Seniors, listen up.
A new study suggests that how well you perform on a simple balance test could offer clues about how well you’re aging — and even your chances of making it through the next seven years.
Researchers found that older adults who performed best on the free, at-home assessment were about half as likely to die during the follow-up period as those with the lowest scores.
The study involved more than 13,000 community-dwelling adults ages 65 and older in Taiwan, about 62.5% of whom were women.
The participants took a series of standardized tests designed to assess four areas of physical fitness: balance and agility, muscle strength, heart and lung endurance and flexibility.
The researchers then followed the participants for an average of seven years. During that time, 1,631 people — about 12% of the group — died.
When researchers compared the participants’ scores, they found that the fittest participants were about half as likely to die during the follow-up period as those who performed worst, even after adjusting for factors like age, sex, body weight and preexisting conditions.
But not all of the tests were equally telling.
8-foot up-and-go
The strongest predictor was the so-called “8-foot up-and-go,” which measured balance and agility. Participants started seated, stood up, walked eight feet around a cone, returned to the chair and sat back down.
Those who scored highest had a 59% lower mortality risk than those who scored lowest.
One-leg balance
Another balance-and-agility test was even simpler: They had participants stand on one leg with their eyes open for up to 30 seconds. The top scorers had about half the mortality risk of those at the bottom.
Standing and sitting
The researchers also tested lower-body strength by counting how many times participants could stand up from a chair and sit back down in 30 seconds, with their arms crossed over their chests.
Those who managed the most chair stands had a 45% lower mortality risk than those who were able to do the fewest.
Two-minute step test
Next came heart and lung endurance. For this, the participants completed a two-minute step test, repeatedly lifting their knees to a set height. Their score was based on the number of steps they completed.
Once again, the difference was significant, with better scores associated with a 58% lower mortality risk.
Back-scratch test
Flexibility threw the researchers a curveball.
To measure this, the participants took a back-scratch test, reaching one hand up and behind the back while bringing the other hand up from below. The researchers measured the gap or overlap between the middle of their fingertips.
The seniors also performed a chair sit-and-reach test, reaching both middle fingers toward the toes of one extended leg while keeping the heel on the floor and the other leg bent.
Notably, the team found that while extreme stiffness was associated with higher mortality, becoming more flexible beyond a moderate, functional range of motion didn’t appear to provide additional benefits when it came to a longer life.
Grand total
When the researchers combined the scores from all the fitness tests, the participants in the top 20% of performers had about a 61% lower mortality risk than those in the bottom 20%.
But when it came to longevity, some fitness factors carried more weight than others when it came down to the different sexes.
Among men, balance and agility showed the strongest association with lower mortality, followed by heart and lung fitness. Among women, lower-body strength appeared to matter about as much as balance and agility.
The researchers suggested that this could be related to the higher prevalence of osteoporosis among older women. The condition makes the bones weak, thin and more prone to breaking — underscoring the importance of maintaining leg strength and mobility with age.
“Physical fitness reflects how multiple body systems work together,” Dr. Li-Lin Liang, a researcher at the Institute of Public Health at the College of Medicine at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and study co-author, told Everyday Health.
“It captures the cumulative effects of habitual activity, illness, and biological aging. In other words, a person’s physiological reserve and what they can functionally do, rather than simply which diagnoses they have accumulated.”
Why does it all matter?
As physical abilities decline, everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing, eating and walking can become more difficult. Losing strength and balance can also increase the risk of dangerous falls — threatening both independence and safety.
In the US, more than one in four adults ages 65 and older falls each year, making it the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults.
The researchers said the simple fitness tests used in the study could give doctors a useful snapshot of how well an older person’s body is holding up with age.
They suggested incorporating similar assessments into routine checkups, potentially helping health care providers spot people at greater risk of physical decline earlier and recommend targeted exercises to improve balance, agility, strength and endurance.
