In addition to regularly moving, reducing stress, and eating nutritious, whole foods, there’s another essential element to aging well: Flexibility.
A recent long-term study found that being more flexible was associated with living longer, even when factoring in age and health status. The study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, used the Flexitest, which assesses flexibility across seven joints and 20 body movements. Researchers tested the flexibility of over 3,000 men and women aged 46 to 65 and followed up to see mortality rates after 13 years.
While flexibility was associated with living longer for both sexes, it had an even more dramatic influence on women than men. Women who scored the lowest and were the least flexible were five times more likely to die prematurely compared to women who scored the highest; Men who scored the lowest were two times more likely to die prematurely.
“Our findings support the significance of flexibility as an integral component of health-related physical fitness,” the authors conclude. The study’s results underscore that the association becomes more pronounced at the extremes: The more flexible you are, the more you may reduce your risk of dying early.
Why is flexibility a contributor to healthy living?
Flexibility is the joints’ ability to move through a full range of motion pain-free. It begins to decline as soon as someone is a toddler and throughout middle age as joint stiffness becomes more prominent, Claudio Gil S. Araújo, research director at the Clinimex in Brazil and lead author in the study, tells Fortune.
“Flexibility is related to autonomy,” says Araújo, who hopes to raise awareness that flexibility is an essential pillar of aging well and not just reserved for high-level gymnasts. In its most practical application, flexibility helps older adults stay agile and mobile by moving more freely, picking up items from the ground, and tying their shoes.
Beyond the practical, it can help reduce the risk of injury, increase blood flow throughout the body, and promote muscle recovery post-workout. And while it’s an important part of overall health, prioritizing flexibility can be an afterthought during a workout session.
“When you think about exercise, most people participate in some type of aerobic activity that improves their cardiovascular endurance. Most people are doing weight training to help maintain lean muscle mass and to build strength,” Chris Travers, an exercise physiologist out of Cleveland Clinic Sports Health in Cleveland, Ohio, previously told Fortune. “Those are two very important elements of a fitness program, but there’s also a third element, and that’s your flexibility and mobility, which is most often the one that’s neglected.”
How flexible am I?
To begin to prioritize flexibility as a marker of health, give the study’s Flexitest a try. The Flexitest assesses the range of motion of the knees, shoulders, hips, knees, trunk, ankles, and wrists.
Araújo tells Fortune that the Flexitest goes beyond the 1950s sit-and-reach test, which “is very limited in addressing the nature of body flexibility.”
“One major advantage in assessing the range of motion in all 20 movements is the possibility to add all 20 scores to obtain the Flexindex, an indicator of body flexibility and to compare the final score with sex and age reference values,” says Araújo.
The test, viewed in a demo video provided by Araújo’s clinic, takes fewer than three minutes to complete.
You are given a score between zero and four for each movement for an overall score out of 80. Receiving a two on each movement is most common for the average middle-aged person, with four mostly reserved for gymnasts and dance performers and a three considered above average. The women in the study averaged a 41.1 compared to a 30.5 for men. If you score a zero or a one, that is an indication that you need to do some work to improve flexibility.
It is important to warm up your joints, not push past pain, and enlist a partner when the movement indicates. Here are three tests to start, as outlined in Araújo’s book, “Flexitest: An Innovative Flexibility Assessment Method.”
Test your wrist flexibility by seeing how far you can comfortably extend your wrist backward. You can score a two by extending your wrist perpendicular to the ground and a three by going past 90 degrees.
Test your knee flexibility by laying down on your stomach, and with the help of a partner, seeing how far you can flex your knee toward your body. You can score a two by comfortably pulling your knee in about 45 degrees.
Test your ankle flexibility by lying on the ground and flexing your ankle back toward your body. If you can flex it past 90 degrees, you will score a two or a three.
How can I improve my flexibility?
Regular exercise, no matter what you do, helps increase mobility and flexibility. But it’s still important to be mindful about flexing your joints, in particular, such as reaching for your toes, extending your wrists and ankles, and stretching your hip flexors.
So, prioritize moving from your desk, walking, and stretching daily. Araújo says you can work on flexibility anywhere at home or even at work, by extending and flexing your ankles and doing parts of the Flexitest in your freetime.
“Some people are naturally more flexible than others, but no matter whether you can touch your toes or you’re barely able to get your hands halfway down to your shins, you should be working on your flexibility and mobility because the more sedentary you are, the more your muscles are shortening, which in turn is causing you to be more tight,” Travers previously told Fortune.
Incorporating thirty minutes of flexibility training three times a week can improve your flexibility even more. Exercise programs that promote flexibility training include yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and barre.
“Flexibility is one of the variables you can train, and if you train, you can improve, and maybe we change the survival curve,” Araújo says.
For more on healthy aging:
- If you’re under 50 today, could you really live to 150? Geneticists and aging researchers weigh in
- Staying fit as you age isn’t just about exercise. Experts say to prioritize these 4 habits
- 4 ways women can make the most of their ‘longevity bonus’
- How to increase your odds of becoming a ‘SuperAger’
- The best science-backed strategies for a strong mind as you age
