Are You In Danger of Having a Fall?

As we age our bodies get weaker and then our balance starts to get worse as well. Once that happens we have a tendency to take a fall. Falling is one of the main reasons that older (over 65) people end up in the emergency room and the hospital and that every 19 minutes an “older adult” in the U.S. dies from a fall. Scary isn’t it?

This is also a huge financial burden on the U.S. Medicare system. It can also become a vicious cycle once people start taking falls – they get weaker and go down again. We all need to stop this cycle before we get caught in it.

The podcast covers most of the many physical issues that can negatively affect our balance. There are diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, inner ear issues from calcium crystals moving around, medications that lower your blood pressure too much or just naturally having low blood pressure. It can even be something as simple as getting a new pair of bi-focal glasses.

The important thing is to be aware of these issues and to always ask your doctor if your medications can affect your balance or interact with some other medication you already take. Then it’s important to keep up your fitness by doing things like yoga or tai chi and to also do strength exercises that are specifically designed to improve your balance. I go through 2 different balance exercises in detail at the end of the podcast so you don’t have any excuse to not start improving your balance now.

As always, leave me a comment below and let me know if you have any other exercises you like to do to “stay in balance”…