Beyond the confidence that comes with a firmer handshake, research has proven the advantages of harder grip strength to a healthy living. It was established that grip strength equates to health strength. In the elderly, grip strength is linked to cognitive decline, increased mobility, appropriate functional status, and a decreased death rate. How?
After the age of 40, your muscle mass starts to deteriorate, and you're more likely to come down with cardiovascular disorders, cognition, and mobility challenges. Maintaining adequate mobility is a useful benchmark to assess healthy aging as mobility is a well-known problem with the aged. In addition to this, a study has shown that assessing grip strength is a valid technique to assess mobility health.
A 2015 study found that an 11-pound drop in grip strength leads to a 16 percent increase in mortality. The study involves all sorts of people across 17 countries with 142,000 study populations. Imperatively, as you grow older, you must focus on increasing your muscular mass. This will lower many ailments that harm the elderly's quality of life.
The further you read, the more you will realize that handgrip strengthening exercise is as vital as training your arms and chest muscles since it is a measure of your general health. There are many benefits of firm grip strength but of particular importance are these three:
- Lower Mortality Risk: According to a 2015 study, grip strength is inversely proportional to mortality and it is a good sign of overall health. There is a 17 percent decrease in mortality for every 5 kilometers increase in grip strength.
- Higher Quality of Life: Because reduced muscle mass is the core cause of mobility issues in the elderly, exercise that increases muscular strength allows for healthy aging. Good mobility and healthy aging are linked to strong grip strength. This improves the elderly's quality of life.
- Lessened Cardiovascular Crisis: A healthy heart is necessary for good body functionality. In a study of 140,000 people chosen at random, it was shown that individuals suffering from cardiovascular illness had insufficient grip strength. Exercise that improves grip strength improves heart muscular strength, which implies firmer grip strength, and a healthier heart.
How to Improve Your Grip Strength
Before you read about the various exercises, understand the holistic effect of grip strength on the health strength.
Yes, aging is unavoidable, but by completing grip strengthening exercises, you can actively slow down the aging of your hand. According to research, doing a few grip strengthening exercises regularly might have a significant impact on the rate at which your hands' age. In addition, the research links this tight grasp to improved cognition, physical fitness, fitness health, and overall quality of life. It goes on to show how a tight hand grasp slows down the loss of muscle and bone mass which are an important process of aging.
Now, improve your quality of life with these 5 grip strengthening exercises:
1. Squeezing of object
Squeezing an object with your hands strengthens the muscles in your forearm and hands. It maintains muscle tone and increases your arm’s ability to grasp objects. The importance of squeezing exercise in improving grip strength cannot be overstated. Practicing with various objects of varying strength and resistance builds your grip strength faster and more effectively than you may imagine.
2. Grip strengthener gives the result faster
Do you desire a quicker outcome? Consider getting a grip strength kit. The kit has grip rings and finger extensors. Practicing grip strengthening routine exercise with the kit will enhance your grip strength quickly. The device is available in various strengths. Some of them are intended for experienced rock climbers rather than beginners. If you’re a newbie, it’s best to start with something gentle and low-resistance.
3. Baoding Balls
A Baoding ball is a metal device with chimes that can be used to strengthen your hand strip in a fun-filled way. Apart from improving grip strength, its effects have been extrapolated to improve overall body health, better sleep, and stress management. Simply rotate the metallic object in your palm using your fingers and thumb to complete the exercise.
4. Power Squeeze
Power squeeze exercises will strengthen your grasp while also making your handshake firmer. Imagine how much more confident you’ll be with your firm handshake! Place your hands around a tennis ball or other soft object and squeeze it for 5 minutes, then rest and repeat the exercise three times.
5. Sticky Fingers Exercise
Sticky finger exercises help with both fine and gross motor skills. It improves the strength of your fingers’ pincer grip. Open your palm wide and press each finger on your thumb one by one, keeping the other fingers as far back as possible. Repeat three times each day.
How to Determine Your Grip Strength
A handheld dynamometer is a device for measuring grip strength. It measures in both kilometers and pounds. Handexer hand held dynamometer gives the best design that is simple, accurate, and reliable. The simplicity and reliability of the device have made it a choice for medical professionals, physical therapists, occupational therapists, personal trainers and gyms, fitness and health enthusiasts, seniors, and rehabilitation. What the users have not failed to praise is its ease of use. You may try it out!
Remember grip strength is a good indicator of health strength. Take responsibility!
