Balance & Coordination Have More Effect On Your Health Than You Realize
Standing on one leg seems like something pretty simple, but you'd be surprised at just how many adults cannot properly perform the act, especially not for a significant period of time. As children we often take for granted the ease and grace at which we are able to bend, move and rotate. As we age, our flexibility declines, and so too does our overall hand-eye coordination and balance.
However, those that are able to accomplish the feat could be the select few that are at significantly less risk for stroke, heart attack and the onset of dementia later in life. This according to a recent study based on the connection between the ability to stand on one leg and age related mental and physical illness.
Researchers were able to find that an inability to stand on one leg for more than 20 seconds is directly connected with microbleeds and "silent" strokes, both of which are extremely dangerous health concerns, usually present in the latter stages of life. Now, these types of brain injuries are typically classed as being far too small to cause serious symptoms, but thy do help physicians identify patterns and signals for later problems.
Lacunar infarctions, otherwise known as "silent" strokes, drastically raise the risk of stroke and dementia. the ability to stand on one leg may not seem tied to any of these serious health issues, but balancing like this is a major test for overall brain health, and a brain that's healthy is one much less likely to be effected by stroke.
Typically, those that show poor balance on one leg tend to indicate an increased risk for brain disease and cognitive damage.
In the study, participants were asked to stand on one leg for 60 seconds, the test was performed twice and the best time from the two tries was recorded for the results. Then magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed on the brains of the participants to help better assess if they were suffering from cerebral small vessel disease, which is responsible for disrupting blood flow through the brain.
The results showed that well over 30 percent of those that presented with at least two lacunar infarction lesions had difficulty properly balancing, the same was true of those with two or more different areas of microbleeding within the brain.
So, what seems like something not overly tied into medicine or brain health, is actually one of the easiest tests to help predict brain issues of this particular kind, so much so, that the one legged test is administered in hospitals across the world. Detecting brain abnormalities at an early stage gives individuals a much greater chance of repairing the damage without permanent harm or concern.