Balance and Aging
One aspect of aging is a decreasing ability to balance.
The loss of sense of a balance is gradual for most people. Then suddenly, one day you realize that you are becoming hesitant about things that require balance, such as standing up on a moving bus or train, or walking along a curb.
The hesitancy associated with a loss of balance gives us an older-looking posture, when moving, the eyes tend to be watching the ground. This gives the older, head down posture. We look older.
The loss of a sense of balance can start to restrict where we go. It can start to draw in some of our horizons.
Further often due to a combination of poor balance and sarcopenia, the feet are not lifted very high off the ground, so there is an increased likelihood of tripping and falling.(Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle strength and function that occurs with aging. Find out more and how to counteract sarcopenia.)
Can you keep and improve your sense of balance?
The answer is yes.
If you still have a good sense of balance you can keep it. If you have a poor sense of balance, or feel you are losing your sense of balance, you can easily improve it.
With a few simple techniques done a couple of times per week, you can enhance and maintain a sense of balance. You can learn to partially compensate for changes that occur as part of aging. Fortunately the body’s system of balance has some redundancy (excess capacity and multiple overlapping systems).
Improved balance will lead to looking and feeling more confident in when motion. Better balance will keep you free to go wherever you want. If your sense of balance is currently poor, extend where you can easily go, expanding horizons.
How to improve and maintain your sense of balance
To improve balance you can do a few simple exercises. There are a range of exercises that can be done with or without a balance training aid.
Try this simple exercise.
With either no shoes, or in flat shoes, stand by a chair or table. If during the exercise you begin to feel very unstable, then you can grab and hold onto the chair or table. It is normal to feel slightly unstable doing balance exercises, so only grab if you think you are going to fall. Learning to adjust is how balance will improve.
Put one foot infront of the other, so that the toe of one foot touches the heel of the foot infront. Make sure your feet touch. Pick a point out infront of you and focus on it. Do not look down. Balancing in this position is not as easy as it sounds.
Whenever you feel confident balancing in this position, you can try closing your eyes. When you feel comfortable with this try moving your arms around. Eventually if you have good balance work up to moving upper body backwards and forwards and side to side. Then finally you may be able to try tilting your head back.
If you can close your eyes you are doing really well.
Swap feet. Usually this exercise is easier with the feet one way round. Make sure you do it with both ways.
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