Balance, The Sixth Sense
For: Balancing Acts, August 2002
Here's a good way to test your sense of balance. Stand close to a chair or a surface you can grab, if need be. Close your eyes, slowly lift one foot, and see how long you can balance on the other foot. Most people over 40 can't balance like that for even 15 seconds. Even if you make it past 15 seconds, it's worth thinking about improvements.
If we have a sixth sense, it is surely balance—a complex process that seldom crosses our minds, until we have trouble with it. Balance is controlled by an array of bodily systems that pick up sensory information of all kinds, including feedback from nerves, muscles, and bones. Balance has been called an element of fitness, like strength and endurance. Loss of balance and subsequent falls cause many injuries and sometimes permanent disability, and the danger is particularly severe among older people. This arises from many possible problems: a decrease in joint flexibility, impairment of vision, a decrease in feedback from bodily systems, a drop in muscle strength, or even medications that may cause dizziness and disorientation.
But falls are not confined to older people. Younger people may be more likely to take chances—for example, climbing beyond a safe height on a ladder. Nor are the elderly fated to fall, though falls can have more devastating effects for the old than for the young. Everybody should try to reduce the risk of falls.
Steps you should take
If you frequently get dizzy or lose your balance, see a physician for an evaluation. Something can usually be done to prevent dizziness and improve your sense of balance—or at least protect you from taking a fall. If you take medications that affect your balance, talk this over with your doctor and/or pharmacist. You may be able to switch to another prescription or take a smaller dose. Drinking alcohol affects your sense of balance. Being overweight can also be a problem. So can glasses with the wrong prescription—or a new prescription you aren't accustomed to.
The main thing you can do to preserve your balance is to stay as fit as you can. Any kind of regularly performed exercise—walking, swimming, strength training, cycling, gardening, and many other kinds of leisure activity—can improve balance. Studies have found that it's never too late to begin: people can significantly improve their balance and reduce their risk of falling even at age 80 and beyond. To get the most benefit, it's a good idea to do a variety of exercises that focus on coordination and posture.
If you need to improve your balance, try these easy exercises:
3 Stand near something you can grab if you need to. Rise to your tiptoes
10 times without reaching for support. Then repeat with your eyes closed.
• Still standing near a support, stand on one leg, flexing the other knee slightly. Repeat 10 times, then repeat with eyes closed.
• Using the same set-up, lift one leg to the side, then the other leg. Repeat 10 times.
• Holding onto something, stand on a piece of foam rubber no more than 2 inches thick. Then balance without holding.
• Walk across the floor, heel-to-toe.
• Spend a little time each day standing on one foot, then the other.
• Buy a large exercise ball and do balancing exercises, such as lying on your back across it with your feet on the floor.
Another idea: A small study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that flat-heeled, high-topped shoes (boots) improved balance in a group of women aged 60 to 90.
Worth getting: Exercise: A Guide From the National Institute on Aging, produced in conjunction with NASA, sketches workouts for people over 50, with 45 illustrated exercises focusing on strength, flexibility, endurance, and balance. To order a free copy, call 800-222-2225, or write to NIA (P.O. Box 8057, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20898-8057). Or read it online (some sections can be printed).
Preventing falls
Anybody—young, middle-aged, or older—can fall. Here's how to reduce the chances of falls at home:
• Use nonskid pads under area rugs. Don't use small, light-weight scatter rugs, which are likely to trip you.
• Wipe up spills when they happen. A small puddle of liquid can be a real hazard. Don't allow small objects, such as shoes, books, newspapers, children's toys, and the like, to
lie wherever they fall.
• Stair steps should have nonskid treads or be tightly covered with carpet. Don't wax the floors.
• Stairs, including porch steps, need handrails. Avoid using stairs when both your hands are full or you are carrying something that blocks your vision. Always use the handrail. For outdoor steps, paint a white strip (using nonslippery paint) or apply a tape strip at the edge of the bottom and top stairs for better visibility.
• Keep electrical cords out of the way.
• Wear low-heeled shoes with nonskid soles indoors. Thick, heavy soles can promote falls. Untied shoelaces can also trip people. Climbing stairs or walking on bare floors in socks may cause a pratfall.
• Don't use a chair as a substitute for a ladder. Get a step stool with handrails. If you can't reach something from a safe level on the step stool, get help. Avoid stretching toward a light fixture or other out-of-reach object.
• Install grab bars in your bath tub—a safety measure for bathers of all ages. Be sure the floors of showers and tubs are equipped with nonskid strips or pads.
• Be sure your home is well-lighted, especially stairs and hallways. Don't walk around in the dark. Well-placed night lights (in the hall leading to the bathroom, for example) can prevent a fall. Keep a flashlight by the bed.
• Make sure the prescription for your eyeglasses is correct. Remember to remove your reading glasses when you're walking around.
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, June 2000
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