According to a recent study at the Medical Research council it does matter how you shake someone’s hand in order to predict how long they live. It was found that there is a link between the ability to carry out simple physical tasks and age of death.
People that are good at the following tasks will have a longer life expectancy:
1) gripping
2) walking
3) rising from a chair and
4) balancing on one leg
Some of the people in this study were followed for more than 43 years and in total tens of thousands of men and women took part in the study. Those that had a strong grip were likely to live longer that those with sloppy handshakes, even after age, sex and body size was taken into account. The results were the same for brisk walkers versus slow walkers.
Dr Rachel Cooper, of the Medical Research Council’s Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, says: “Simple non-invasive assessment measures like these, that are linked to current and future health, could help doctors identify those most vulnerable to poor health in later life and who may benefit from early intervention to keep them active for longer.”
