Who loves to wobble?
Balancing on one leg may seem like a strange exercise, but a major new study suggests the ability to do so for more than ten seconds is an important marker of health.
For the study, 1,702 people aged 52 to 75 were asked to do a balance test. They then had their health monitored for the following decade. Once the researchers had accounted for age, sex, and underlying health conditions, they found that the participants who had not been able to balance on one leg for ten seconds were 84% more likely to die of any cause over that decade than the ones who could. Put another way, nearly one in six of the poor balancers died in the ten-year period, compared with only one in twenty-two of the rest.
(Journal reference: British Journal of Sports Medicine)
For the research, volunteers were asked to take off their shoes and socks, look straight ahead with their arms by their sides and tuck one foot behind the other calf. (Some people call this ‘the flamingo pose’.) They were allowed three tries to see if they could stand on one leg for ten seconds.
If they brought their arms or a leg out to help regain balance, the test was over.
Why not try it and feel the wobble! If you find the flamingo pose is easy, add some challenges. This could be as simple as closing your eyes or introducing some movement of the suspended foot and ankle, whilst continuing to balance.
Good balance is important because falls are a major killer of older people. (In fact, the biggest cause of accidental deaths worldwide after road traffic accidents is falling.) Usually because, if you fall over, you might break a bone and need surgery. Many people never regain the same mobility following their procedure.
Better balance means better posture and fewer injuries from falling. This is why I am so passionate about working on balance in my classes. To stay upright, your brain must receive messages from the balance organs of the inner ear in combination with messages from what you see and what your muscles and joints can feel. The brain can then decipher where your body is in space and predict the movements needed to stay upright. As you get older, and usually less active, the body becomes deconditioned and balance deteriorates.
The encouraging news is that it’s never too late to improve your balance! The key is consistency with exercises. Do some balance exercises every day – for example, standing on one leg while brushing your teeth.
The more you embrace the wobble, the more your brain can build new neural pathways that will improve your sense of balance. This is the amazing mind-body connection.
