This is what your grip strength can tell you about your health: “We all need to engage in regular physical activity as we age”

An interesting recent study has shown that grip strength is a powerful but simple indicator of overall health and longevity. Rather than thousands on fancy imaging scans, a potentially even better method of assessing muscle strength is simply squeezing a tennis ball.

What grip strength can tell you about your longevity and health, and how to assess it

Research shows that grip strength is linked to various outcomes including metabolic health, frailty, cognitive decline, depression, and even living past the age of 100. One study even found that grip strength is a better predictor of premature death than blood pressure.

Associate professor of medicine at McMaster University in Canada Darryl Leong said that grip strength is a sum of nutrition, physical activity and if you have any illnesses or not.

“This is the reason it‘s associated with so many health outcomes,” Leong said.

When testing grip strength in clinical trials, scientists will typically use a hand dynamometer, which the patient would squeeze as hard as possible. Until those are made available to use at home, Joshua Davidson, a strength and conditioning researcher at the University of Derby who studies hand grip strength, says a simple test with a tennis ball or stress ball can be performed instead.

“All you need is any object that you can grasp and can be deformed without causing pain or discomfort,” said Davidson. “Simply squeeze it for as long as you can before your grip fatigues. Being able to maintain a maximal squeeze on something like a tennis ball for 15-30 seconds would be a good standard to strive for.”

One study which used a dynamometer found that scores below 25.5 kg for men and 18 kg for women suggested increased risk of sarcopenia - age-related muscle loss. A lower grip strength can indicate faster biological aging.

Grip strength can be improved at any age with resistance training, like wrist curls and bicep curls and general physical activity. Leong suggests a timed “get-up-and-go” test for older adults.

“Here, the individual records with a stopwatch, the time taken to rise from a chair, walk three meters, turn around and return to the seated position,” said Leong. “This is a test of lower limb strength and mobility and will help improve your total muscle strength.”

Regular tracking yours while performing simple, at-home exercises can help build and maintain strength and potentially boost your disease resistance and help you live longer.

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