It has been known that the ability to balance the body of one leg has been a marker of good health for some time. A new study confirmed this when it found that people who could not balance for 10 seconds were twice as likely to die in the next 10 years.
Although this finding may sound suspicious as spam chain mail from the early years, there is clearly some truth in this, although a definitive causal link has not yet been proven. According to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, people who could not maintain their balance for 10 seconds were associated with higher mortality than any other reason, leading researchers to call for a balance test. to be part of routine health examinations. .
The study was the first of its kind to be conducted over a 12-year period, with 1,702 people between the ages of 51 and 75 observed from 2008 to 2020. Participants were asked to keep the front of one foot on the other. , keeping their hands to the side and looking straight ahead. They are allowed up to three attempts with each leg.
“After taking into account age, gender and basic conditions, the inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds is associated with an 84% increased risk of death for any reason,” reports The Guardian. The results showed that 123 people died over the next few years, and 21% of participants failed the balance test.
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Although this study is reported to be the first to comprehensively examine the relationship between balance and mortality, it adds weight to previous research on how balance is a marker of good health in general.
In addition, experts have previously suggested that practicing balance can be beneficial to us. “Every time you practice one-legged posture, it’s an opportunity to re-calibrate your brain, making new connections and strengthening coordination between your ears, eyes, joints and muscles,” Dr. Michael Mosley, a doctor and health writer, told BBC.
Mosley added that in the 1990s, researchers conducted three tests on 2,760 people over the age of 50 – for their grip, how many times they could stand up from a sitting position for a minute and their balance on one leg with their eyes closed. The balance test proved to be the strongest predictor of health – 13 years after the experiment, those who could not balance for more than two seconds were three times more likely to die.
In addition, improving the balance in this way is associated with fewer falls, which in turn are associated with high mortality rates. There is a fascinating simplicity in the idea – more balance, literally, leads to a better quality of life – and, perhaps, even longer.
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