Flexibility can stretch out your lifespan, study suggests

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It’s not a stretch to suggest that those who can’t touch their toes face a higher risk of death, according to a new study.

Researchers in Brazil assessed the flexibility of some 3,000 middle-aged people and found that those who found the toe-touching exercise difficult could be five times more at risk of death than those who can.

The system called Flexindex examines how people can stretch in 20 ways using seven different joints, the U.K. Daily Mail reported. Examples included being able to touch your toes and being able to touch the back of your left shoulder with your right hand over your head.

People received scores of between 0 and 80 and the end of the tests.

Recent analysis published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports shows that experts found people aged 46 to 65 with higher Flexindex scores had between two- and five-times better odds of surviving the next decade.

Of the more than 3,000 participants included in the analysis, about one in 10 were dead at its conclusion.

Survivors had a nearly 10% higher Flexindex score compared to those who died, according to the authors from the Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro.

Women with a low Flexindex score had almost five times higher risk of dying, researchers said, while men with a low score had almost twice the risk once factors of age, obesity and existing health conditions were taken into account.

“Being aerobically fit and strong and having good balance have been previously associated with low mortality,” said Dr. Claudio Gil S. Araujo, an author on the paper.

“We were able to show that reduced body flexibility is also related to poor survival in middle-aged men and women.”

The doctor added that, as flexibility tends to decrease as we age, people might opt to include stretching exercises in their routine and medics might consider flexibility assessments in physical health evaluations.

Flexibility, alongside aspects like balance, is considered one of the signs of overall good physical health.

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