Baby Boomers and seniors: wouldn’t it be great to brag about your age? I’m not talking about a number that relates to the year you were born, but one that predicts longevity–your fitness age.
Measuring Your Wellbeing
Researchers are constantly looking for ways to predict future health and mortality. One of the strongest predictors is cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), which is your body’s ability to transport oxygen to large muscles during sustained exercise. Aerobic exercise improves CRF by strengthening the heart in its ability to pump oxygen to working muscles, and improving the lungs’ capacity to inhale and distribute more oxygen.
Scientists measure CRF in the lab with a calculation of V02 max–a time consuming and costly measurement that’s not feasible for use with large numbers of people.
Discover Your True Age
Now a group of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has come up with a user-friendly solution–a simple, non-exercise test to predict CRF. They’ve collected data from thousands of adults and developed an online questionnaire that reliably predicts ones fitness age and longevity.
Using the fitness calculator takes just a few minutes and is as easy as logging onto their website and answering questions related to your:
• age
• height and weight
• waist circumference
• physical activity level
• heart rate
• a few other parameters
A Risk Factor You Can Control!
Because physical fitness is key to a longevity and good health, reserchers believe that by using the fitness age, they can identify individuals at increased risk for death from heart disease and all other causes.
Basically, with a lower fitness age, you have a better chance of living longer. And because this score reflects your fitness level, you control it. If your fitness age is too high, lower it with more physical activity!
What’s your fitness age? This Baby Boomer’s is 21 years less than her driver license would have you believe! Woo-hoo!!!
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