Handshake Health

Shaking hands doesn't just mean the confirmation of a deal or a very nice to meet you anymore. In fact experts say it can mean so much more.

The strength of the grip of your handshake could be an indicator of how long you will live.

In fact, it could be a better tool at assessing your cardiovascular health than your blood pressure, according to physicians at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Reduced muscle strength measured by a person's handshake grip, is consistently linked with early death, disability and illness. A study found that for every five kilogram decline in grip strength, there was a one in six increased risk of death from any cause.

There also was a 17% higher risk of death from either heart disease or stroke. These connections with grip strength held factors that were counted as age, sex, education level, employment status, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use, diet, BMI, waist-to-hip ratio or other conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, coronary artery disease, COPD, stroke or heart failure or their country's wealth.

A healthy grip strength does depend on the individual's size and weight and in this study it also appeared to change with ethnicity.