In life, balance can really be the key.
This could be especially true for older adults. According to a new study, it may be possible to predict how long they will live based on how well they can balance on one foot.
The study found that the inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds is related to nearly twice the risk of death from any cause over the next decade.
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According to a report published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the balance is declining rapidly after the mid-1950s, which often increases the risk of falls and other health hazards.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Claudio Gil Soares de Araújo, sports and exercise physician and director of research and education at the Exercise Medicine Clinic-CLINIMEX in Rio de Janeiro, wrote that the poor balance and musculoskeletal well-being can be related to frailty in the elderly. adults.
“Elderly people who fall have a very high risk of suffering significant fractures and other related complications,” Araújo wrote. “This may play a role in the increased risk of mortality.”
The study was conducted on 1,702 Brazilian residents between the ages of 51 and 75.
In their first review of the study, the research team collected data on each participant’s weight, waist size, and body fat measurements. Only people who could walk without great difficulty were included in the study.
Study participants were monitored between 2008 and 2020.
Participants received three attempts to balance without support for 10 seconds on one leg with the foot raised by touching the back of the standing leg, both arms at the sides, and eyes fixed forward.
One in five participants did not.
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According to the study, the ability to balance on one foot for 10 seconds decreased with age. Those who failed the test, the study says, generally had poorer health than the other participants. They were also more likely to be obese and have cardiovascular disease, unhealthy blood cholesterol levels, and type 2 diabetes.
At the conclusion of the study, the researchers concluded that the risk of death at 10 years was almost twice as high in participants who failed the one-leg test. This determination was made after taking into account factors such as age, sex, BMI, history of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, the study says.
Balance, Araújo wrote in the study, is necessary for a wide range of daily tasks.
“Remember that we regularly have to stay in one leg posture, get out of a car, go up or down a step or ladder, etc.,” Araújo wrote.
He also noted in the study that an elderly person’s balance can be improved by increasing physical activity and exercise.
It is not yet known why exactly a loss of balance can predict death in the elderly, the researchers noted in the study.
In Canada, falling is the leading cause of injury among the elderly. According to the Canadian government, between 20 and 30 per cent of adults experience one or more falls each year.
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