Balance on one leg with your eyes closed

Years ago i had been out on a walk and came back to my mother’s apt. and found her standing at the sink on one foot. i had startled her and she toppled over as i came in. At first i thought maybe something was wrong but she started laughing and told me that as you age you loose your balance.

 Being klutzy kind of runs in the family so she was trying to ward off any further deterioration by practicing her balance every day. Fear of falling is always a concern when you are older and never one to do something by herself she challenged me to stand on one foot without touching anything for as long as i could.

i laughed and went for it, but found it wasn’t quite as easy as i thought it was going to be because she told me to close my eyes. Try closing your eyes and balancing on one foot…i could only go about 6 seconds before toppling over myself. With my eyes open i could balance quite easily on one leg.

The Chinese think that if you can’t balance on one foot with your eyes closed for at least 10 seconds your body has already aged to that of a 60 or 70 year old. i failed miserably while my Mom chuckled away.

If you have stopped reading and tried to balance on one foot with your eyes closed and didn’t make it to ten seconds don’t worry. Help is on the way.

Vision is important for balance in most people and not being able to stand on one foot with your eyes closed is not unusual. In fact most seeing people that haven’t spent any time doing it will topple over. She knew that but i didn't.

With practice you can increase the balance time and improve your posture and stability.

Around the age of 40 our sense of balance starts to deteriorate. Increased falls and injuries are the result of a loss of balance; but it doesn't have to be that way.

“Regardless of your age, if you can’t stand steadily on one leg for at least 15 seconds…with or without your eyes closed…then you definitely need to start practicing as soon as possible.” Dr. John Morley

Researchers at the University of Connecticut report that injury risk is higher in those that can’t balance on one foot for at least 5 seconds with your eyes open.

Here are some average times and ages for eyes open 

18-39…43 seconds

40-49…40 seconds

50-59…37 seconds

60-69…27 seconds

and closed

18-39…9 seconds

40-49…7 seconds

50-59…5 seconds

60+…less than 3 seconds

i practice while i’m making tea in the morning. One minute per leg and it may be the placebo effect but i really think i’m not as klutzy as usual. 

See ya next week.

PS: Those Iguana’s were at Cane Bay last night. The kids watched the one come out of the water and found the other one in the hole. They were having quite a time with them and it brought back memories of my brother and myself hunting up lizards in California when we were young. When i asked them to pose they were all for it.