How easily can you sit and rise from the floor? THIS can decide your death risk

 The 'sitting-rising test' is a non-aerobic fitness assessment of the muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and body composition of an individual

The Week, June 23, 2025 : Are you able to sit and rise from the floor easily? or do you face difficulty in doing this simple test? 

While you figure it out, this 'sitting-rising test' could be a deciding factor in predicting the risk of death among middle-aged and older adults, as per a study. 

As per the researchers, this non-aerobic fitness assessment could add relevant clinical and predictive information to routine examinations of healthy and unhealthy individuals. 

Individuals who performed the test were graded from zero to five, one point was deducted from five for each time a support of hand or knee was used, and 0.5 for an unsteadiness in movements.

The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found a "continuous trend for higher mortality with low SRT (sitting-rising test) scores". As per the researchers, the death rates of those with the lowest scores were found to be 42 per cent, and those with the highest sitting-rising scores 3.7 per cent.

Further, comparing the two groups, it was observed the one with the lowest scores was analysed to be at an almost a 300 per cent higher chance of death due to natural causes and a 500 per cent higher chance of death due to cardiovascular reasons.

The 'sitting-rising test' is a non-aerobic fitness assessment of muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and body composition and in the last 25 years, the test has been applied in varied settings across diverse sections of society. It is possibly the simplest and most complete non-aerobic fitness tool to assess all of its components together, the authors added. 

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