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Many tests claim to be able to tell how long you’ll live. But research suggests that a simple measure you can do at home is highly predictive of longevity. It’s known as your grip strength, and it measures the force or pressure your hand exerts when squeezing or holding an object. Grip strength can be measured in a doctor’s office, or you can pick up a device called a hand grip dynamometer (like this one) to check it at home on your own.
Meet the experts: Clayton Alexander, M.D., orthopedic surgeon and hand specialist at Mercy Medical Center; Alfred F. Tallia, M.D., M.P.H., professor and chair of family medicine and community health at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; David Cutler, M.D., family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA; Ryan McGrath, Ph.D., lead study author and associate professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences at North Dakota State University; Nikhil Satchidanand, Ph.D., exercise physiologist and assistant professor in the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Of course, longevity is a little more complicated than knowing whether or not you’ll be able to open a jar with no issues. But doctors say there is something to grip strength and indicating a healthy, long life. Here’s what the study found, plus what doctors want you to keep in mind when using this as a measurement of your health status.
The study, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, analyzed data from more than 12,000 adults aged 50 and older for 12 years. The researchers used handgrip dynamometry measurements to track grip strength.
The researchers found that people with weaker grip strengths had a 45% higher risk of dying during the study period than those with stronger grips. The researchers concluded that grip strength provides a “robust prediction of time to mortality” and suggests that healthcare providers encourage people to do strength training as they get older.
“Muscle health is part of overall health, and longevity is a significant health outcome,” says Ryan McGrath., Ph.D., lead study author and associate professor in the department of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences at North Dakota State University. “Understanding how aspects of muscle health, such as strength, may connect with health outcomes is important for informing relevant programs and lifespan health.”
How might grip strength be linked to longevity?
This isn’t a new concept, and, in fact, doctors usually test grip strength during check-ups as people get older or if they’re getting ready for surgery. “It’s part of the measure of frailty,” says David Cutler, M.D., a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. “We use frailty as a measurement all the time to assess someone’s risk for surgery and health status.”
Grip strength has emerged as an indicator of total body muscle mass and strength, explains Nikhil Satchidanand, Ph.D., exercise physiologist and assistant professor in the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. “It is not just a measure of muscle power but also helps us understand the general health of our skeletal muscles,” he says. “In clinical and research settings, grip strength is used as a non-invasive, easy, and cost-effective way to gather information about an individual’s overall health and function.”
Good grip strength is also crucial for survival, points out Alfred F. Tallia, M.D., M.P.H., professor and chair of family medicine and community health at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “The ability to grasp things is an essential part of our daily lives that touches our success at all activities of daily living—feeding, bathing, clothing ourselves, ambulating, and movement,” he says. “So it is not at all surprising that a decline in grip strength is correlated with prediction of impending death.”
Tips for improving grip strength
Despite all of that, grip strength isn’t the end-all, be-all for longevity. In fact, Dr. Cutler points out that it’s “just one of several measures” doctors use to look at a person’s health status.
“We don’t know that it’s the grip strength that leads to a longer life, and we don’t know if it will improve their longevity, but we can use measurements that include both grip strength and other standard frailty measurements,” Dr. Cutler says. (Those include things like whether someone has multiple underlying health conditions and if they’ve lost significant weight lately with no explanation, he says.)
But if you want to improve your grip strength, there are things you can do. “You can improve grip strength by using a grip strength trainer, but just because you do so does not mean you can reduce mortality,” Dr. Alexander says. (It just may mean that you’ll be better at opening jars or grasping weights.) You can also try repeatedly squeezing a ball, McGrath says.
But experts stress that your grip strength can only tell so much about how long you’ll live. “Grip strength loss is just a marker of frailty—it is not the cause of mortality,” Dr. Alexander says. If you’re concerned that your grip isn’t strong, McGrath says you can work on it. But you’re worried about your overall health, he recommends focusing on physical activity and eating a healthy diet.
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