A 10-second exercise can determine if you are at risk for premature death

If we were to tell them that there is one really, really simple exercise that can predict your health, would you not try it?

of course!

Write us in the comments how it went and you might win a long life

Walla!

health

23/06/2022

Thursday, 23 June 2022, 07:35

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Simple, simple, simple.

The exercise that predicts early death (Photo: Giphy)

For years, experts have linked aerobic exercise to our health.

However, they seem to put less emphasis on non-aerobic fitness - things like flexibility, muscle strength / power and balance.

New research shows we may have missed something important because of this.

A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine finds that people who cannot stand on one leg for 10 seconds from the age of 50 and up are twice as likely to die in the next ten years.

The study used participants in an open-label follow-up / evaluation study of CLINIMEX physical activity, originally established in 1994, to evaluate the relationship between different measures of physical fitness and other risk factors.

In their paper, the researchers estimated a group of 1,702 participants between 2009 and 2020.

During the tests, participants were asked to stand on one leg for 10 seconds without any additional support.

The researchers even made this test difficult, and the group placed the front of their free foot on the back of the lower foot, with the hands to the sides, all while looking straight ahead.

The group was allowed up to three attempts of this procedure.

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To the full article

The results were amazing

Overall, one in five of the group failed a one-legged standing test and was correlated with age and failure.

The failure appears to have doubled at five-year intervals from age 51-55 onwards.

Investigators continued to follow the respondents for an average of seven years and found that 7 percent (123) of the group died.

Of those deaths, 32 percent were caused by cancer, 30 percent by cardiovascular disease, 9 percent by respiratory disease and 7 percent by coronary complications.

The death rate among those who failed was much higher: 17.5 percent compared to 4.5 percent.

Taking into account age, sex and health conditions, the researchers determined that those who could not complete the 10-second test were 84 percent more likely to die from any cause in the next decade.

We get harder at older ages.

Woman standing on one leg (Photo: ShutterStock)

Is this test good at predicting the risk of death?

Those who failed the test appeared to be in poorer health: type 2 diabetes was three times more common in the failed group than in the successful group, and had a higher rate of obesity, high blood pressure, unhealthy fat profiles and heart disease.

"I think poor non-aerobic fitness (usually related to a sedentary lifestyle, but not always) is the background for poor quality of life, less exercise and so on," Dr. Claudio Gil Arauho, lead author of the study, told IFLScience. The bottom line is poor fitness.

In addition, of course, poor balance is associated with falls.

Older people who fall are at very high risk for major fractures and other related complications.

It may also play a role in this high mortality rate, "Araujo added.

"I would suggest people aged 51-75 go for a health check, regardless of the clinical condition and any environment," Araujo told IFLScience.

"The 10-second test at the beginning of the consultation should be included, along with height, weight and blood pressure measurements. It's simple," Araujo said.

"As a practical message, if you're under 70, you're likely to successfully complete the test. For those over 70, if you finish it, you're in a better static balance than your peers."

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• exercise

• capacity

• health

• heart diseases

• diabetes mellitus