Have you ever been so drunk that you can’t even walk across the room?
Or been so tired, that you stumble and almost fall over as you get out of bed?
Now imagine that your balance was that bad ALL THE TIME.
Do you think it would impact your daily life?
Welcome to the fourth pillar of whole body fitness: balance.
Balance may not seem like a key element of fitness at first glance, but when you consider my explanation of fitness in the introduction to this mini-series, you’ll remember that whole body fitness is being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.
With that in mind, balance is absolutely essential for completing day-to-day tasks. Without balance you can’t walk across the room, let alone stand on tip toes to reach a high shelf.
What happens to balance as we age and how can we improve it?
What happens to our balance as we age?
Balance is having an even distribution of weight, enabling you to remain upright and steady.
We have a pretty small base (our feet) in relation to our height, so keeping upright is a constant battle for our minds and bodies.
As we age our balance worsens, due to many factors:
- Decline in proprioception – this is body’s ability to perceive its own position in space and it deteriorates with age
- Loss of muscle strength – we need strong muscles to keep us on our feet, if our muscle strength diminishes, so does our balance
- Loss of flexibility – as our joints lose range of motion it impacts how we move, which can have a negative impact on balance
- Declining cognitive abilities – our brain needs to assimilate a lot of information to keep us standing and this can get slower with age
- Worsening eyesight – misjudgements of distances and not seeing small obstacles such as stones or dips in the road often lead to trips and falls
- Ear problems – impaired hearing can impact balance and also cause dizziness
- Joint issues – sensory feedback from the joints to the brain can be impaired by conditions such as arthritis
- Reduced reaction time – if we trip we need to react fast to stop ourselves from falling. Reaction time tend to worsen with age
How to improve balance
Balance training is quite simple to incorporate into both your existing exercise routine and your day-to-day life.
As I mentioned in the introduction, the amount and type of balance training you need to do really depends on your age.
When you are 75 you will need to focus more on balance training than when you are 25.
Day-to-day activities to improve balance
There are many things you can do during the day to help improve your balance,
- Try doing calf raises when you are cleaning your teeth (stand with feet hip width apart, raise up onto your toes, hold it for as long as you can, then lower back down)
- Standing on one leg when waiting in line
- Not using your hands when standing up from a chair
- Walk heel to toe sometimes (like you are walking on a tightrope)
Exercises to improve balance
If you working out regularly it may be that you are already doing exercises that help to train balance without even thinking about it.
Below are some examples of common moves that improve balance. Have a think about your current routine – do you already include these type of exercises? If not, could you add a couple in?
- Exercises on one leg or one arm – any exercise that uses a smaller base for stability will train your balance. Examples are squats lifting one leg to the side, side hovers
- Split leg exercises – if your legs are separated it makes the base less stable and therefore trains your balance. Examples are lunges, split squats
- Jumping exercises – when you land from a jumping exercise your body and brain have to work hard to land securely and regain balance. Examples are squat jumps, jumping lunges
- Exercises on a balance pad or Bosu – these are small pieces of equipment designed to reduce the stability of the surface you are standing on. This helps to improve balance
Classes to try that can improve your balance
If you want to try something new, there are certain classes that offer many benefits, including improvements to balance.
Yoga
Many yoga poses require you to focus on balance, it is one of many beneficial effects of incorporating some regular yoga into your routine.
Tai chi
Tai chi uses slow, flowing movements, gradually shifting your weight from one pose to the next.
An evidence-based review article published in the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy supports the commonly held view that Tai Chi can improve balance.
Conclusion
When most people think about fitness, the first things that pop into mind are usually running and possibly lifting weights.
However, balance is also an essential part of whole body fitness. We need to maintain good balance throughout our lives so we can complete simple daily activities.
Our balance inevitably suffers with age.
Some causes of balance deterioration we do not have any control over, such as worsening eyesight due to genetics.
Other causes we can work on, such as resistance training to improve muscle strength, flexibility training to increase joint range of motion and balance training to improve proprioception.
Whole body fitness is about being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it and balance is therefore essential.
Basic balance training should be incorporated into our lives to reduce the deterioration of our balance as we age as much as possible.
This post is part of a mini-series all about whole body fitness. If you want to learn more, I recommend starting with the introduction.
Have you ever thought about balance as being part of fitness? Will you try to incorporate a bit of balance training into your own routine now?