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Health expert says two simple tests can indicate if you ‘will die earlier’ Credits: Social Media
By Danny Munro

Health expert says two simple tests can indicate if you ‘will die earlier’

By Danny Munro

There are two tests one can take to determine the chances of early mortality, according to an outspoken holistic health industry veteran.

The thought of passing on prematurely is something that, understandably, keeps many of us awake at night. And while death is essentially impossible to predict, one health professional has offered his two cents on how best you can monitor your health condition, to be informed of whether you need to make changes to your lifestyle. Ed Jones is the owner of the popular holistic health site Nutrition World, a haven of home remedies, nutritional supplements and botanical medicines – which he has helped to run for over 40 years. Though Jones is not a professional doctor, he is a qualified nutritionist – and in a recent podcast appearance, he offered up two tests that he claims will help to highlight if you are at risk of dying early.

Test no.1 – VO2 Max

The first test one should take to indicate one’s health status is a VO2 Max test, according to Jones. For those unaware, a VO2 Max test is a measurement of fitness and cardiovascular capacity – designed to highlight the maximum amount of oxygen somebody can consume while exercising.

In order to uncover VO2 levels – a subject will exercise to the point of exhaustion, typically through running on a treadmill, while wearing a face mask that will monitor the levels of air inhaled and exhaled.

Though Jones doesn’t elaborate on how VO2 Max testing can indicate life expectancy, these types of tests are said to be effective at accurately indicating the subject’s lung capacity and general levels of cardiovascular fitness.

Test no.2 – Grip strength

The second test, which Jones was keen to delve into more comprehensively, is the so-called ‘Grip strength’ examination.

According to Jones, every single healthy individual should be able to grip a barbell weighing 3/4 of their body weight, in one hand, for one minute.

This means if an individual weighs 180 pounds, they should be able to grip on to 135 pounds for a minute, or a 200-pound individual would carry 150 pounds – and so on, and so forth.

Heavy weight exercise.
Image via gilaxia, Getty Images.

The supposed benefit of such an exercise, according to Jones, is that it is “the marker for how everything in your body will weaken.”

“If you can do this,” Jones continued, “everything else is stronger. The stronger, more resilient body ages slower, and has less disease.”

According to the official governing body of Weightlifting in the USA, incorporating regular weight lifting into your workout routine can improve your bone density and is known to increase people’s metabolism and promote fat loss.

Just how easy it is to try out Jones’s grip strength test is another question, however, given that most barbells weigh less than 2/3 of a person.

Thus, it is hard to say for certain just how accurate the claim that this can indicate your life expectancy really is – though learning to lift weights safely is certainly a positive way to help ease yourself into the practice of regular exercise.