This 33-feet easy test can predict how long you will live and give it doctors’ clues to your heart and brain health

Are you walking, but is it directly in the grave?

A growing research group suggests that everyday movement can reveal the speed of aging of the body and brain, and may even be able to predict the time you have left.

The good news: There is an easy test at home that can show how to stack. All you need is a stopwatch, a ribbon and a natural step.

Doctors are increasingly treating the speed of gait (the speed walking) as a key vital sign, similar to blood pressure, pulse and body temperature.

“It tells me the operation of the people, to what extent their muscles move and work together,” Dr. Sara Bonnes, medical director of the Healthy Longevity Clinic of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, told Business Insider.

“We can do complex tests to measure the physical fitness of the people, but this is a smaller and easier version that still tells me: Do you move well and approach you well for your age?” She added.

The speed of walking can help doctors evaluate functional independence or your ability to manage everyday tasks such as cooking, buying, bathing and driving. This becomes a crucial marker as you grow old.

It is also a powerful predictor of future health, from chronic disease to mortality.

“When the normal walking pace of a person decreases, he is often associated with underlying health falls,” Dr. Christina Dieli-Conwright told the BBC, Harvard Medical School Medical Professor.

Dirty walkers, for example, usually have a healthier heart. A study found that women from 50 to 79 years old who walked at a faster rate had a risk of 34% lower heart failure compared to slow strollers.

In major adults, slowest gait speeds have been linked to decreasing health, reduced mobility, a higher risk of falls and early death.

But you don’t have to be on top of the hill to get views of your gait speed.

Research shows that a slow passage in a half -life can also reveal the speed that is aged, both physically and mentally.

A 2019 study found that 45 -year -old children with a slow gait had weaker lungs, compromised immune systems and higher markers of aging, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, compared to their faster peers.

Slow also Walkers scored in IQ tests and fought more with memory, reasoning and processing tasks. Brain explorations confirmed that cognitive decrease was linked to real physical changes in the brain.

Another study linked the decrease in the speed of gait to an increase in the risk of developing dementia, compared to those who maintained their pace year after year.

“It does not matter why the hike has slowed. It almost always implies a decrease in global well -being,” said Dr. Amit Sachdev, medical director of the Michigan State University Neurology Department, at Women Health.

Walk like that

Do you want to see how it is measured? Here is the test.

1. Direct -you outside and find a flat stretch of land. Measure 5 meters of 16.5 feet, and after 10 meters) further.
2. Use the first 16.5 feet as a warm -up. When you reach the 33 -foot mark, start the stopwatch and walk at your normal pace.
3. Time the time it takes to walk the 33 full feet. Then divide 33 for the number of seconds it took. This is your speed of gait on feet per second.

The average march speeds vary by age and sex, with men generally overcoming women. Here is a quick snapshot to see how you stack:

• Ages from 20 to 29 years: Men – 4.46 feet/s | Women – 4.4 feet/s
• Ages of 30 to 39 years: men – 4.69 feet/s | Women – 4.4 feet/s
• 40-49 years: Men – 4.7 feet/s | Women – 4.6 feet/s
• Ages of 50 to 59 years: men – 4.7 feet/s | Women – 4.3 feet/s
• 60-29 years: Men-4.7 feet/s | Women – 4.1 feet/s
• Ages of 70 to 79 years: men – 4.16 feet/s | Women – 3.7 feet/s
• Ages of 80–89 years: Men – 3.2 feet/s | Women – 3.1 feet/s