Longevity Test

A 10-second stand on one leg as a marker of aging

Elena Krasnova, "Search"

An international team of scientists in the field of sports medicine conducted a study. In it, scientists processed clinical data collected as part of the work on the impact of physical exercise on health. The participants in the experiments were between 50 and 70 years old when the first tests were conducted. The subjects were asked to stand on one leg (either right or left) for 10 seconds, with their arms stretched out along the body. This pose is also called the flamingo pose.

"The one—legged test has been used to assess balance for the past five decades, but it is not usually used in the clinical examination of middle-aged and older people," he said.  Setor Kunutsor from Bristol Medical School in the UK.

Each participant had three attempts. Then they were watched for several years.

"Out of 1,702 volunteers who took part in the experiment in the period from 2009 to the end of 2020, almost 350 — that is, one in five — could not keep their balance, and the probability of this became twice as high for every additional 5 years of aging," writes Science Alert.

The conclusion of scientists is this: the inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds increases the risk of death over the next 10 years by 84%. Experts cannot explain the reasons yet. Observational research works exactly like this: there are facts, and scientists compare them. But they recommend that specialists pay attention to the results of this study.

"The current results show that a 10-second stand on one leg is a potential practical tool that can be used in everyday clinical practice to identify middle-aged and older people with a high risk of death. We urge researchers with access to this data to publish their findings to confirm these results," the website says. University of Bristol.

The results of the study are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Araujo et al., Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru