Standing on one leg can help strengthen your balance as you get older

Sign up for CNN’s Fitness, But Better newsletter series. CNN — It’s a stance flamingos and other feathered species usually take, but seeing how long you can balance on one leg can be a good test of your health, according to a new study. Standing on one leg “is a good measure of your overall health system because balance reflects how the body’s systems are working together,” said senior author Dr. Kenton Kaufman, a research scientist and the W. Hall Wendel Jr. Musculoskeletal Research Professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The study of 40 participants — all in similarly good health with no neuromuscular disorders — found that the amount of time one could hold a one-legged stance declined at the rate of 2.2 seconds per decade in the nondominant side and at the rate of 1.7 seconds per decade in the dominant side for both men and women when controlling for body size. … People should work on all aspects of balance — static, dynamic and overall strength, including but not limited to standing on one leg.” To improve your balance, Lubetzky recommends fitness or balance classes, such as yoga classes, that usually aim for about 30 or 60 seconds of balance on each leg.