Standing On One Leg Helps Predict Brain Health And Longevity

Try this one out. Try standing on one leg for twenty seconds and repeat the procedure in your other leg? How do you feel? Can you stand in one leg for at least 20 seconds?

A recent study led by Dr Yasuharu Tabara, associate professor of genomic medicine at Kyoto University, Japan and is published in the journal Stroke said that the inability to stand in one leg for at least twenty seconds is an indicator that your brain health is not at its optimum performance, a report from Daily Mail said.

Further, this is linked to the likelihood of 'silent' strokes that happened when there are tiny bleeds in the brain that can lead to serious problems like dementia and life-threatening strokes.

"The ability to balance on one leg is an important test for brain health," Dr. Tabara said.

He further said, "Individuals showing poor balance on one leg should receive increased attention, as this may indicate an increased risk for brain disease and cognitive decline," he said in a separate report from The Telegraph.

According to Express, a similar study led by author Dr Rachel Cooper at the Medical Research Council in the US was also published last year. In the study, the sense of balance in the involved 50,000 participants who are 53 years old was tested.

Men and women who are involved in the study are experimented by letting them stand up from a chair and standing on one leg.

The study said that participants who cannot stand longer than ten seconds have a higher risk of having health problems and are advised to make lifestyle changes.

Also, men and women who can stand up from a chair more than 37 times are also said to be healthier than their counterparts. The research also said that not performing in these two activities means having 12 times more likely to die in the next thirteen years!

Meanwhile, Dr. Cooper said that the tests are also applicable among younger people and can still predict their brain health and general well-being.

"The majority of these studies are done in older people but we have shown that even in this younger age group, where you would not expect pre-existing disease, we are still seeing these measures are picking up some underlying ageing and disease process," she said.