Flexibility and mobility exercises can significantly increase life expectancy in middle-aged people, a team of researchers has found.
- Yoga, Pilates, qigong, tai chi… Flexibility and mobility exercises can add a few years to our lives, even when we start doing them in our forties, according to a study.
- The researchers assessed the “body flexibility score” of some 3,000 volunteers aged at least 46 years old, and compared it to their health outcomes and mortality risk.
- It turned out that men and women with a low flexibility score had a 1.87 and 4.78 times higher risk of dying, respectively, than those with a high score.
Yoga, Pilates, qigong, tai chi… Flexibility and mobility exercises are often incorporated into athletes’ workout routines, but they can also be the key to longevity for ordinary people. According to a new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sportsgaining flexibility can in fact make us gain a few years of life, even when we start doing it from the age of forty.
A body flexibility score to assess flexibility
To reach this conclusion, scientists from different international research centers collected data from more than 3,000 people aged between 46 and 65, the majority of whom were men (66%). They were able to obtain a “body flexibility score”, called Flexindex, by analyzing the passive amplitude of twenty different movements (each with a score of 0 to 4) involving seven separate joints, which gave scores between 0 and 80.
Participants were followed for an average of 12.9 years. Of these, 302 people (9.6%), including 224 men and 78 women, died during the study period. However, the Flexindex score showed an inverse relationship with the risk of mortality: it was nearly 10% higher for survivors than for non-survivors. Note that Flexindex was 35% higher in women than in men.
More flexibility, less risk of mortality
After taking into account age, body mass index and health history, it appeared that men and women with a low Flexindex had a 1.87 and 4.78 times higher risk of dying, respectively, than those with a high flexibility score. “Having good endurance and strength, as well as having good balance, has already been associated with low mortality. We were able to show that reduced body flexibility is also linked to lower survival rates in middle-aged men and women.”emphasizes Claudio Gil S. Araújo, from the Clinimex center in Brazil, in a press release.
The study’s lead author adds that, “as flexibility tends to decrease with aging”it may be beneficial to pay more attention to mobility exercises as you age, but also to have your joint health assessed regularly by your doctor.
