#Balance October 4

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This month I am participating in the 30-Day Sitting and Rising Coach4aday Challenge. One of the objectives is to improve my BALANCE.

Reading statistics about people over 65 as it relates to falling it grabs your attention when your over 65. The facts are that one in three Americans 65 and older falls. Further compounding a fall are the disastrous medical consequences those tumbles bring with it.

Loss of Balance-Why?

One normal consequence of aging is a steady decline in the three main sensory contributors to good balance:

1. Vision
2. Proprioceptors on the bottoms of the feet
3. Tiny hairs in the semicircular canals of the inner ear

In addition to those three factors, we also have to deal with loss of muscle strength and flexibility as we age. That is one reason for this month’s 30-day challenge.

Balance is a motor skill. That means it can be trained for improvement. We also have to remember that balance is a twofold event. It is both static (still)and dynamic (moving). Exercises that take us from standing to sitting help with our ability to improve.