Physical imbalance can be the result of multiple things in age. It could mean you have an inner ear infection; your medication isn’t suited to you, you’re not exercising enough and therefore losing muscular strength, or your posture isn’t what it should be – and that’s just the start of the list. Whether you’re already doing a bit of creative prancing due to imbalance or if you’re trying to ensure you do everything you can to mitigate the issue before it becomes a “thing,” you’re reading the right article. The fact that you're reading this means you’ve already taken an important step to get balance back into your life. Even if you’re already experiencing balance problems, it’s not the end of the road. You can reduce the instability and bring better balance.
Table of Contents:
Improving Your Muscle Strength
None of us in our senior years will be surprised if someone told us that we’re getting physically weaker, because we are! That doesn’t mean that you should simply take it lying down! It’s time to fight back and keep your muscles as strong as they can possibly be for as long as possible. When muscles lose their strength, mass, and endurance, you’re at risk of being a bit wobbly or even toppling over from time to time, which are obviously things we all want to avoid. Stretching, weighted exercises and balance exercises can all go a long way to priming the muscles to be stronger for longer and to maintain mass and endurance, thus promoting better balance and good posture.
Endurance exercises involve activities like walking or swimming, which engage large muscle groups for an extended period. Strength training and dedicated stretching exercises build the foundation of muscular strength, while endurance exercises contribute to sustained muscle function. This supports overall mobility, reduces the risk of fatigue during daily activities, and helps you restore and maintain your balance. It sounds like a lot, but once you’ve got the hang of how to do these exercises, it’s really not!
Balance Exercises. Ask anyone who has been exercising their entire lives and just entered their senior years how they feel physically, and they will probably tell you they feel energetic and strong. Exercise may be the elixir of life, or at least muscle strength. It’s no secret that maintaining strong muscles make balance easier for seniors and it also means that slips and falls happen less often.
How’s Your Joint Health? Unless you’re made of titanium, wear and tear is to be expected as you age. We’ve done a lot with our bodies, and it shows with time. Wear and tear can show itself in the form of stiffness and reduced flexibility and range of motion. This affects posture and balance and lead to falls or instability. It’s safe to say that if you’re feeling a little unstable on your feet, your quality of life is going to be negatively impacted. To counteract this, engaging in exercises that promote joint mobility should become a priority. Activities such as stretching, wall pilates, and balance exercises specifically target joint flexibility and can increase synovial fluid production, which lubricates the joints and reduces friction. Flexibility, which enables muscles and tendons to stretch and move joints through a full range of motion, is closely intertwined with joint health. Incorporating stretching exercises into a routine promotes flexibility and can alleviate muscle tightness, reducing the risk of strains or sprains. Stretching should be gradual, and you should focus on all major muscle groups, including those in the shoulders, hips, and legs, which is something that’s focused on a little later in this book.
Improving Your Cardio Health
They say a lot of living comes from the heart. It’s true – without an excellent heart, you’ll likely struggle with daily exercises. Cardiovascular diseases are conditions that affect the heart and connected blood vessels. Cardiovascular conditions can stop blood from being effectively delivered to organs, including systems that help maintain balance and a good posture. Poor cardiovascular health can decrease blood flow or damage balance systems, making it extremely difficult to maintain stability or balance. If you want to stand up straight, walk with purpose, and ensure that you have the strength to do all the activities you’re used to, looking after your cardiovascular health is important. Brisk walking, swimming, or aerobic classes can elevate your heart rate and increase blood circulation. It enhances your heart’s efficiency, strengthening its capacity to pump blood and oxygen throughout the body.
As a side note, calmer, slower versions of exercise such as stretching or wall pilates can also be good for the heart, so don’t cast those aside, especially if high-energy sports and activities just aren’t your thing. The point is to increase the heart rate, and just about any form of exercise, even stretching, can help you with that. Although cardiovascular changes with advanced age can increase the risk of losing balance and falling, exercise can help prevent or counter the effects. It can keep your arteries healthy, maintain healthy cholesterol levels, reduce plaque build-up, and improve blood flow to muscles, joints, and tissues to help restore and maintain your balance.
Check Your Eyesight
It may sound a bit weird to say that exercise can provide some sort of benefits for your vision, but it’s true. Vision is an important part of balance. Impaired visual acuity, depth perceptions, and contract sensitivities that can result from eye degeneration result in a loss of balance and increase the risk of falls. Significant evidence shows that physical exercise can provide neuroprotective effects that protect retinal cells against irreversible damage. Exercise helps prevent age-related neurodegenerative conditions and can help halt the progression of eye disease. Studies have examined relationships between physical activity and common eye diseases that lead to vision impairment, including age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Findings show that regular exercise plays a protective role in such conditions and can protect you against vision loss.
Cognitive Function
Many overlook the importance of giving the brain a regular workout! As we get older, our brains may get a little tired. They start to struggle with things like processing information speedily, remembering things, and other executive functions. To have excellent balance, your body must send messages to the brain. These are then decoded, and the brain tells the body how to respond. That should uncover the mystery of the link between brain health and physical exercise, at least. Cognitive function and memory changes can result in a loss of balance and falls. Thankfully, regular exercise can offer seniors a natural and accessible means to enhance cognitive function and memory. Regular aerobic exercise improves cognitive function, including attention, processing speed, and executive function. Anyone participating in consistent exercising and aerobic activities often exhibit better performance on cognitive tests and may experience a reduced risk of cognitive decline. Increasing evidence shows that exercise can delay age-related memory impairments and decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia. Exercise induces various beneficial effects that enhance overall brain health, which helps preserve cognitive function and ensures you can maintain postural control and balance.
How well do you sleep? If you’ve been tossing and turning and not getting enough shut-eye, you may notice that you’re just not entirely on your game (mentally and physically) the following day. Sleep deprivation decreases performance and can also impact your balance. Regular exercise is critical in promoting better sleep quality for seniors, offering a natural and effective way to address sleep-related challenges. Seniors who incorporate exercise into their routine often fall asleep more easily, experience fewer nighttime awakenings, and enjoy a more restful sleep. An exercise routine can be significantly beneficial if you experience insomnia or other sleep disorders. Exercise acts as a natural remedy for insomnia by reducing symptoms such as difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Its positive impacts on sleep quality are often comparable to the effects of some sleep medications but without the associated side effects.
Stress About Falling
Depression, stress, falls, fear of further falls, and subsequent impairments in balance, mobility, and disability can all play off each other. If you’re confident enough to know that you’re strong enough to handle balance issues and are building strength each day, you’re less likely to feel stressed, worried, or even depressed. Regular exercise emerges as a powerful and natural tool for mood regulation and stress reduction, offering a holistic approach to mental health. Regular physical activity triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural mood-enhancing chemicals. Endorphins help reduce perceptions of pain and generate positive feelings. This is a great way to combat any niggling feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. But how? Well, the rhythmic and repetitive nature of exercises induces a relaxation response, reducing overall tension and promoting a sense of calm. Additionally, exercise activities can bring joy or fulfillment, like participating in group fitness classes, and further amplify the stress-reducing effects of exercise.
Get Your Eyes and Ears Tested. Balance relies on good eyesight, so getting your eye doctor to test your eyes is a good starting point. If your eye specialist picks up on a problem and you need treatment, take time to get used to recommended interventions like eyeglasses or hearing aids. Wear them according to the doctor’s recommendations and ensure they fit well. Some visual and hearing problems can be corrected by non-invasive measures, while others, like cataracts, may require surgery to improve vision and decrease fall risk.
Review Your Medications. Have all your medications reviewed since some can contribute to a loss of balance and risk of falling. Find out about any side effects of the medicines you take and ensure you tell your doctor or pharmacist if they’re making you dizzy or sleepy. It’s especially important if you take four or more medications or any psychotropic medications like neuroleptics, sedatives, benzodiazepines, hypnotics, and antidepressants.
Ready Your Mindset. Now, this probably sounds like a strange one, but if you’re going to embark on a journey of balance exercises, you must commit to the process. You can’t practice one day and then give up for a week and expect to see consistent results. Try committing to 6 days a week of exercising. You don’t have to spend hours at it, even if you’ve only got 5 to 6 minutes a day, make a concerted effort to apply yourself and keep working at it.
It's never too late to embark on a journey toward a healthier, more vibrant you, especially when you feel the effects of neglecting self-care for years. Rediscover the path to physical well-being.
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