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The Real Age Craze (June 22, 2010)
By Inshape | June 22, 2010
Your age is just a number, right? If we’re talking about your chronological age, then yes, age is just a number. And if you are a relatively active, professional urban or suburbanite in today’s society, defying the traditional norm for aging is part of everyday life. In fact, it’s one the main benefits of regular physical fitness and healthy eating habits. However, a new metric has evolved, and thanks to the web and media, knowing your “Real Age” has become a fairly big craze.
The Real Age test measures the body’s current potential for survival relative to what is considered as an average life expectancy for sex. In case you’re wondering, in the United States, women can expect to live 80.7 years. Men can expect to live 75.7 years. So what the quiz does is take into account your current age and location (it actually breaks down by state in fact) and calculates how many remaining years you are likely to have taking into consideration the following factors:
1. Measurements like height, weight, cholesterol levels, blood pressure (though if you don’t know these, you can either estimate or indicate that you don’t know).
2. Disease and family history of diseases
3. Daily routines (driving v. public transportation, dental flossing, sleep, etc)
4. Relationships (time spent with friends and family)
5. Nutritional habits
6. Activity levels (includes detail as specific as the type of activity and intensity)
As one might expect, physical fitness levels play a huge role in the subtraction of years. A 40-year old female who exercises regularly with a combination of aerobic, strength training, and flexibility sessions (4-5 times per week) can subtract as many as 8 years off of her Real Age. In addition, even with super healthy eating habits and all other variables around the norm, this same 40-year old female saw a computed Real Age of 42 with zero physical fitness activity indicated.
Other factors that make a big difference in the numbers are healthy to better-than-healthy numbers for blood pressure and cholesterol, so if you don’t know yours, ask your doctor or pharmacist to recommend a local screening location.
The Real Age Quiz can be taken here, and it takes about 10 minutes to complete the entire evaluation. You have to enter your email address and receive a verification message to see the actual number, but once you’ve completed the process, you can update your information and/or go back in six months and see if your lifestyle changes have made you younger!
The team at inSHAPE is committed to your successfully active lifestyle, and if you need any assistance getting started with a fitness program or nutritional regimen, please let us know. Sign up for a free review of your health history and complimentary workout or give us a call (212.362.1001) so that we can help you and your heart stay fit and healthy.
Have a great week and if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, please send us a note to info@inshapellc.com, call 212.362.1001, or visit our website at www.inshapellc.com.
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