Can you stand the test?
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic have unlocked an easy, equipment-free way to determine biological age. The team says the amount of time you are able to balance on one leg is a critical indicator of nerve, bone and muscle strength.
In the study, 40 healthy participants over 50 (half under 65, and half over) underwent walking and balance tests and exercises that tested their grip and knee strength. The study excluded obese individuals and those with pre-existing conditions that would affect their balance or stride.
Dr. Kenton Kaufman, Ph.D., senior author of the study and director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Mayo Clinic, says, “Balance is an important measure because, in addition to muscle strength, it requires input from vision, the vestibular system, and the somatosensory systems.”
For the balance tests, which lasted 30 seconds each, subjects stood on force plates that measured how much energy they exerted onto the ground. Participants were asked to perform different stances: two feet on the ground with eyes open, two feet on the ground with eyes closed, standing on one leg using their non-dominant leg with eyes open, and on their dominant leg with eyes open.
Results showed that standing on one leg, notably the nondominant leg, showed the highest rate of decline with age.
With the nondominant leg, and with each passing decade, the amount of time an individual could stand decreased by 2.2 seconds. For the dominant leg, that time declined by 1.7 seconds per decade.
Researchers noted that muscle mass decreases up to 8% per decade after the age of 30, a rate that increases from 60 on.
Study authors hope this low-tech test will encourage people to test bone strength independently and adjust accordingly. The team said, “This finding is significant because this measurement does not require specialized expertise, advanced tools, or techniques for measurement and interpretation. It can be easily performed, even by individuals themselves.”
Kaufman maintains that balance changes can equate to added danger, “If you have poor balance, you’re at risk of falling, whether or not you’re moving. Falls are a severe health risk with serious consequences.”
A 2022 study dubbed the “flamingo challenge” found that middle-aged people who cannot balance on one foot for 10 seconds face a dramatically higher risk of early death.
Dr. Claudio Gil Araújo, of the Exercise Medicine Clinic CLINIMEX in Rio de Janeiro and author of the flamingo challenge study, told CNN, “We regularly need … a one-legged posture, to move out of a car, to climb or to descend a step or stair and so on. To not have this ability or being afraid in doing so is likely related to loss of autonomy and, in consequence, less exercise, and the snowball starts.”
Experts agree that increasing our physical strength and flexibility while improving posture and balance can pave the way for aging well and maintaining independence in our later years.
Caroline Idiens, a UK fitness coach specializing in home strength workouts, recently wrote in The Telegraph that balance is an indicator of physical well-being and cognitive health, “Balance taxes the brain because it requires your eyes, your vestibular system (which comes from the inner ears and detects movement), and proprioceptors in your limbs that send signals to your brain, telling it what is going on.”
Ines’ says the following timestamps for standing on one leg are a good indicator of overall health.
- If you’re under 40, you should be able to stand on one leg continuously for 43 seconds.
- If you’re in your 40s, go for 40 seconds
- If you’re in your 50s, try 37 seconds
- If you’re in your 60s, 18 to 19 seconds is the goal
- If you’re in your 70s, it’s 10 to 15 seconds
- If you’re 80 or older, aim for a little over five seconds
Kaufman’s parameters are somewhat less exacting.
He says people can make a stand to train and improve their balance. “By standing on one leg, you can train yourself to coordinate your muscle and vestibular responses to maintain correct balance. If you can stand on one leg for 30 seconds, you are doing well.”
If you want to take it up a notch, or lace as it were, the so-called “old man balance challenge” has been wildly popular on social media. The premise is simple: stand on one leg and tie the shoelaces on the elevated foot, or maintain the stance for the time it would take to tie the laces.
