconds and a person in their 80s should be able to complete it in 14.8 seconds, says Natasha Bhuyan, a Phoenix-based primary-care physician and regional medical director at membership-based primary-care practice One Medical. The times come from an analysis of studies that have looked at the sit-to-stand test, she says.
Like the one-legged stance test, the sit-to-stand test measures balance, which is an important indicator of long-term health and a predictor of falls, says Dr. Bhuyan. The test also evaluates strength in the lower extremities. If you don’t perform well, talk with your primary-care doctor. The number of push-ups you can do may provide useful feedback about your musculoskeletal health. A 2019 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that among men with an average age of 40, participants able to complete fewer than 10 push-ups (without long pauses) were at a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease than those on the upper end of the spectrum of endurance, who could do more than 40.In this test, measure how far you can power walk (not run, not stroll) in six minutes. If you don’t get farther than 350 meters, or about 1,150 feet, that could indicate other health issues, according to physicians.
The exercise helps measure endurance and fitness, which can provide clues to your cardiovascular and lung health.
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