This simple test can help you know your chances of dying within the next 7 years
Do you want to know in which year you might die? Of course yes! It will help you plan the rest of your life and you could actually live those last years to the fullest. Well, to help you find out your death year, a recent study suggests a simple test that might help.
The study has revealed that the Flamingo Test can tell your chances of dying within the next 7 years.
What is the Flamingo Test?
Flamingo is a balance test. In this test, you are supposed to stand on one leg. As the saying goes, life is all about balance. This test is also useful in determining your fitness level.
Coming back to the study, it has concluded that middle-aged people who cannot balance themselves on one leg for 10 seconds are at a significantly higher risk of dying within the next 7 years.
For the study, 1,702 Brazilians between 51 to 75 years of age were asked to undergo a physical test, followed by regular health check-ups in the next years.
In the Flamingo Test participants were asked to stand barefoot on one leg (just like the bird). The other leg was supposed to be in the air with head upright and arms straight by the side for 10 seconds.
Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the study has stressed upon the usefulness of this basic test which can provide important information regarding mortality risk in middle-aged and older men and women.
What else was observed during the study?
Out of the total sample size, 20% of the participants were not able to complete the test. It was also observed that it becomes harder to complete the test as you age.
The results of the study explain that 5% of the participants between 51 and 55 years of age failed the test. 54% of participants aged between 71 and 75 years failed the test.
Body weight is another factor other than age that affected the results of the test. People who were overweight were also more likely to fail the test.
'There was an 84% higher risk of all-cause mortality for people unable to complete the Flamingo Test, even when other potentially confounding variables such as age, sex and BMI … were taken into account,' the study concluded.