Even if you consider yourself to be fit and active, two simple tests which you can do at home right now, The Standing Balance Test and the Five Repetition Sit to Stand Test (FRSTS), have been shown to be good predictors of your future health.

Both are quick and easy to do, are a useful way of measuring an important aspect of your physical capability and may help you identify a need to make a change to your current activity levels.

As both tests are timed it helps if someone can measure this for you. Whilst a stopwatch is ideal, measuring the time to the nearest second with an ordinary wrist watch will suffice.

Warning: If you already have a balance problem or a disabling condition or you perceive that you might find either of these tests difficult then it is sensible and reassuring to have someone standing beside you just in case.

Standing Balance Test:

The idea is to stand on one leg, whichever one you prefer, with your eyes open, for as long as possible.
Remove shoes. It is helpful to stand near a wall, heavy chair or table and/or with someone standing beside you.
Fold your arms. Practice first with your eyes open; raise the preferred foot a few inches off the ground behind the other leg by bending your knee. Get a sense of what you will need to do to maintain this position.
Then record the time from when you raise the foot till it touches the floor again.
The more advanced version is following the steps above but with your eyes closed.

How did you do? Below are the results for normal timed balance tests (in seconds), for each age range and with and without eyes closed.

Age range	under 40	40 – 49	50 – 59	60 – 69	70 – 79	80 – 89
Eyes open	45 secs	42 secs	41 secs	32 secs	22 secs	9 secs
Eyes closed	15 secs	13 secs	8 secs	4 secs	3 secs	2 secs

If you are unable to stand on one foot with your eyes open for more than 10 seconds then you may have a balance problem which increases your risk of illness, falls and injury. But you can reverse this risk.

How? By reducing the amount of your sedentary time or at least breaking the duration of this by getting up and moving around. Or more beneficially by undertaking exercises to improve balance, limb coordination and muscle strengthening. (see ‘Moving towards a Life I Love Part 3’; 10 Tips to Reduce Your Sedentary Time.)

Why is this important? Even in your early 50s the ability to stand on one leg is a strong predictor of your risk of death from all causes and particularly from cancer. This test also correlates with other measures of physical capability including the FRSTS (see below) and Grip Strength. In a study reported in the BMJ in 2014, people who could not perform any of the three tests (using a variant of The Sit to Stand Test described here), had 12 times risk of death compared those who could, over a 13 year follow up period.

Five Repetition Sit to Stand Test. (FRSTS)

The ability to do this test depends on an intact sensory system, lower limb strength, speed, balance and psychological well-being.

The idea is to stand up from a chair, with the arms folded, and sit down again, 5 times as fast as possible.
Use a slightly padded armless chair with a height of about 17 inches (43 cms.) from the floor. Put the back of the chair against a wall for stability.
Move forward in the seat till both feet are flat on the floor. Fold your arms across your chest if possible.
Then stand all the way up without using your arms, and sit down again firmly, as fast as possible five times.
Begin timing from the sitting position on the word: “go” till landing after the fifth stand.

How did you do?

Depending on your age and general fitness 12 seconds is a good cut off point. The longer it takes over this the greater the risk of ill health. For example the ‘normal’ average for people between the ages of 60-69 is 11.4 seconds, and 80-89 is 12.7 seconds. Athletic individuals between the ages of 50-59 can manage an average of 6.7 seconds and between the ages of 80-89, an average of 9.2 seconds.

If you were unable to carry out either test or meet the cut off average then this may be a good opportunity to reverse what could be further decline in your function and a risk of disability later in life.(see ‘Moving towards a Life I love Part 3’)