Cardio fitness tends to be the biggest predictor of mortality, as the study results suggest, Powers says. “People often die from cardiovascular disease,” he says. “Being flexible doesn’t typically impact that risk.”
While flexibility is a major focus in certain forms of exercise, such as yoga and Pilates, the researchers didn’t find a link between higher flexibility and longer life.
“I’m not too worried about flexibility,” Powers says. “It often improves with other areas of fitness. By itself, it doesn’t relate to fitness the way some of these others do.”
Fitness May Better Predict Lifespan Than Disease Alone, According to Doctors
Heart disease, obesity, and other chronic diseases have long been linked to shorter lifespans.
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Doctors will often look at whether someone has these diseases when trying to determine their lifespan and risk of early death, Dr. Liang says. “These measures tell us which conditions a person has accumulated, but they tell us less about what that person can still physically do,” she says. “They may also be less informative for older adults who have not yet developed overt disease or disability.”
These fitness tests “look at things from a different standpoint,” Power says. “If someone has a bad heart, that’s a bad indicator of lifespan,” he continues. “On the other hand, if we know a person’s functional ability, too, we can adapt lifestyle choices to try to improve their health.”
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The tests may also help doctors better assess patients’ overall health, regardless of disease, Powers says. “There is a severity of illness, and it can be difficult at times to assess risk and future longevity,” he says. “These types of tests give us specific information.”
The Study Has Strengths and Limitations
The study analyzed very detailed information from a relatively large group of people, Powers points out. But there are a few limitations.
Because the study was observational, it can’t prove that people with lower scores on fitness tests had shorter lifespans; it simply found a link. The participants’ physical fitness was measured at a single point in time, making it hard to know whether it changed over time.
The researchers also didn’t examine how the participants died, making it difficult to know if their fitness may have been a potential factor. Smoking status also wasn’t recorded.
How to Improve Your Fitness With These Measures
Powers doesn’t suggest trying to improve your fitness solely to excel at these tests. But he does recommend focusing on cardiorespiratory fitness for overall health and longevity.
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If you haven’t been physically active, it’s usually helpful to start with small amounts of exercise and work your way up, according to Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, cofounder of SoHo Strength Lab in New York City. “Walking is always a good baseline exercise,” he says. “You can also bike if you need something lower-impact.” From there, he suggests increasing the speed, intensity, and distance of your exercise to increase fitness over time.
Liang stresses that doing what you can to meet physical activity guidelines should help to improve your test performance and, potentially, lifespan. “What our findings do suggest is that physical fitness is a potentially modifiable marker of physiological reserve, rather than simply a fixed consequence of aging,” she says. “Starting with small amounts and building up gradually is reasonable, particularly for people who have been inactive.”
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A recent Pew Research Center study found that young women are more likely than young men to get health and wellness information from social media influencers, with 57% of women ages 18 to 29 reporting they receive such information from influencers, compared with 47% of men in the same age group.
The study surveyed 5,023 U.S. adults and examined how young people consume health and wellness content online.
Local college students said influencer content frequently appears in their social media feeds.
“It’s more exercise stuff, more like protein and like meals and like how to get ready and like the outfits of the day of videos on TikTok or lately. My favorite ones,” said Kabija Koroma, a local college student.
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According to the study, about half of women under 30, or 51%, said they often consume content from influencers focused on beauty and personal appearance, compared with 18% of men. The research also found that 21% of women often see content about therapies outside of mainstream medicine, compared with 10% of men.
At the same time, the study found that at least one-third of both young men and young women often hear about mental health and weight loss from influencers. Around half or more of both groups said they regularly see fitness-related content.
“I see a lot like how to meal prep and how to get your morning started. Affirmations stuff. But I do also ask the adults around me because sometimes the internet is not right,” said Ania Davis, a local college student.
Researchers also examined why young adults seek health and wellness information from influencers. About 51% of young women said they watch this content because they want to change their health or lifestyle. The study found that more young women than young men said they enjoy hearing from people who share their background or beliefs (23% compared with 14%) and learning about topics they do not want to ask their doctors about (19% compared with 10%).
Despite regularly using social media, some students said they do not rely solely on influencer content when making decisions about their health and wellness.
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“I’m always on TikTok 24/7 and Instagram, but I also like to ask people older than me because I don’t know everything,” said Koroma.
For news updates, follow Danyelle Burke North on Instagram and TikTok.
Frequent resistance training and cardiovascular workouts are critical for maintaining our mental and physical health as we age.
For many, getting enough exercise to reap the rewards may simply not be an option. A discovery by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics might give bed-bound or disabled individuals a way to stave off the worst effects of aging.
Transplanting twitching grafts of muscle tissue into the backs of aging and obese mice proved to provide the animals with a variety of metabolic and anti-aging benefits, including increased muscle mass, improved bone density, and a drop in blood sugar and cholesterol.
While the results may not translate directly into ways for humans to “gain without pain,” they may provide insights that inform future anti-aging or even hormone-based therapies based on stem-cell and genetic engineering.
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Muscles aren’t just machines that move our bones from place to place. They are chemical factories that churn out signals governing a range of bodily functions, from bone growth to immunity to brain development. Neglecting our muscles is to neglect a critical part of our endocrine system.
While most of us are capable of lifting weights or heading outside for a brisk walk each day, not everyone is so fortunate, leading researchers to consider other ways to encourage muscles to produce plenty of hormones.
Transplants of muscle stem cells are a promising avenue for research, having distinct advantages over other tissues in their ability to encourage the growth of new blood vessels and limitations on rapid growth.
Yet they also have a low survival rate, typically dying within a couple of days due to host rejection or oxygen demands.
By taking stem cells from a host’s own body and encouraging them to differentiate before mixing them with a commercially available, soluble matrix gel, researchers may have cracked the most critical problems in the transplant process.
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Taking stem cells from a mouse and returning the tissue as mature muscle cells has health benefits.
(Liu et al., Nature, 2026)
Transplants of mature muscle tissue based on stem cells taken from the mouse’s own quadriceps were found to survive for more than 81 days in experiments. After being implanted beneath the skin of their backs, the tissues developed their own blood supply and began to contract spontaneously.
Significantly, the “myografts” boosted the regeneration of a variety of other tissues in adult, elderly, and obese mice. Not just muscles throughout their bodies, but tissues in their bones, liver, and brain.
Mice treated with the grafts also did better on tasks testing their memory and spatial learning.
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Taking their experiments a step further, the team engineered myografts to produce a hormone they typically wouldn’t make, giving mice with their parathyroid glands removed the ability to make parathyroid hormone again, returning serum calcium and phosphate to a safe level.
With no signs of cancerous growth or the grafts migrating, the process appears relatively safe, opening the way for further research into self-transplants made of mature muscle cells as a means of treating numerous conditions.
For most of us, the results emphasize the role muscles play in maintaining our general health. Understanding the benefits muscle cells have as endocrine workhorses could help keep us all healthier in the long run.
THREE RIVERS, Mich. — After nearly 30 years, Beacon Health & Fitness Three Rivers will be closing its doors at the end of this month.
The news has sent ripples of shock and disappointment throughout the community, with many noting it’ll be a huge loss for the area.
“I seriously thought it was a joke,” Margy Eickhoff, a Three Rivers resident and longtime facility user, said. “I was just absolutely devastated.”
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Eickhoff has been going to the facility on and off since it opened, sharing memories of bringing her kids along when they were younger.
Throughout her time there, Eickhoff thought of it as more than just a place to exercise, but a place for people to connect, learn, and be supported.
“It’s all those opportunities that are so important for someone who doesn’t have those opportunities any place else,” Eickhoff said.
While outpatient therapy services will continue, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and cardiac rehabilitation, this closure leaves a big whole for people, especially when it comes to access to a pool and aquatic therapy.
“I watched people, I learned swimming strokes, I eventually swam a mile, I signed up and did a mini triathlon,” Eickhoff said. “So all of that is something that I would not have been able to do, or even knowing I could do, if that facility wasn’t here.”
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Mayor of Three Rivers, Angel Johnston, said her phone began ringing with the news early yesterday morning. She feels for all of the people who rely on this facility, along with workers, who may now be out of a position.
“I don’t want to see anybody lose their job. I hope that the hospital is able to place them elsewhere,” Johnston said. “It’s going to be a big change for a lot of people.”
In a statement, Beacon said this decision was not made lightly and comes after years of leaders exploring a variety of ways to strengthen and sustain the facility.
But, despite those efforts, including efforts to grow membership and expand programming, the Fitness Center wasn’t generating enough revenue.
“I totally understand that there’s a financial aspect to running this organization,” Eickhoff said. “This just feels like another case where Three Rivers isn’t able to support some of the things that are really important and necessary for a strong community. And that sends the wrong message, because Three Rivers really is a great place to live.”
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“A lot of our residents either don’t drive or don’t drive far, maybe their elderly folks or are disabled,” Johnston added. “Those facilities are a big deal to have right here at home, and I’m really sad that we’re not going to have them anymore.”
Despite navigating the loss and sharing in the feelings of disappointment, Johnston said this closure makes her grateful for the care the community still does have.
“With other communities losing their hospital, such as Sturgis, it really, really highlights how lucky we are to have a hometown hospital,” Johnston said. “It’s sad that we’re losing part of the facility, but they’re doing such a great job with everything else that I’m just grateful that they’re still here. And who knows, maybe we’ll find a way in the future to revive this facility.”
The last day Beacon Health & Fitness Three Rivers will be open is Sept. 30.
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