A few weeks ago I had my parents in town for my older son’s graduation. It was a chaotic day, and I was husting around trying to do several things at once. Between the actual graduation ceremony and the company, we were all out of our rhythm – including my dog. She just didn’t know where to go sometimes. Beg for attention from Grandad or beg for food from Gamma?

I was engrossed in something on my phone and walking over to grab something in the living room. My eyes were down and I wasn’t paying attention to the space around me, including the unusual place my dog was laying down. Sure enough, I round the corner and accidentally kick her in the face. Of course were are both startled, and her attempt to jump up and get out of my way compounded with me jumping to the side – right into her – made for quite a split second scene. I took a few wobbly, drunken looking steps and recovered. My sweet girl was fine, and after I loved on her and apologized, I declared to my younger son in the most absurd way possible, “see, that is why it’s important to train your balance as you get older.” 

He gave me the eye roll I expected and then resumed his own phone scrolling.

Balance is one of those things that you don’t realize how much you need it until you actually need it. Unfortunately, as we age we don’t even realize how much it is deteriorating until it’s too late. 

As we age, certain physiological systems begin to decline, which can greatly influence the ability to maintain adequate postural control or balance. Age-related declines in the vestibular (inner ear), visual, somatosensory, musculoskeletal and central nervous system, as well as orthopedic issues and cognitive impairments, all contribute to a deterioration in balance (da Silva Borges et al., 2014; Lord et al., 1994). As a result, older adults may begin to show impairments in balance and stability, which increases the risk of falling during both static and dynamic conditions 

Younger and older adults maintain balance differently. They take longer to catch themselves when there’s a slip or other unexpected reason for getting off balance. They also take longer to react, which can be too late in some cases. 

Often we don’t realize how much balance we’ve lost until we intentionally do some balance movements. It’s normal to lose it, but we can certainly mitigate that loss by doing a few things.

How to focus on balance in your everyday life?

• Stand on one foot while you are brushing your teeth. Try to keep your hips square like you had two feet on the floor. Don’t shift your weight into your supporting leg’s hip.
• Raise up on your toes and shift your weight back and forth. If you feel stable enough, lift one leg as you shift. 
• Need to pick something light off the floor? Instead of mindlessly picking it up, instead slowly lower your torso while you lift one leg behind you. Switch sides each time you pick up those shoes or dog toys!
• Make sure your core is strong, as they supports your balance. Spoiler alert, your core is not just those six pack abs so be sure you’re training your entire core. To learn more about this, tune in next week to our discussion about core.

How to add in balance to your workouts

• Instead of doing standing exercises like bicep curls, overhead presses, and lateral raises with both feet on the floor, lift one leg.
• Perform more single-leg or single-arm exercises. Try bench pressing with one arm only or executing a single leg reverse lunch then keep your foot raised as you bring the back foot in.
• Add some simple balance poses like tree and warrior 3 into your warm-up or cool down.
• Pro tip: focus on an unmoving object as you learn to steady yourself.
• Pro tip #2: imagine your foot as a pyramid, and distribute your weight evenly between your big toe, your little toe and your heel.

You can also train your brain and body to prepare for imbalance in other ways

• When safe and possible, exercise barefoot.
• Stand on a foam pad.
• Narrow your eyes while doing any movement.
• Close your eyes and follow simple directions from someone else, like touch your nose, scratch your left shoulder with your right arm, and march in place. Obviously, safety first!

This week try to incorporate a few balance movements in your workouts or general lifestyle. You never know, it may prevent a tumble next time you accidentally run into your dog. 

Balance is the first tenant of my new online, on-demand class called B.COMPLETE. Yes, it is the B in COMPLETE and I’ll be sharing the rest of the acronym over the next several weeks. I designed this 40-minute class to cover all the things we want to be focusing on as we age, including balance. B.COMPLETE launches July 26, 2022. You can receive presale pricing by going to GracedHealth.com/presale before July 19 to receive half off the $20 rate, so you’ll get an on demand class for $10 to do as many times as you want.

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Amy