Simple tips to help you maintain your balance as you become more mature

In this post I’m going to talk to you about how to maintain and improve your balance and how you can reduce your risk of falling.  

I don’t think it’s fair that you suffer simply because you’re becoming more mature.  You’re on a journey and unless you know what’s happening to your body as you age, it’s nearly impossible to age with quality of life.

Let me give you one balance exercise that you can do in the comfort of your home, and with practice, can help you improve your balance.  

It’s called Tandem Walking, or heel-to-toe walking (see the video for a visual representation). 

How you can do it? 

Find a space where you can walk in a line without any obstacles. Try to walk in a straight line by placing one foot in front of the other.  

You place one foot down and then right in front of it, the heel of the other foot touches to the toe of the foot that’s behind it, as if walking on a line.

And that’s how you walk.  Back and forth.  

Why is this important?  

 When you’re walking in a linear fashion, you are narrowing your center of gravity. You’re making it much smaller and more difficult to maintain balance.  If your body and brain are trained to be able to do this, when you are actually walking with a wider center of gravity, it’s much easier.  

If this becomes easy for you, the next step is to move your head. Move your head back and forth, looking from side to side, while walking in that linear, heel to toe fashion.  

Why do we do this? 

A couple of reasons.  

1. You’re seldom looking straight ahead when walking.

You’re looking around, talking to a friend, looking at the neighbor’s flowers and trees.  But seldom do you stare straight ahead.  

2. This makes your brain work harder

When you practice walking in this fashion and you move your head, you’re removing one of your sensory inputs, making your brain and body work harder.  You’re removing your vision from the equation.  And when you do that, you force your body to work harder.  You are saying to your brain, you must work harder to maintain balance. You’re saying to your other sensory input systems, you must work harder to find the place of balance.

Does all of that make sense to you?

Watch the video to learn how to execute this exercise. Balance is just one piece of the puzzle.

At the bottom of this page, you'll find a FREE Remain Independent action guide, that includes a few more helpful exercises that can help you keep your independence and prevent your risk of falling. 

If you know you need personalized help, I also offer a complimentary call, where we'll create a customized plan for bringing correct movement into your everyday. I'll also introduce you to my Timeless Aging Blueprint program, and we'll see if that is the right fit for you. 

The Timeless Aging Blueprint has five pillars where we focus on the most important elements of your life. It’s not enough to accumulate a quantity of years without quality as well. My Timeless Aging Blueprint will help you have both.

If you're interested you can book your call by clicking here.

Stay active

- Adrianne