Strength, Stamina, Flexibility and Balance. These are the four aspects of perfect physical health.
What is balance? Why is it important? Can we improve it? If so, How?
Balance is maintaining our normal, desired position in space. For e.g., tripping over the dog or rug causes an imbalance, which can lead us to fall. But our body has mechanisms which, when functioning properly, can prevent us from falling and hurting ourselves.
Balance is maintained by various senses and their interactions:
- The eyes, which see where we are in space and where we are moving to.
- The ears, specifically the inner ears, which monitor the direction our head is moving. Up-down, right-left.
- Proprioception, which is a sense of where we are in space. This is measured by proprioceptors present in the muscles and joints. So if you close your eyes, and your proprioception is ok, you can tell where your arms and legs and feet are in space.
- Touch receptors in the feet which send signals to the brain about where one is stepping.
- All the above send signals through the spinal cord to the brain so one can move smoothly through space.
There are many conditions causing imbalance, like nerve problems due to Vitamin B12 deficiency or Diabetes, inner ear problems due to infections or injury, certain medications causing dizziness as a side effect, strokes or head injuries.
I am, right now, concerned more with the garden variety balance problems as a part of natural aging. As we grow older, the reaction time, joint flexibility and the muscle strength decrease. This leads to falls. Falling over a lazy dog…or a rug, misjudging a step, rolling an ankle when walking over uneven ground.
With age, the recovery time from falls increases. And each fall leads to an apprehension about further events, so one becomes cautious and moves slower and slower with time. Which leads to decreasing agility and movement. So that, let’s say, if one trips off the curb, or over the backpack, there are lesser chances of them catching themselves from falling. And falls can lead to fractures or ligament injuries, which sometimes can cause chronic pain, which is a whole separate, and interconnected entity.
How to improve the Balance?
- First things first. Regular movement, in the form of exercise, stretching, strength training, being active, can prevent some balance problems. The response time of the joints and muscles is fast, and that lets the body right itself quickly in case of an impending fall.
- Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art. Numerous studies have shown that this can improve balance and coordination. The exercises are mainly slow movements done in a very controlled manner. I tried many years ago from one of the YouTube videos, and I will be frank here, I was bored. But I am going to give it another try, because I have been reading a lot of good stuff about it.
- Yoga is something I have been practicing off and on for sometime. There are a few asanas which help with balance, like the Santulan asana, which actually means ‘balance pose’, or the Tree pose. But as in all things, I can hold these poses for 30 seconds, each side, and I wonder if I need to add something else to shake things up.
- If all the above are difficult to add onto the day, the easiest thing is to stand on one leg while doing routine things like brushing teeth or folding laundry. Or when on the phone, walk in a straight line, heel to toe, as if on a balance beam. Imagine you are Nadia Comaneci!
- Another easy movement is toe raises and heel raises. Or walking on the toes and heels. Or just shifting the body weight from one foot to the other-a very small shift and this actually is one of the TaiChi movements. Do these while standing in the grocery store line.
- Dance! Make it fun! Learn a couple of dance steps, of a culture not your own, and do those till you are proficient, then change it up and learn some new ones. This is two birds, one stone-the dance steps help with balance, and learning something new helps the brain. Go for it!
So which one change are you going to make? Start with the easiest one. Let me know.