Good balance at any age
Among the health blessings many people take for granted are balance and flexibility — until one day you're unsteady on your feet. It might be you're simply out of shape or you've gained some extra weight, throwing off your coordination.

Being unsteady can easily lead to tripping and falling. Or shuffling instead of striding across a room. Or having trouble getting out of a chair. At the very least, being unsure of your footing makes you feel old before your time.

Physical activity is the answer
Activities that improve your balance
Lifestyle changes to help with balance
Dizziness and falls

Physical activity is the answer
The answer to the problem — physical activity — is simple, but meeting that challenge isn't quite as simple. Or you'd never have gotten unsteady in the first place.

Balance, coordination, and flexibility comprise one component of a complete fitness plan and help to improve your ability to move like a young person. Benefits of good balance include:

• Improved flexibility to carry out your daily life: Activities like carrying groceries, climbing stairs, running after children, and bending over all become easier.
• Better range of motion in your joints: Keep your flexibility from diminishing as you get older.
• Improved posture and balance: A natural posture looks good on you and results from healthy bones, joints, and muscles. Good balance is essential to your daily activities, and reduces the risk of falling.

Activities that improve your balance
If physical activity is the answer, the question remains, what kind of activity is best for you? Here are some ideas:

• Water activities: Exercising in shallow water (waist- or chest-high) increases your flexibility and balance. Swimming is also excellent for coordination and flexibility fitness.
• Yoga: Yoga is a great way to improve your flexibility, balance, coordination, and overall concentration. These gentle stretches increase your range of motion and ease of movement.
• Tai Chi: Tai Chi is an Eastern practice gaining popularity in the West because it is a gentle, noncompetitive balance and flexibility exercise that requires great concentration. Tai Chi involves a series of postures done slowly and gracefully. Besides improving balance, these movements can improve the stability of knee joints.
• Stretching: Stretching can help with flexibility and balance. Include gentle stretches in your regular low-impact routine — daily tasks, water exercises, or other exercises. Many experts believe that stretching reduces your risk of injury. Stretch before any exercise. Even if you're not exercising, do some stretching three times a week for good flexibility.

Daily balance exercises: If your unsteadiness is due to a medical condition, talk to your doctor. But if not — and your lack of good balance is simply being unfit physically — here are some ideas for daily balance exercises:

• Forward leg lift — With arms down, lift one leg forward off the floor. Hold five seconds. Repeat five times. Switch to other leg. Hold onto to a table or chair if necessary to start with.
• Forward toe touch — Standing with feet shoulder-width apart, lift your hands to your shoulders with palms facing forward. Reach forward with your right foot, with toe pointing to floor, and your left hand and hold the position as long as possible. Do the same thing with your opposite arm and foot, and repeat the sequence at least five times.
• Stand on one leg — In yoga they call this the tree position. Standing straight with hands in a prayer position, lift your right leg and place the sole of your right foot against your left calf muscle and hold for as long as you can. Switch legs and repeat the move. This — or variations of it — is excellent for improving your balance, so try to do it often throughout the day.
• For directions on how to do other specific balance exercises — such as wall push-ups, biceps curl, chair squats, and shoulder shrugs — go to Family Doctor.

Lifestyle changes to help with balance
Physical activity — although the most important ingredient in maintaining coordination — can be accompanied by lifestyle changes that make sense for you. These can include:

• Switching to sensible shoes — You know what that means for you. Whether it's time to give up high heels, floppy slippers, slick boots, or slip-ons, your feet are a practical matter not a fashion statement.
• Getting rid of slipping hazards in your home — Watch for exposed cords, loose rugs, slippery floor wax, liquid spills, lack of good lighting, and high traffic-area hazards that can be tripped over.

Dizziness and falls
Several issues may cause dizziness. If you are dizzy, faint, lightheaded, weak, or unsteady — and it's not just from being inactive — you might have vertigo. Since balance comes from the signals between your eyes, nervous system, and inner ear and brain, a loss of balance can occur as you get older. See your doctor. Vertigo is not usually a serious condition, except that it can lead to falls — or the threat of falls — and you want to avoid that. Treatment for vertigo depends on the causes and symptoms. Medication can also lead to being unsteady on your feet.

Bottom line:
It doesn't matter how old you are. If you're an overweight teen, an out-of-shape new mother, a retired bodybuilder, or an elderly diabetic, inactivity will cost you the loss of balance, coordination, and flexibility. Inactivity will also increase your risk of fall-related injuries. So learn to do balance exercises and find the closest Tai Chi class or swimming pool. Start living an active life — the balance you find will be more than just physical.

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