As I’ve gotten older, standing on one leg when I, say, put on pants has become a trickier athletic feat than it used to be. It probably means I have to get myself in shape before it’s too late, because according to a study published in JAMA Network Open, my ability to balance on one leg may be a decent indicator of how many years I’ve got left ahead of me.
Researchers from Taiwan tracked 13,423 adults aged 65 and older. All the participants had to do was complete seven basic fitness tests that measured balance, agility, strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance. By the end of the study, 1631 participants had died. The study didn’t kill them, but rather their deaths revealed some valuable information to the researchers.
They found that the strongest predictor of life expectancy in older folks had nothing to do with heart and lung fitness, despite how much medical professionals focus on them. The strongest predictors were standard tests involving standing on one leg for 30 seconds and a classic “8-foot up-and-go” test, wherein the participant had to stand from a seated position in a chair, walk around a cone, and return to the seat as quickly as possible.
People in the fastest group had about 59 percent lower mortality risk than those in the slowest group.
Standing on One Leg May Reveal How Long You’ll Live
People who could stand on one leg for 30 seconds had roughly half the mortality risk of the worst performers.
People who passed all seven tests had a strong association with long-term survival. As for why, the researchers think that balance and mobility reveal a lot about a person’s survivability because they require several parts of your body to work in concert. Standing on one leg requires vision for balance, leg strength, a well-balanced inner ear, and a functioning brain that can coordinate with the body. It also helps that not falling is a great trait to have as you get older. That alone can tack on extra years to your life.
It’s a low-tech health test that isn’t a replacement for in-depth medical analysis, but serves as a supplement and a general rule of thumb for estimating someone’s overall health and how many years they may have.
The post The One-Leg Test That Could Reveal Your Risk of Dying appeared first on VICE.
