upworthy

seniors

via Pexels
A woman sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat

Everyone wants to know how long they will live and there are many indicators that can show whether someone is thriving or on the decline. But scientists have yet to develop a magic formula to determine exactly how long someone should expect to live. Which, let's be real, is probably a good thing. Knowing exactly how much time you have left to enjoy your life could cause a lot of anxiety, to say the very least.

However, a doctor recently featured on the "Today" show says a straightforward test can reveal the likelihood that someone aged 51 to 80 will die in the near future. NBC News medical contributor Dr. Natalie Azar was on the "Today" show on March 8 and demonstrated how to perform the simple “sit to stand test” (aka sit-rising test or SRT) that can help determine the longevity of someone between 51 to 80.

The test is pretty simple. Go from standing to sitting cross-legged, and then go back to standing without using any parts of your body besides your legs and core to help you get up and down. The test measures multiple longevity factors, including heart health, balance, agility, core and leg strength and flexibility.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

You begin the test with a score of 10 and subtract points on your way up and down for doing the following:

Hand used for support: -1 point

Knee used for support: -1 point

Forearm used for support: -1 point

One hand on knee or thigh: -1 point

Side of leg used for support: -1 point


A 2012 study published by the European Society of Cardiology found a correlation between the SRT score and how long people live.

The study was conducted on 2002 people, 68% of whom were men, who performed the SRT test and were followed by researchers in the coming years. The study found that “Musculoskeletal fitness, as assessed by SRT, was a significant predictor of mortality in 51–80-year-old subjects.”

Those who scored in the lowest range, 0 to 3, had up to a 6 times greater chance of dying than those in the highest scores (8 to 10). About 40% of those in the 0 to 3 range died within 11 years of the study.

aging, seniors, senior fitness, senior citizens, older adults, longevity, health, death, dyingNo matter what age you are, adding regular exercise to your life will reap a ton of benefits.Canva Photos

Azar distilled the study on "Today," saying: "The study found that the lower the score, you were seven times more likely to die in the next six years.”

"Eight points or higher is what you want," Azar said. "As we get older, we spend time talking cardiovascular health and aerobic fitness, but balance, flexibility and agility are also really important," she stressed. A score of eight or nine means you're allowed to roll forward onto your knees and then rise, which a lot of people will find more comfortable. If you can rise that way, you're still in a pretty good spot health wise.

One should note that the people who scored lowest on the test were the oldest, giving them a naturally elevated risk of death.

Dr. Greg Hartley, Board Certified Geriatric Clinical Specialist and associate professor at the University of Miami, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that we should take the study with a grain of salt. “Frailty, strength, muscle mass, physical performance—those things are all correlated to mortality, but I would caution everybody that correlation doesn’t mean causation,” he said.

And of course, the test doesn't take into account injuries or disabilities that may make doing the test impossible. But one of the study's authors says that the study is a call to take our mobility seriously.

“The more active we are the better we can accommodate stressors, the more likely we are to handle something bad that happens down the road,” Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo, told USA Today.

What should you do if you can't manage a good score on the SRT? First of all, don't panic! It's never too late to improve your overall health, fitness, and strength, so regular exercise is a great thing to incorporate if you're not already doing it.


seniors, longevity, physical fitness, exercise, health, agingEven low-impact exercise like yoga can increase your mobility and flexibility and, thus, your SRT scoreCanva Photos

A couple of specific skills that will help are boosting your ankle flexibility, hip mobility, and core strength. Trainers recommend incorporating squats, lunges, and planks into your regular routine. Just using your own bodyweight is plenty to get started, though if you're up for incorporating any added loads, the strength training will do wonders for your bone density, as well.

But remember that the SRT is just a measure of strength and mobility, which could correlate to an older person's likelihood of suffering from a fatal fall. It doesn't do anything to measure your cardiovascular help (vitally important especially in older people), for example. And it may not even be the most reliable longevity test out there. It has been criticized for it's extremely unnatural range of motion, for starters — rising by pushing up on the sides of our ankles with our knees pointed outward is certainly not representative of a real-life situation. Some doctors insist that your comfortable walking speed is a better indicator of health and longevity, while others say grip strength is the key measurement.

This article originally appeared two years ago.

Joy

Meals on Wheels launches new initiative in effort to keep seniors and pets together

"I think most people would feed their pets before they feed themselves. So, this helps minimize that from happening."

Meals on Wheels now includes pet food to keep seniors and pets together.

Pets make amazing companions. They not only keep you company but it's been proven that they are great emotional support. Many senior citizens take comfort in having a furry friend around when they're living alone or caregiving for an ailing partner.

But having a pet can become a financial burden that not all elderly people can afford. Instead of doing the unimaginable, giving up their pet, some elderly people will go without eating to make sure their pets have food. Many senior citizens are on a fixed income, causing them to make difficult financial decisions including forgoing important medications and feeding their pets.

Programs like Meals on Wheels make sure that elderly individuals are eating at least one hot meal a day, and it's free of charge. Meals on Wheels is a national program that reduces elderly hunger while also helping to provide elderly people living alone with human contact.


Recently, Meals on Wheels in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, started including an addition to their program–pet food. Elder Services of Berkshire County, which has been providing meals for seniors, teamed up with Berkshire Humane Society and Berkshire Family & Individual Resources (BFAIR) to start a pet assistance program for meal recipients according to iBerkshires.com.

The Berkshire County Meals on Wheels program will deliver pet food once a month to elderly program members who cannot get to the store. Since many of the people that receive meals from the food program are on a fixed income, it's also a probability that some of the members cannot afford pet food even if they could get to the store.

Elder Services Community Services Director Kayla Brown-Wood tells iBerkshire, "I think most people would feed their pets before they feed themselves. So, this helps minimize that from happening. It's just a really great collaboration and the idea is to be able to help those people that might not have the means to come here and visit the emergency pet food bank at Berkshire Humane Society. So, it's just another way to help bridge that gap and that need in the community."

meals on wheels; pet food delivery; meals on wheels and pets; elderly care and pets; pet and elderly care

Black and tan long-coated dog with elderly man

Photo by Donna Cecaci on Unsplash

The national Meals on Wheels organization also helps elderly people keep their pets in the home by partnering with PetSmart Charities. The partnership has "helped more than 25,000 Meals on Wheels clients remain at home and together with their beloved companions," according to the Meals on Wheels website.

They don't stop with helping to provide meals for humans and their pets. Meals on Wheels helps support local programs that provide pet food, grooming services as well as veterinary services to the animals of elderly people who may not be able to afford it otherwise.

Meals on Wheels says, "97% of clients receiving pet assistance say that Meals on Wheels has made it possible for them to keep their loving companion, according to our research with partner PetSmart Charities."

The partnership between Meals on Wheels and PetSmart Charities ensures that the pets of seniors have the things they need, like cat litter, nail trims, free boarding and even transportation to the veterinarian. Pets become part of your family, and with seniors that are homebound, their Meals on Wheels delivery person and their pet may be the only interaction they receive. It's amazing to see that this essential program is not forgetting about the animal companions living with the seniors they serve.

Joy

Granny Lyft driver's super-specific, unintentionally funny list of rules is delightful

Like you wouldn't also be upset if someone taught your parrot to swear?

Grandma is watching you in the backseat. Mind your manners.

The rideshare experience involves a leap of faith for both the passenger and the driver. The passenger trusts the driver to get them to their destination safely and comfortably. The driver trusts the passenger to be a decent human who won’t harm them or eat tuna fish in their car. (Rideshare drivers use their own vehicles, after all).

A grandmother who drives for Lyft has taken matters into her own hands and posted a list in her car that spells out what she will and won’t allow. Similar to a Taxi Passenger’s Bill of Rights, this is her own personal bill of rights.

A photo of her list went viral after user u/joyisnotdead posted it to Reddit. Commenters love the list for its sass while also debating its merits. The vast majority fiercely defend it. “Most of [this] is really just basic etiquette,” writes shannibearstar.


The list in question, which relies heavily on all caps and a healthy sprinkling of emojis, begins with a plea.

“First and foremost, my grands and greats ride in this vehicle! Be considerate of that! I have family and I’m raising a great that needs me! Be sure I get home safe to her! And my family! I don’t carry money or real jewels! If you carjack me < wreck it good! I want a new one!”

It's pretty understandable and relatable so far. She has responsibilities!

Granny's rules for the Lyft
byu/joyisnotdead infunny

Things begin to go lovably off the rails in the second rule.

“Do not touch or cuss around my parrot! I will put you out! I don’t teach your kids and I don’t teach your kids to cuss, don’t teach mine!”

Whoa whoa whoa, a parrot?

While it’s possible she is referring to her “grands” or “greats” as parrots since kids love to repeat what they hear, many commenters are taking her at her word. “Why does she have a parrot in an Uber? That does not seem like a good environment for a bird. Nor does it seem like a good environment for the passengers who want to go places and didn't order a bird sanctuary on wheels” writes Vendeta44.

Apparently, should you drive for Uber and want to bring your bird on board, it is allowed. According to Uber’s “Feedback about the driver or vehicle” section: “Since all drivers who use the Uber app are independent contractors, they are allowed to travel with a pet or service animal in their vehicle.”

Her next rule is pretty straightforward and colorful. “No smoking, vaping, smoking pot or snorting/smoking dope!> This isn’t your hookah room! Or trap house!

Trap house? According to Dictionary.com, it’s “a place where illegal drugs are sold” and according to Urban Dictionary it was “originally used to describe a crack house in a shady neighborhood.” Interestingly, the “trap” in trap music takes the same root.

Okay, fine, no teaching her parrot any bad words, no vaping, but what if you just want to spend the time headed to your destination putting the finishing touches on your lewk? If you’re of a certain age you may remember an ad that appeared heavily in women’s magazines in the 1980s for a cordless butane-powered curling iron. In it, a woman was stepping out of a car, curling iron in hand, having just styled her magnificent coif on the go.

Grandma would NOT be okay with this.

“No spraying perfume, doing your hair and makeup. (I don’t want your hair all over the place and other customers don’t want to get into your hair all over them). Spraying hair spray or cologne> This isn’t your bathroom!” To be fair, perfume and cologne have immense staying power.

The next rule is one that you wish didn’t need to be said but according to the comments, does need to be said: “No sex or making out. This isn’t your hooker room/hotel room.”

Fair.

The last rule concerns a common activity that vexes rideshare drivers everywhere: Eating and drinking.

“No eating or drinking in my car! I provide water for your convenience! This isn’t your diner!”

Most of the commenters agreed with the spirit of the list while decrying the need to state things they feel should go without saying. This was especially true in the Lyft Drivers subreddit, where it was crossposted. “[…] It’s called common courtesy, but we apparently have to remind people it’s a thing,” writes Potatersauce.

The story is an excellent reminder that when we’re sharing space, our behavior impacts those around us, whether it be our kids, our drivers or their parrots.

Mr. James had to come out of retirement to pay his rent, and some students weren't having it.

Over the past few years, the outlandish increase in the cost of living for the average American has been hard on just about everyone. Prices on consumer goods have been through the roof as inflation reached its highest level in 40 years in June of 2022.

Rent has been going up for the average American as well. From 2017 to 2022, the average year-over-year increase was 5.77%, with the most significant increase of an average of 14% occurring from 2021 to 2022.

Almost every American feels the pain of the increased living expenses, but it has to be especially hard on those living on a fixed income. Fox 4 News reports that when an 80-year-old retired man affectionately known as “Mr. James” saw his rent go up by $400, he had to work again to make ends meet. Callisburg High School in Texas hired Mr. James as a janitor, and the sight of seeing a man that old lifting garbage cans and scrubbing lunch tables didn’t sit right with some of the students.


“It’s just so sad seeing an 80-year-old man having to do things an 80-year-old shouldn’t have to do,” Callisburg senior Banner Tidwell said, according to KXII.

A few of the school's students decided to do something about Mr. James' situation and started a GoFundMe campaign called “Getting Mr. James out of this school” to raise some money for him so he could resume his retirement. The teens started with a goal of $10,000 that was quickly surpassed after Greyson Thurman, a Callisburg student, promoted it with a TikTok video that went viral.

Just 8 days after the GoFundMe campaign started, it has already raised $225,000 for Mr. James. "He doesn't want any part of the spotlight. He's appreciative of what these students have done," the school's principal, Jason Hooper, told Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth.


@grey.thurman

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

“It’s crazy to see something that we knew people would have wanted to help. But we didn’t know it would blow up,” senior Marti Yousko, one of the campaign’s organizers, told KXII, "When we told him, he was kind of like, 'dang, that's alright!'" Yousko continued.

“It's just amazing,” Hooper told KXII. ”You know of the need that was met because of three kind kids, but of all of our students who have pitched in to help that need.”

gofundme, mr james, senior citizens

The students who organized the campaign and Mr. James.

via GoFundMe

Incredibly, these students had the heart to realize Mr. James' struggles and stepped up and do something about the situation. This is one of those stories that is both heartwarming and sad. It’s beautiful that the kids, the community and people around the world are helping Mr. James, but it’s terrible that an 80-year-old man would have to resort to going back to work in the first place. Especially in a country with so much wealth.

Fox 4 News reached out to the Callisburg Independent School District to see if Mr. James is still working at the school, and he hasn’t said anything about leaving his job just yet.

"Nobody deserves to work their whole life. They deserve to enjoy everything," Thurman said.