During your annual physical, your doctor likely tests your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. But new research published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests that another test, requiring just a treadmill and a heart rate monitor, could predict your risk of death even more accurately than these traditional tests, in just five minutes.
For the study, researchers from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, collected submaximal fitness test scores (measurements of how the body takes in and uses oxygen during moderate-intensity exercise) from 6,106 men and women who had performed the cardiorespiratory test multiple times between 1974 and 2002. The test calls for participants to walk for five minutes on a treadmill at a speed of 3.3 miles per hour. At the start of the test, the treadmill is completely flat, and its incline increases by 1 percent every minute until the test’s five minutes have passed. At that point, the researchers measure the participants’ heart rates to obtain their final scores.
[See: The 13 Best Diets For Your Heart.]
After tracking participants’ scores and how they have changed throughout the study’s 25-plus years, they examined the relationship between their submaximal test performances and their risk of premature death.
The results showed that submaximal fitness test scores over time accurately predicted death more accurately than traditional risk factors such as age, weight, smoking status and cholesterol levels. Those participants whose heart rates decreased by more than four beats per minute were 40 percent less likely to prematurely die compared with those who did not improve their submaximal fitness test scores, explains lead researcher Louise de Lannoy, a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate in exercise physiology at Queen’s University.
De Lannoy notes that the submaximal fitness test is a simpler, easier version of the maximal fitness test, also called the VO2 max aerobic fitness test. Consistently linked to health and longevity, the maximal test is identical to the submaximal test, but it continues until the exerciser can no longer walk.
“The maximal fitness test measures the ability of the respiratory system and the cardiac system to deliver oxygen to working muscles during exercise,” she says. “Essentially, it measures how well the body can perform exercise, and because it depends on the performance of the lungs to take in oxygen, the heart to pump oxygenated blood out to the body, the vasculature to deliver oxygenated blood and the muscles to take in oxygen from the blood and use it to perform exercise, this test really is a reflection of total body health,” she says. “For this reason, it is correlated with mortality risk.”
However, physicians rarely use the maximal fitness test, says Dr. James Borchers, a sports medicine expert at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. “The equipment, personnel and time needed makes this test something that is often not practical in many clinical settings,” Borchers says. After all, the maximal fitness test requires participants to walk on the treadmill, with the incline increasing by 1 percent every minute, until they are unable to walk any more.
“The average time to complete this test in our population was 18 minutes and 35 seconds,” de Lannoy says, noting that the fitter an individual is, the longer the test will take to complete. The maximal fitness test is also not advised for everyone, especially those with existing heart issues who may not be able to maximally stress the heart without damaging the organ or triggering a heart attack. The test is best suited for young adults and athletes.
[See: The Facts on Heart Disease.]
“The submaximal fitness test likely accomplishes the same thing as the maximal test in less time because it captures the type of physical activity most individuals normally perform,” de Lannoy says. She explains that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as walking or jogging each week, in addition to muscle-strengthening activities one or two days per week.
To gauge and improve your aerobic fitness and overall health, Borchers recommends discussing the submaximal fitness test with your primary care physician and establishing the best exercise routine for your needs. “This test improves the ability of health care professionals to assess their patients’ health risk as well as evaluate and monitor treatment outcomes, such as to see if physical activity as a treatment tool is improving the patient’s overall health,” de Lannoy says.
Most primary care physicians do not yet offer submaximal fitness testing, de Lannoy says. That means you will likely need a referral to an exercise physiologist or cardiologist to receive testing, and it may not be covered by your insurance. However, you can easily perform the test on your own.
“Performing this [submaximal fitness] test could very easily be done at home or at the gym on a treadmill while wearing a heart rate monitor, which many people now have in their [smart] watch,” she says. “Some recommendations I would make is to take several heart rate measures around the five-minute mark, avoid a heavy meal, nicotine and caffeine in the three hours before the test and avoid heavy exertion beforehand to improve the accuracy of the measure. Do this five-minute test every few years to check in with yourself and gauge your overall health.” If you are concerned about your ability to walk at a brisk pace (3.3 miles per hour equals an 18-minute mile) for five minutes, ask someone to spot you. And if you feel dizzy or short of breath, immediately stop the test and contact your health care provider.
[See: 10 Seemingly Innocent Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore.]
If you plan to perform the five-minute submaximal fitness test, first get on a treadmill and set the speed to 3.3 miles per hour. Then, once the treadmill gets up to speed, start a timer for five minutes and continue walking. At the one-minute mark, increase the incline by 1 percent and continue walking. Repeat step three every minute until five minutes have passed. At the five-minute mark, measure your heart rate by gripping the treadmill’s heart rate sensors or using a fitness monitor. Perform at least three measures for accuracy. As soon as you have taken your heart rate, stop the treadmill and record your heart rate. Keep in mind that a lowered heart rate is a marker of lessened health risk.
More from U.S. News
10 Questions Doctors Wish Their Patients Would Ask
17 Ways Heart Health Varies in Women and Men
The 10 Best Exercises You Can Do for the Rest of Your Life
This 5-Minute Test Accurately Predicts Your Risk of Death originally appeared on usnews.com
