Two simple at-home tests to predict your longevity

woman balancing on a slackline indoors with two men assisting — Photo: Kzenon / Shutterstock

Two simple moves you can do in your living room, a hand squeeze and a rise from a chair, may say more about how long you’ll live than your gym membership does.

Quick Take

A study of 5,472 women ages 63 to 99 found handgrip strength and chair-stand speed both linked to lower death risk over eight years.
The link held even after researchers adjusted for activity levels, sitting time, and overall health.
Women with the strongest grip had a 33% lower death rate than the weakest group.
Other research suggests gait speed and chair-stand time may predict mortality even more strongly than grip alone.

What The Study Actually Found

The research, published in JAMA Network Open, followed thousands of older women for eight years. Scientists tested two basic measures: how hard each woman could squeeze a hand-grip device, and how quickly she could stand up from a chair. Women who scored higher on both tests were significantly less likely to die during the study period, even after researchers controlled for age, health conditions, and lifestyle factors.

The size of the group matters here. With 5,472 women tracked over nearly a decade, this isn’t a small pilot project with shaky numbers. It’s a large, real-world sample that gives the findings real statistical weight. Researchers also adjusted for physical activity measured by accelerometers, not just self-reported exercise, which strengthens confidence in the result.

Why Grip Strength Keeps Showing Up In This Research

Grip strength isn’t a new discovery in longevity science. Decades of studies have linked it to survival odds across different countries and age groups. One large analysis found that every seven-kilogram increase in grip strength corresponded to a meaningful drop in mortality risk, regardless of a person’s baseline health. Researchers see grip strength as a window into whole-body muscle health, not just hand power.

The Washington Post reported that strength emerged as a unique factor in longer lifespans, cutting the risk of early death by a third or more, even after accounting for aerobic fitness and exercise habits. That’s a striking number. It suggests that being strong offers protection separate from simply being active or fit in a general sense, which challenges the assumption that cardio alone is the key to a long life.

The Chair-Stand Test May Matter Even More

Some researchers argue the chair-stand test deserves more attention than grip strength gets. One comparison study concluded that chair-stand performance is more strongly tied to mortality risk in older women than handgrip strength is. Another analysis found that quicker chair-stand times were linked to lower risk of both heart disease death and death from any cause. Legs, it turns out, may tell the story as clearly as hands do.

Harvard Health noted that participants in the JAMA study underwent both tests at the start, measuring how hard they could squeeze and how well they could rise from a seated position without using their arms. The combination of both tests appears to give a fuller picture than either measure alone, catching different types of muscle decline that happen as women age.

What This Means Beyond The Lab

Muscle loss accelerates with age, dropping roughly 2.5% to 3% per year in women once they hit their mid-70s. That decline isn’t just about vanity or mobility. It appears tied directly to survival. The National Institute on Aging has spent over 40 years studying strength training’s effects and found it helps older adults maintain muscle, improve mobility, and add healthy years to life.

None of this means strength training guarantees a longer life on its own. Researchers are careful to note that weaker grip or slower chair-stand times can also reflect underlying illness already present in the body. Still, the practical takeaway is simple and grounded in common sense: building and keeping muscle as you age is one of the few habits within your control that shows up again and again in the data on who lives longer.