Doctors and scientists point out that The ability to stand on one leg for a few seconds not only measures balance: it also gives clues about muscle strength, the state of the brain, the risk of falls and, in older people, even the likelihood of premature death.
When you are young, standing on one leg requires almost no effort. However, As the years go by, this posture becomes increasingly difficult, reflecting profound changes in the body. The test, which seems like a game, becomes a simple window to see how the body is aging.
Specialists describe that The ability to maintain this posture matures around the age of 9 or 10 and reaches its peak towards the end of 30. From that age onwards, balance begins to gradually deteriorate, in parallel with the loss of strength and muscle mass. This degradation is linked to sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle tissue associated with aging.
Tracy Espiritu McKay, a rehabilitation medicine specialist at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, recalled that From the age of 30 you can lose up to 8% of muscle mass per decade. According to research, by the time people reach age 80, up to half may have clinical sarcopenia, a condition closely linked to frailty and falls.
Kenton Kaufman, director of the movement analysis laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, stressed that: “The ability to stand on one leg decreases (with age)”, this does not depend only on strong and flexible muscles. It also requires the brain to integrate visual information, balance from the inner ear (the vestibular system), and signals from the complex network of somatosensory nerves that inform body position and contact with the ground.
Kaufman warned that All of these systems deteriorate with age and do not do so at the same rate. When the process is accelerated, premature brain shrinkage can occur, limiting the ability to remain active and live independently. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that Falls linked to loss of balance are the leading cause of injuries in people over 65 years of age in the United States.
Cardiologist and exercise medicine specialist Claudio Gil Araújo, from the Clinimex clinic in Rio de Janeiro, led a study in 2022 that directly related this test to mortality. His team found that middle-aged people who couldn’t stand on one leg for 10 seconds were 84% more likely to die from any cause over the next seven years than those who passed the test.
Gil Araújo recommended that all people over 50 years of age do a periodic self-assessment of their ability to stand on one leg for at least 10 seconds. In his clinic, he said, they have evaluated patients up to 95 years old capable of maintaining their posture without problems, which shows (as he claims) that “we can train and improve the performance of our biological systems until the last days of our life, even if we are centenarians.”
Espiritu McKay noted that the same pattern is seen in people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease: Those who still balance on one leg show slower cognitive decline. The specialist maintained that these exercises, known as “single-leg training,” not only strengthen trunk, hips and leg muscles, but also promote brain plasticity, improve sensorimotor integration and can increase working memory in healthy young adults.
For this reason, Espiritu McKay recommended that All people over 65 years of age incorporate single-leg balance exercises at least three times a week, ideally integrated into the daily routine (for example, while brushing teeth or washing dishes) and starting even much earlier in life. Specialists recommended and explained that standing for a few minutes a day on one leg can translate into fewer falls, better mobility, and healthier aging.
