There’s no way to predict exactly how long any of us will live or precisely how well we’re ageing, but scientists have created a series of tests they think might give us a rough idea.

It looks, for instance, like the condition of key muscles might be linked to how we’re ageing overall. Your balance and even personality seem to matter, too.

Here are just a few of the science-backed challenges:

A recent study conducted with women aged 63-99 looked at unassisted sit-to-stand chair raises (going from a seated position to standing without leaning on something, as quickly as possible).

Scientists tracked participants’ speed in seconds for five of these raises.

“When it came to chair stands, moving from the slowest time to the fastest time in 6-second increments, researchers saw a 4% lower mortality rate,” the University of Buffalo, whose researchers were involved in the study, said.

A separate 2012 study called the sit-to-stand test a “significant predictor of mortality” among 51-to-80-year-olds.

The same study involving older women found that for every seven extra kilograms of pressure participants could apply to a hand dynamometer in a grip test, they saw a 12% lower mortality risk on average.

It’s far from the only paper to note such a link.

Described by researchers as an “indispensable biomarker for older adults,” weaker grip strength has been linked to an increased likelihood of diabetes, fractures, cognitive decline, depression, and low quality of life.

The amount of time you can stand on one leg serves as a “valid measure of frailty, independence, and fall status and… a useful tool in identifying patients with peripheral neuropathy,” researchers have previously said.

Even if that’s a walk (or hop) in the park for you, the NHS added, you shouldn’t stand on one leg for more than a minute.

“A slow walk is a problem sign decades before old age,” Professor Terrie Moffit, senior author of a 2019 ageing study, told King’s College London. The trait was linked to faster brain and bodily ageing among participants; their lungs, teeth, and immune systems also aged faster.

A “gait speed” or “four metre” test can help you work out where you stack up. For a four metre test, you’ll need a 10m path, with two metres for the person to speed up to their normal pace and two to decelerate; mark it out and get a timer.

Once you pass the acceleration zone and enter the four metres in the centre, time your walk, ending once you enter the deceleration zone. Then, divide the number of seconds it took you to complete the course by the number of metres you walked.

Less than 0.8m/s is considered a low gait speed, according to the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia.

Yes, cholesterol figures and your blood pressure can say a lot about your heart health. But the NHS has created a questionnaire to help you work out the approximate biological age of the organ, too (it’s only suitable for people aged 30-95 without an existing heart condition).

Questions like these were among those asked in a study looking at the link between ageing and curiosity.

Participants were asked how curious they were to hear the answer to the questions; their general curiosity was also assessed.

General curiosity among people who love things like reading broadly and exploring the world – far-reaching, or “trait,” curiosity – “has been shown to relate to better cognitive outcomes,” study author Dr Mary Whatley shared.

But older people tended to have more “state curiosity,” or temporary interest in a specific question or subject, with most people’s trait curiosity declining over time.