A strong or weak hand grip is not only a social symptom of your personality but also it is a physical biomarker of your health as well. It helps therapists to evaluate the risk of heart attack and stroke and the probability of dying from cardiovascular disease as well. According to the International Prospective of Urban & Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, experts measured the grip strength of a total 140 of 000 adults in 17 countries and followed their health for a time period of four years. They used the same dynamometer to measure the grip strength of all participants.
They found that each 11-pound reduction of grip strength is associated with a 16% higher chance of dying from a heart attack and a 9% higher chance of stroke.
How does grip strength speak about the biological clock or biological aging?
Many studies have proved that future disability is linked with grip strength, early death, reduced longevity, and the onset of cardiovascular anomalies in adults. Experts measure the grip strength in a wide range, including high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries, to make a solid conclusion.
Biological age and an individual’s chronological age are pretty different; biological age depends on an individual’s DNA, whereas the counts of chronological age are measured from the date of birth to the present date. For physical fitness, biological aging says a lot. It indicates body functioning and physical fitness. There are so many factors that influence biological aging. However, the most important influencing factor is physical fitness, medical conditions, and muscle strength.
Endured muscle needs training, proper nutrition, and rest. To increase muscle strength, one needs to do some sort of resistance training at least for three times per week. However, rest is also important. Therefore, give your muscle one/two days off between the workout schedule.
Grip strengthening and core strengthening programs are the best thing out there for muscle building. You can get resistance training between the full body workout to make everything in balance. Engage yourself in arm and leg strengthening programs and extend them to develop a greater range of motion. Some daily activities also challenge your muscle, So try to do some household chores which challenges your muscle as well. For example, take stairs whenever possible because it is used to challenge the leg, hips, buttocks, and abdomen core muscles.
When discussing muscle health, we must remember the importance of proper sleep. Sleep is very important for injury healing and muscle recovery. It helps muscles to get over fatigue after strength training. Seven or eight hours of deep sleep keeps you healthy from within. Your body gets time to repair muscle tissue and replenish overall muscle cells to restore energy for the next day.
Nutrition is also very important; proper nutrition enriched with micro and macronutrients makes your muscle stronger. If you follow a healthy diet, then you don’t require protein supplements or lots of red meat. Instead, you can include fish, eggs, milk, desi ghee, and beans to get plenty of protein out of it. Only protein is not enough for your muscle; carb is also important for your energy. Get healthy carbs from whole grains, pulses, and derivatives f carbohydrates. Try to ensure five to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, considering four small plates.
Hand therapists and occupation therapists conclude that the hand grip strength of a person is a strict indicator of a person’s cardiovascular conditions. Many studies reviewed that poor grip strength is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, short survival, and stroke. It is also a clear predictor of death due to high systolic blood pressure, and doing a grip-strengthening workout may give you an easy approach to making your grip stronger and saving your life from a heart attack. Grip strengthening workout not only saves you from the weak grip but also keeps you away from premature aging of DNA, forearm muscle aches, sprains, injury, illness, and disability. Thus, occupational therapists perform grip strength tests to predict heart health and longevity.
The University of McMaster, Canada has published a current study. The lead author Darryl Leong and his colleagues have performed a study among 139,691 participants from the age of 35 to 70 years age range; It is a part of the PURE study. Grip strength was measured using a Jamar dynamometer, and the participant involves in this study for four years. The scientists measure the grip strength by evaluating the exerted strength while squeezing an object tightly with each hand. The average of the two hands is known as a person’s grip strength. They measure the grip strength using a grip strengthener. The research team concluded that grip strength clearly indicates death caused by heart disease, high systolic blood pressure, and short life span. Poor grip strength means reduced bone mineral density.
