The Grip Test: What Your Handshake Says About Your Heart

The Grip Test

What Your Handshake Says About Your Heart 

A firm handshake has always signalled confidence in a boardroom. According to Harvard Health Publishing, it may also be quietly signalling something more important: your risk of a heart attack, a stroke, or an early death. For an owner who already tracks a dozen leading indicators for the business, it’s worth adding one for yourself - this one takes five seconds and costs nothing.

The evidence comes from the PURE study, published in The Lancet - the largest study of its kind. Researchers measured grip strength, using a simple handheld dynamometer, in nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries, then tracked their health for an average of four years.

The Numbers

For every 5 kg drop in grip strength:

These numbers held even after the researchers adjusted for age, smoking and exercise habits - the usual suspects that muddy this kind of finding.

The Biomarker of Ageing

This wasn’t a one-off finding - smaller studies had already linked grip strength to disability and death. PURE was simply the largest, and the effect held up consistently whether the country was rich or poor, which is what makes the result credible rather than a statistical fluke.

That consistency led researchers from the University of Southampton and Newcastle University, writing in an editorial accompanying the study, to propose that grip strength may act as “a biomarker of ageing across the life course” - a read on your biological age that can run well ahead of, or behind, the number on your birth certificate.

One curious detail: weak grip wasn’t linked to higher rates of diabetes or cancer - only to dying sooner once a serious illness actually strikes. The likely explanation is that muscle strength functions as a reserve tank. It won’t stop you getting sick, but it improves your odds of surviving it, and of recovering well afterwards.

Building the Reserve

None of this requires a gym membership or a training plan you won’t stick to:

• Resistance training, two to three times a week: dumbbells, machines, or resistance bands all work equally well, with a rest day between sessions

• Everyday reps: stair climbs instead of the lift, carrying your own bags, calf raises while you’re on a call

• Seven to eight hours of sleep a night: so the muscle tissue you’ve stressed actually gets to repair

• A balanced diet: Protein from beans, fish and nuts rather than supplements, plus wholegrains and five-plus servings of fruit and vegetables a day

• A quarterly check-in: squeeze a dynamometer (most gyms and physios have one) and track the trend the way you’d track any other number worth watching

None of it is complicated, and none of it takes long. The takeaway is simple: your grip is a five-second, no-cost readout on something worth paying attention to - long before it shows up anywhere else.

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Source:

Harvard Health Publishing (2015). “Grip strength may provide clues to heart health.” Harvard Medical School. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/grip-strength-may-provide-clues-to-heart-health-201505198022

Leong, D.P. et al. (2015). “Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study.” The Lancet, 386(9990), 266–273. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62000-6/abstract

Sayer, A.A. & Kirkwood, T. (2015). Editorial comment, The Lancet, 386(9990), 226–227 — proposing grip strength as a biomarker of ageing.

This article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment, or guidance from a qualified healthcare provider. Always consult your doctor before making changes to your exercise routine, diet, or medication, or if you have concerns about your health. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not constitute an endorsement by, or affiliation with, any of the studies, institutions, or individuals cited.