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A simple balance test can show your real biological age

Is your body older or younger than your chronological age?

via Canva

A couple doing balance practice.

Your chronological age is the number of years you’ve lived, but that isn’t the greatest predictor of your health. Doctors often consider your biological age to determine your overall health or longevity.

There is no universal formula for determining someone’s biological age. Doctors usually consider one’s family health history, diseases, conditions, sleep, diet, and exercise habits. They can also determine someone’s biological age by checking their balance, grip strength and endurance.

A new study by the Mayo Clinic found that your ability to balance on one foot is an indicator of bone, nerve, and muscle strength and can help determine your biological age.

"Balancing on one leg requires multiple components of physiological function that each typically declines with age, including strength in the leg and postural stabilizing muscles, neuromuscular coordination, and intact sensory information and reflexes," Prof David Proctor, aging and exercise expert at Pennsylvania State University, told BBC Science Focus.

"Attempts to prevent or slow the loss of muscle strength and balance in older age could mean the difference between remaining functionally independent and early admission to a nursing home!" he continued.

The researchers asked people between the ages of 50 and 80 to balance for 30 seconds on each leg with their eyes open and closed. The team found that for every additional 10 years of age, swaying increased by 6.3% if their eyes were open and 10.5% if their eyes were closed.

So, if you are over 50 and can stand on one leg for 30 seconds without significant wavering, you’re probably doing well for your age. But if you experience considerable wavering, then you should work on training your neuromuscular system.

The study comes two years after researchers in Brazil found that older adults who cannot stand on one foot for 10 seconds or more are nearly twice as likely to die in the next 10 years. The inability to stand on one foot shows that the body has lost neuromuscular strength, but it also makes one vulnerable to falling.

“Remember that we regularly need to stay in a one-legged posture, to move out of a car, to climb or descend a step or stair and so on," the study’s author, Dr. Claudio Gil Soares de Araújo, a sports and exercise physician and director of research and education at the Exercise Medicine Clinic-CLINIMEX in Rio de Janeiro, said according to NBC News. “Aged people falling are at very high risk of major fractures and other related complications," Araújo wrote. "This may play a role in the higher risk of mortality.”

The same researchers found a similar test that predicted one’s risk of death. Araújo and his colleagues released a study in 2016 that found that one’ ability to sit on the floor and then stand up without using their knees or handles for support was a good indicator of longevity.

You begin the test with a score of 10 and subtract points on your way up and down for doing the following:

Hand used for support: -1 point

Knee used for support: -1 point

Forearm used for support: -1 point

One hand on knee or thigh: -1 point

Side of leg used for support: -1 point

Those who score in the lowest range, 0 to 3, had up to a 6 times greater chance of dying than those in the highest scores (8 to 10). About 40% of those in the 0 to 3 range died within 11 years of the study.

If you are having trouble with any of these exercises, you can improve by training your neuromuscular system through swimming, running, or cycling. Training programs are also available to help increase neuromuscular fitness. As with any exercise program, please consult a physician before attempting rigorous exercise.

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A new bill would make it illegal to contact employees after work hours.

After-hours work emails can be stressful to deal with.

The old saying is, "don't take your work home with you." But the new reality for many people is that work follows you home in the form of emails, text messages, and social media.

New York City Council member Rafael Espinal Jr. has introduced a bill which would make it illegal for businesses to require that employees check their email or other electronic communication during non-work hours.

If an employer breaks the rule, they'd be fined $250 and required to pay an additional $500 to their employee.

The "Disconnecting From Work" bill also includes days in which an employee is out on vacation, sick days, or personal days off.

"There's a lot of New Yorkers out there that don't know when their work day begins or when their work day ends, because we're all so tied to our phones," Espinal said.

"You can still work, you can still talk to your boss, but this just is saying that, when you feel like you've hit your boiling point and you can't do it anymore, you're able to disconnect and decompress for a while."

France passed a similar law and other countries are following their lead.

France made international headlines with its own "right to disconnect" law in 2017. They have a very different work culture than the United States, with a mandatory 35 hour work week ceiling in most professions, and workers receiving an average of 31 paid vacation days each year.

One French lawmaker described the law as a necessary move to combat "info-obesity."

Italy's Senate approved similar legislation last year, and many German companies, including Volkswagen, have voluntarily instituted similar policies, where their company servers automatically shut down outgoing emails between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. each day.

This isn't a pipe dream. Espinal has sponsored other eye-catching bills that became law.

Before you laugh off Espinal's bill as unrealistic, consider one other piece of legislation he's already successfully helped make a reality.

His "Office of Nightlife" proposal was signed into effect by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, creating a $130,000 position for former club owner Ariel Palitz, who now oversees a 12-person committee with a $300,000 annual budget dedicated to addressing the city's "nightlife issues."

As with that proposal, Espinal says his "right to disconnect" bill will actually be good both for the mental health of workers, and for the city's economy.

“Studies have shown that if employee disconnect, whether it’s from the internet, leaving the office, take some time off and go back to work the next day and do a better job,” he said. “This is great for business, this is great for the employers.”

A healthy work/life balance is important, and some people might need a legal intervention to get there.

Critics of "right to disconnect" laws say that such changes alone cannot change a work culture that is increasingly shifting toward an "always on" mindset.

And they have a point.

Much of that responsibility rests with managers and everyday workers to embrace a culture of trust where both sides believe the best work is done when someone is well-rested and healthy.

But Espinal's proposal is at least a start to help bring attention to the larger issue, and there's no better place to start than in "the city that never sleeps."

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People are loving this dad who wears his baby to work. Here's why it matters.

For Tom Williams, a chiropractor from Chicago, every day is bring your son to work day.

At his family-based practice, which he runs along with his wife, Lauren, Tom is used to having kids in the office. In fact, his new son, Oliver, was nearly born there — Lauren was staked out at the front desk when she first went into labor.

[rebelmouse-image 19488825 dam="1" original_size="735x551" caption="Photo by Mike Williams/Livesidemedia.com, used with permission." expand=1]Photo by Mike Williams/Livesidemedia.com, used with permission.

After some recovery at home, the couple wanted to get the business back up and running again, but as parents and entrepreneurs, it was a challenge. Tom loved helping take care of his wife and new son, but wanted to get back to taking care of his patients too.

So together, Tom and Lauren came up with a pretty cool idea.

A few days per week, Oliver comes to the office where he splits time at Mom's desk and strapped to Dad's chest.

Tom was photographed by a patient earlier this month wearing a contented Oliver while casually giving an exam, and people across the internet are absolutely loving it.

Photo by Roots Family Chiropractic, used with permission.

"Just seeing Dr. Tom, he's such a calm doctor and such a loving person and I thought he was going to take the baby off, but he said, 'Nope the baby's sleeping' and started adjusting all of us,'" the patient who first shared the story, Genia Rackos, told ABC News. "I think he shows a really good example of what work-life balance is. He wears his baby with pride and it stands for everything he's about."

Photo by Roots Family Chiropractic, used with permission.

"I wear him in the office because it’s a chance for me to strengthen our bond," Williams says. "I truly love wearing him and that’s why we do it all the time. "

Tom is quick to point out the emotional and biological benefits of baby-wearing. But there's something even bigger at play here.

Photo by Genia Rackos/Facebook.

It's not uncommon to see a waitress taking orders with a sleeping baby across her chest or a small bassinet tucked in the corner of a cubicle in some corporate office.

In fact, companies are slowly growing more and more comfortable letting parents bring their babies to work.

Here's the catch: Figuring out what to do with baby during the day usually winds up being the mom's problem. A survey done by Parenting.com found that moms often wind up doing the lion's share of caretaking.

But the tide is turning, with more and more dads feeling empowered to take on a larger, if not the starring, role in raising the next generation of babies.

Guys like Williams are leading the charge, proving what moms have known for years: You can be a great parent and be good at your job, but no one ever said it'd be easy.

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