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The mother of all tests is here: a new blood test that can predict how long a person is likely to live. This experiment is based on how quickly the person is ageing.

According to scientists involved in the experiment, the test, which will come for $700 initially, can find out the length of a person’s telomeres accurately. It is believed that telomeres are linked to a person’s life expectancy.

According to general perception, shorter the telomere, faster the ageing. Telomeres are parts of DNA that cap the edges of chromosomes, thus preventing damage to chromosomes and they also check loss of cell functions associated with ageing.

A Spanish company, Life Length has invented the new 'death test', which will indicate how long people will live.

“Knowing if our telomeres are normal in length or not for a particular chronological age will give us a report card of our health and our physiological age even before diseases strike,” said head of the telomeres research at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid.

“We can detect very minute differences in telomere length and it is a simple and fast test and many samples can be analysed simultaneously,” the scientist added.

This test, when commercially available, will surely find many takers right from the start in European countries as well as the US, the two markets where it is likely to be launched first.

This test could also prompt people to switch to healthy habits (in case they find they don’t have much time at hand). But if someone finds out he has a very short period to live, could it not act as a depressant?

Also, this method can predict a person’s life by ageing. But it cannot predict the life expectancy of a person who, say, is likely to be struck by a fatal disease like cancer.

A research at the University of Texas Andersen Cancer Centre says that women who have breast cancer and are undergoing radiation therapy can reap benefits that are unique from yoga.

Even as stretching exercise does away with fatigue, patients who took part in yoga such as breathing, meditation and postures felt physically fit in comparison to those who did not exercise. They also found themselves mentally adapting to their state much better.

A total of 163 women in various stages of breast cancer (with an average of around 50) were put in one of the three groups: a) yoga; b) simple stretching and c) no exercise.

Those in yoga and stretching attended tailor-made sessions for breast cancer patients for one hour a day (three days a week) during their six-week radiation treatment.

Participants were asked to inform progress in areas such as fatigue, daily functioning, depression, spirituality and whether they found any benefits.

After completing radiation therapy, only women in the yoga and stretching groups reported a reduction in fatigue. In fact, women who opted for yoga saw greater benefits in physical functioning and overall health and were mentally positive during their cancer treatment.

Those who practiced yoga saw highest fall in their cortisol during the day, which shows this stress hormone could be reined in with the help of yoga.

So, whether it’s a test to find out how long you’ll live or yoga to stay fit during breast cancer, it is essential for patients to be mentally positive as it gives a fillip to the overall treatment of dreaded diseases like cancer or even AIDS.