The Balance Test
See how long you can stand on just one leg. Then count how many times you can sit down and get up from a chair in one minute.
A study published in the British Medical Journal earlier this year found that among 53-year-old men and women, their ability to do these simple activities was an indicator of premature death. For men, those who could balance on one leg with their eyes closed for over 10 seconds and get up from a chair over 37 times in a minute were found to have a lower risk of premature death than those were performed poorer. The same went for women, except being able to stand up and sit down in a chair over 35 times in a minute was the threshold for a lower risk of death over the course of the next 13 years.
