Three Not-So-Bad Things on Aging and Longevity
A Weekly Newsletter
There’s no denying it: we are constantly bombarded with bad news. A pandemic, climate change, inflation, war, political discord—the list goes on. Here at the Longevity Project, we understand that bad news can be enough to take years off your life, so we want to do our part (however small) to balance the scales.
At the end of the day, though, we’re realists. Good news is hard to come by, no matter how hard you look. So we’ll aim a little lower and without further ado, we are pleased to share our first weekly newsletter: Three Not-So-Bad Things on Longevity and Aging. Feel free to share with others and send us items you want to see included. With some luck, you will see this newsletter (and some more not so bad news) every Wednesday.
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july 9, 2025
1. Sit, Stand, Repeat.
If you want to know whether you’re going to be alive in 10 years, there are many useful ways of assessing that question. Here at TNSB, we have many options, including the world’s best fortune tellers, our trusty Ouija Board, and most reliably, our corporate Magic 8 ball, though in truth we are getting far too many “Reply hazy. Try Again Later” for comfort.
But if you prefer this “science” thing, there is good news for you: a new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology has found that the Sitting-Rising Test (SRT) is an astonishingly good predictor of longevity and mortality risk. The test measures the ability to sit on the floor and then rise back up with as little assistance as possible.
Over the course of more than 12 years, researchers tracked 2,892 men and 1,390 women ages 46 to 75 enrolled in a Brazilian exercise research program. Participants who had a score of 10, the highest, had an average 3.7% death rate. The death rate tripled to 11% for those with a score of eight. Those in the lowest score group had a 42% increased death rate.
Maybe those numbers don’t impress you, but consider this: nearly 50% of participants who couldn’t rise from the floor alone died during a ten-year period. Only three people with SRT scores of 10 died from natural causes in the first four years of follow-up.
How does the test work? Start the test with 5 points for sitting, and 5 points for rising (10 points total). If you need assistance (using your hands or knees) to rise or sit throughout the test, deduct one point from your initial score. Throughout the test, you can cross your legs without any deductions—as long as you don’t use the sides of your feet for support.
Start by standing barefoot on a non-slip surface such as a thin mat. Make sure you’re wearing clothes that allow you to move your body freely.
Without worrying about speed, try to sit on the floor using the least amount of assistance needed.
From the sitting position, try to rise back up to standing, again using the least amount of assistance needed.
A perfect score of 10 indicates the ability to stand and rise unassisted, while a score of zero indicates someone is unable to stand and rise alone without assistance. Here’s a video that explains it.
We don’t want to brag, but let’s put it this way: the TNSB staff retreat for July 2035 is still on.
Shameless Self Promotion #1.
If there are two things we like in life – it's a little bit of self-promotion and a lot of a good deal – so we practically quiver with excitement when those two things come together. Technically speaking, this is the first self-promotion (but by no means the last) for my new book, Healthy to 100: How Strong Social Ties Lead to Long Lives, which explores how some of the world’s healthiest and longest-lived countries are rethinking social engagement, purpose, and productivity in the second half of life. It’s already a hot read around TNSB World Headquarters but sadly, you’ll have to wait until October for it to come out. But the good news is that Healthy to 100 is already available for pre-order now. And double luck, Barnes & Noble is running a limited pop-up promotion on preorders from July 8–11. Rewards & Premium Members can take 25% off all preorders, including audiobooks and eBooks, using the code PREORDER25. You can access it through this link.
2. Don't Miss the Powdered Jelly Doughnut Ice Cream Either.
It’s not that we’re in perfect health or have fantastic habits – we’re spooning out a serving of Ben and Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream even as we write this – but we’re diligent on some things, like exercise.
And it’s a good thing too, as new research from Colombia (the country, not the university), has revealed that a steady course of exercise of 150 minutes or more a week can help reverse prediabetes. The study, conducted from 2019 to 2023, followed 130 participants with an average age of 69.5 who were enrolled in a cardiovascular risk program.
Researchers discovered that older adults who engaged in 150+ minutes of physical activity per week were over four times more likely to reverse prediabetes than those who exercised less. This is particularly significant considering that nearly 43% of participants initially didn’t meet recommended activity levels.
The findings are promising - about 22% of participants achieved normal blood sugar levels within a median follow-up period of one year, indicating that prediabetes is reversable with the right habits, even later in life.
Shameless Self Promotion #2
In our most recent GrandPeople interview, we visited with Larry Bonistalli, a model some 50 years in the making.
As a teenager, Larry picked up modeling gigs after being scouted at the Junior Olympics. He was soon swept into campaigns for swimwear with Jockey, which he maintained throughout college as a side gig. Eventually, Larry turned to focus on his business career, and it wasn’t until COVID (some 45 years after his initial campaigns) that he decided he should pick up modeling once again.
Check out our most recent GrandPeople feature to learn more about Larry Bonistalli's modeling through the decades.
3. Better Yet, Share That Ben and Jerry's With a Friend.
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to start off a segment on prediabetes with an endorsement of ice cream (also in our freezer: Dirt Cake; a terrible name, but a fantastic ice cream). But ice cream is also a great food for social connection: That’s why they are called Ice Cream Socials.
But apparently, we’re not having enough such events, as our epidemic of loneliness and social isolation can attest. That’s why last week, the World Health Organization issued a major new report entitled “From Loneliness to Social Connection: Charting a Path to Healthier Societies”.
The report totals the staggering cost of social isolation and disconnection. Loneliness affects nearly one in six people globally and causes an estimated 871,000 deaths annually. And the relevant trends – from the decline in family size and cohesion to the growing use of personal technology and social media and to the collapse of many community organizations - all suggest that the problem could continue to grow and metastasize. Yet, despite the scale of the problem, the issue remains undervalued, and efforts to address the problem remain under resourced. The WHO Report is part of an ongoing effort to get social isolation higher on the global health agenda.
Don’t expect a 200-page committee report to have the most concrete solutions to a complex modern challenge, but the report calls for greater investment in research, advocacy campaigns, national policy efforts and community efforts. You can check out the report here.
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