from British Journal of Sports Medicine
If you are at least middle age, can you stand on one leg for ten seconds? This test of balance in mid to later life is linked to doubling the risk of death from any cause in the next ten years. So says research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Nearly two thousand participants, older than fifty, were assessed for physical fitness, general health and related variables. An average of twenty percent failed the ten second test, with less success among older participants. That was expected, but the proportion of deaths among those who failed the test was significantly higher than those of a similar age who were able to complete the test.