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How long you can stand on one leg indicates your health

Umito November 3, 2024

How long you can balance on one leg may be an important indicator of your health and aging, according to a new study.
Researchers have found that the length of time a person can stand on one leg is a better measure of aging than changes in strength or gait.
Experts explain what balance has to do with biological age and how the test helps determine yours.

Of course, yoga can be a great low impact exercise to improve overall health. But it turns out that one pose, in particular, can show off a lot more than just your flexibility. How long you can stand on one leg may be an important indicator of your health and aging, according to new research.

A small Mayo Clinic study published in PLOS One examined 40 independent, healthy people over the age of 50, half of whom were under 65; the other half were 65 and older. Researchers used the following tests to assess age-related decline as well as gender differences.

Grip strength: A hand-held device was used to measure upper body strength.
Knee strength: Knee extension exercises assessed lower body strength.
Gait: Participants walked at their own pace on a designated path while a motion analysis system captured their movements.
Balance: Participants stood on plates measuring balance in four different scenarios: on both feet, eyes open, eyes closed, and on the dominant and non-dominant leg, eyes open. Participants could hold the leg they were not standing on where they wanted.

Of the four tests, researchers found that the length of time a person maintained balance while standing on one leg had “the greatest rate of decline with age,” according to the Mayo Clinic. In other words, the results showed that the amount of time a person can stand on one dominant and non-dominant leg decreased significantly with age, and that the decrease was greater than gait and muscle strength.

Specifically, the researchers determined that the length of time a person can stand on one leg decreased at the rate of 2.2 seconds per decade in the non-dominant leg, while doing the same at the rate of 1.7 seconds. per decade in the dominant leg. The researchers noted that these results held true for all genders.

“Balance is an important measure because, in addition to muscular strength, it requires input from vision, the vestibular system (a sensory system in the inner ear that helps maintain balance), and the somatosensory system (part of the nervous system that allows people to perceive bodily sensations, such as touch, pressure, pain, temperature and movement),” said Kenton Kaufman, Ph.D., lead author of the study and director of the laboratory of analysis of the movement of the Mayo Clinic, in a study. statement. “The changes in balance are remarkable. If you have poor balance, you may fall whether you move or not. Falls represent a serious health risk and their consequences are serious.

The statement emphasized that the main cause of injuries in adults 65 and older, these are unintentional falls – and most falls in older adults result from loss of balance.

The essentials

This research shows how balance can be used as a measure of age, but it is not the first study to do so. A June 2022 study claimed that balance ability is linked to longer life, finding that those who failed to stand on one leg for a long period 10 second balance test were associated with an 84% increased risk of death over the next seven years.

The good news is that you can take steps to prevent this by balance exercises. “For example, by standing on one leg, you can practice coordinating your muscular and vestibular responses to maintain proper balance. If you can stand on one leg for 30 seconds, you are fine,” Dr. Kaufman said in the Mayo Clinic release.

“If you don’t use it, you lose it. If you use it, you maintain it,” Dr. Kaufman continued. “It’s easy to do. It doesn’t require any special equipment and you can do it every day.