Can You Stand Up Unassisted?
By admin
Happy Friday!
For a lot of you that means that the holiday weekend has begun. Kids are out of school and perhaps you’re out of work until Wednesday or later!?
If you were hit by the snow storm, I hope you’re staying worm. Living in Charleston, snow isn’t something we deal with often, thankfully.
I know some people love it, and while the idea of a white Christmas sounds beautiful, I simply don’t like snow. Crazy?
In college we were hit with an 18 inch snow storm, I remember looking out the window so excited to go play with my friends. From the window it looked inviting and gorgeous.
Snow at Winthrop Campus {source}
Once layered up and outside, I realized it was cold… wet… and not my cup of tea. So I said screw it, went inside, put on warm clothes and drank a cup of tea.
Just not my thing.
Do you like snow?
Anyways, I came across an interesting study yesterday and had to share!
Getting Up Without Help Is A Sign Of A Longer Life
A study done in Brazil by a Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo discovered that people who are unable to sit down on the floor and get up unassisted (without the use of hands, knees, etc) are more likely to live a shorter life than those that can get up effortlessly.
In fact, subjects that had a low score (meaning they had to use something to get up) had a 5-6 times higher risk of death than those that could get up.
What does this mean?
The researchers believe that this is a good indicator for overall functional fitness: a sign of whether you can perform daily activities efficiently such as bending over to pick something up, lifting groceries out of the car, getting something from under a table, etc.
Of course it only makes sense that the subjects that can’t do those things are going to have a harder time daily… which in turn could affect quality of life.
Image source
So here’s my challenge to you on this Friday:
Can you sit down on the floor and get up off the ground without using your hands, or flipping over to your knees?
Try it out!
One of the big reasons I felt the need to share this study was because I remember about a year ago my grandmother called me up all excited. She take a senior aerobics class at our church and at the last workout her instructor had everyone sit down on a bottom stair. They were then told to try and stand up with hands.
My grandmother (who is 80 years old, 79 at the time) was one of only 2 people in the class that could do it!
Pretty impressive Grandmama! 
She is so inspirational. I’ll have to write a post just about her one day. Have I ever mentioned that she walks/jogs 3+ miles every day!? Told you… inspirational.
-Who is your fitness inspiration?
-Can you do the sit down stand up test?
You can read the entire study here: Sit Stand Study
One last thing, I recently read about a great event in the making to help the families affected by Sandy Hook.
It’s a virtual and local 5K race. The details are still being worked on, but you can get them as they come at their facebook page: Sandy Hook 5K
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