How long you can balance on one leg can indicate how old you are

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Used with permission of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, all rights reserved, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Used with permission of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, all rights reserved, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

US and Taiwanese scientists say your ability to balance on one leg is a good indicator of how old you are, as the time we can maintain the balance declines as we age to a similar extent in both men and women. The decline is caused by the deterioration of our muscles and nerves, they say. The team also looked for links between ageing and grip strength, knee strength, balance while standing on both legs, and gait, but balancing on one leg was the only reliable indicator of age.

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Person balancing on one leg
Person balancing on one leg

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PLOS ONE
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Organisation/s: Mayo Clinic, USA
Funder: AR-K25AG068368 RJP-Robert and Arlene Kogod Professorship in Geriatric Medicine KRK-W. Hall Wendel, Jr. Musculoskeletal Professorship
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