The 10-Year-Old Study That Predicts Death Better Than Blood Pressure cover art

The 10-Year-Old Study That Predicts Death Better Than Blood Pressure

The 10-Year-Old Study That Predicts Death Better Than Blood Pressure

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My father in law Paul is 67 and was up on our roof this week fitting stone tiles that weigh 30 to 40 kilos each. His hands are the size of a dustbin lid and his forearms are wider than his upper arms. He built that body over 50 years of farming and building work, and he explains a study better than any chart could. Back in 2015 the PURE study followed almost 140,000 people across 17 countries and simply measured how hard they could squeeze a grip device. For every 5 kilos of grip strength a person was missing, their risk of dying from any cause rose by roughly 16 percent, and their risk of dying from heart disease rose by around 17 percent. Grip strength predicted death, including cardiovascular death, more accurately than systolic blood pressure did. Later work in half a million people through the UK Biobank pointed the same way, tying weaker grip to higher rates of heart disease, several cancers and earlier death. The number on a grip device isn't really the point though. It is just the shadow cast by decades of a body being worked hard and fed well. Muscle behaves like an organ in its own right. It stores the sugar you absorb from food, so a well muscled body keeps blood sugar and insulin lower, while a sedentary body lets sugar linger and slowly stiffen and scar blood vessels. Muscle also releases signalling molecules called myokines that calm inflammation throughout the body. And when you become seriously unwell, muscle is the protein reserve your body draws on to fuel recovery, which is why frailty and low muscle mass predict poor survival across so many illnesses. None of this is quick. You cannot revise for a grip test the night before and there is no supplement or medication that builds it for you. It comes from lifting heavy things regularly, ideally at least three times a week, and eating enough protein, aiming for around 1.2 grams per kilo of body weight spread across the day, checked with your doctor if you have any kidney concerns. The encouraging part is that this system stays open at any age. Even people in their 80s and 90s can build real strength when they train against resistance and eat enough protein to support it. Paul doesn't see doctors and doesn't check his blood pressure, but he has spent five decades doing the things that protect him anyway. That is what a strong grip is really reporting on. The full list of research references for this episode is in the description of the YouTube version. Disclaimer: This is not personal medical advice and does not override what your doctor says. #dralex #gripstrength #preventativehealth
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