“Flexible people live longer”… The more flexible you are over 45, the lower your risk of death: Nate News

Exercise is a must-have for a healthy, long life. It is known that combining aerobic and strength training is more effective. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that combining strength and aerobic training reduces the risk of death from all causes.

Also, people who exercised like this had a 41% lower risk of death from all causes except cancer compared to those who did not exercise. Exercise is broadly classified into aerobic exercise, which strengthens the heart, and strength training, which builds muscles.

Because of this, you might think that if you do just these two exercises, you’ve completed your workout perfectly. However, there’s one more exercise you should focus on. It’s a flexibility exercise, such as stretching.

In fact, it is not easy to think that you should exercise because you have lost flexibility. According to experts, exercises to improve flexibility are essential exercises along with cardio and strength training.

Higher physical flexibility scores for adults aged 45 and over are associated with lower risk of death

In this regard, a recent study found that improving flexibility through stretching and other activities can extend lifespan. This new study revealed an interesting link between physical flexibility and lifespan in middle-aged adults.

Experts say, “This study suggests that individuals with greater overall physical flexibility may have a lower risk of premature death.” As mentioned above, it is widely known that physical fitness plays an important role in health and longevity, and most research focuses on cardiovascular health and muscle strength.

But this study breaks new ground by examining an often overlooked component of physical health: flexibility and its potential impact on survival. The team used a comprehensive flexibility assessment tool called the Flexitest to assess the range of motion of different joints across seven major joints in the body.

This included movements of the ankles, knees, hips, trunk, wrists, elbows and shoulders. Scores for all of these movements were combined to create a ‘Flexindex’ score, which represents an individual’s overall body flexibility.

The study involved 3,139 middle-aged adults (2,087 men and 1,052 women) aged 46 to 65. The researchers followed the participants for an average of 13 years, tracking their health outcomes and survival rates.

What the researchers found was surprising: Individuals with higher FlexIndex scores, or greater flexibility, had a significantly lower risk of death during the follow-up period. This relationship remained true even after accounting for factors such as age, body mass index (BMI), and overall health.

The results were particularly striking for those with the highest levels of flexibility: For men, those in the lowest 10% of flexibility scores had a mortality rate of 21.2%, compared with just 7.8% for those in the top 10%.

For women, the difference was even more dramatic: the least flexible group had a mortality rate of 15.4%, while the most flexible group had a mortality rate of only 2.0%. Interestingly, the study also confirmed previous findings that women tend to be more flexible than men.

On average, women’s FlexIndex scores were 35 percent higher than men’s. In fact, older women between the ages of 61 and 65 were, on average, 10 percent more flexible than men between the ages of 46 and 50.

The experts said, “This study does not prove that increasing flexibility directly leads to a longer lifespan, but it does show that flexibility can be an important indicator of overall health and longevity.” The research team speculated that “low flexibility may be associated with other health problems, such as arterial stiffness or chronic inflammation, which may contribute to an increased risk of death.”

“Being fit, healthy and well-balanced through aerobic exercise has previously been linked to lower mortality,” the researchers explained. “We were able to show that reduced physical flexibility was also associated with lower survival in middle-aged men and women.”

“This study opens new avenues for understanding the relationship between physical fitness and health,” the experts said. “It suggests that flexibility assessments such as the FlexiTest could be a useful tool for identifying individuals at higher risk of premature death.”

To improve flexibility, do 10 minutes of stretching consistently… It will also be easier to balance your body and avoid obstacles.

To increase flexibility, you need to do stretching. This exercise stretches the tendons and muscle fibers attached to the bones. When muscle fibers are stretched, it is also beneficial for muscle growth. As flexibility is improved, the effectiveness of strength training also increases.

As flexibility increases, physical activity becomes more free. Since the body is not stiff or rigid, it is easier to keep balance in situations where it might fall or to avoid obstacles. Therefore, the risk of muscle tears or sprains is also reduced.

Bad posture, such as sitting with your back hunched over, causes the length of the muscles to contract. Therefore, by maintaining good posture and stretching to increase flexibility, you will be able to move more comfortably even as you age.

Stretching also improves blood flow. It helps to supply blood to each organ of the body more smoothly, which ultimately helps to prevent diseases such as diabetes and obesity. One study found that people who are flexible have more elastic artery walls than those who are not, which reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack.

How should I do flexibility exercises? When you sit for long hours at work, get up once in a while to stretch your body, and at home or at the gym, take about 10 minutes to stretch. It is good to thoroughly stretch the upper body parts such as arms, shoulders, and neck, the lower body parts such as thighs, calves, and ankles, and even the back, which is the center of the body.

If you don’t have 10 minutes to spare, you can stretch two or three times a week, focusing on the areas that are more prone to pain, depending on your lifestyle. For example, if you work a lot on the computer, your shoulders and back may be more tense, so focus on stretching those areas.

Experts advise that “just like aerobic or strength training, flexibility exercises should be done consistently over the long term to achieve more effective results” and that “you should also focus on whether your body is stretching properly and pay attention to your breathing as you exhale while relaxing your muscles.”

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