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.

Asinine stuff

George Carlin always had a ready comment for anything. He penned this poem years ago that really talks to our asinine human ability to trash the earth.

Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies,

Insecticided grain,

For strip-mined mountain’s majesty

Above the asphalt plain.

America, America,

Man sheds his waste on thee,

And hides the pines with billboard signs,

From sea to oily sea.

Humans have depleted 90 percent of the big fish, 75 percent of the forests, the oceans are 30 percent more acidic, and we wiped out 50% of wildlife since 1970.  We face a world with no fisheries, no coral reefs, no rain forests, water scarcity etc.,etc.,etc. Are we assholes…what is wrong with humanity…don’t we understand its about saving ourselves?

That’s my nod to Earth Day for today’s blog.

When did it become OK to treat workers as commodities? Today some workers have to call in half an hour before they are due to work to see if they actually can go to work. How the hell do they plan their lives or even afford them?

The inability of some cities to refinance their debt at a lower interest rate because the investors bought fixed rate municipal bonds. 

The open carry woman in North Carolina who had her handgun exposed on the center console has it snatched while sitting in her vehicle with the windows rolled down. The thief ordered her to drive away while pointing it at her.

Fining the woman in Texas $2,000 for feeding the homeless on the street.

Those states that still don’t believe that fracking is responsible for their upticks in earthquakes.

“They don’t have any debt except for a mortgage and student loans.” Morgan House

The public needing legal protection to videotape police.

Thinking that it is OK for government agencies to track us online and collect data from our phone usage.

Believing same sex marriage is some how going to impact a heterosexual marriage.

Buying into the idea that free speech equals money.

Supporting Congress outsourcing its thinking to lobbyists.

We humans can think and do some really stupid stuff but ever the Optimist i think if we keep hammering away at it we will one day get it right. Happy Earth Day.

See ya next week

Musings

How will what you believe bring about the kind of world you want to live in? 

Can you tell me exactly how bombing Iran will make the world a safer place?

Can you tell me exactly how reducing taxes on the wealthy will trickle down to the middle class and poor?

How exactly will having every American own a gun create less violence?

What does it say about American pay scales when over half of public school students qualify for subsidized lunches?

Where is that trickle down when America’s wealth grew by 60 percent in the past 6 years?

Who exactly are we going to hire when the US ranks near the bottom of the developed world in early childhood education?

Good Samaritans get tickets for feeding the homeless in San Antonio.

Rand Paul admitted he would have to raise the retirement age for Social Security and reduce Medicare Benefits in order to pay for the Bush tax cuts. No mention of cutting back on military spending.

Social Security can be saved easily by raising the ceiling on income that is taxed. Right now it is at $110,000…raising it would mean more of us would be taxed equally. As it stands now those making $110,000 and under bear more of the tax burden.

i saw this written up on Slate and i wonder how many think it is true?

“When Republican leaders are presented with a conflict between a Democratic president and a foreign government, they often side with the foreign government.” William Saletan

Did you know that 23% of military veterans that were discharged received a less than honorable discharge.http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/the-veterans-no-one-talks-about-20140914

Five percent of doctors accounted for 54% of malpractice payouts.http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/04/opinion/bad-doctors-get-a-free-ride.html

Estate tax is a big deal for conservatives and they want to vote on it tomorrow…but it looks like only 5,400 estates actually face the tax over the next several years even though 2 million deaths occur annually. “I guess when it comes to helping the wealthiest people in the country, it’s never enough,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said Tuesday with a laugh. http://thehill.com/policy/finance/238862-both-parties-fired-up-over-vote-on-estate-tax-repeal

If your estate is less than $5.43 million for an individual and $10.86 million for a couple you are already exempt.

Giving tax breaks for child care and education would help far more people than the GOP’s estate tax repeal.

Some say the left justifies taking money from those who earned it and then they turn around and give it to those who haven’t earned it. But here is a question…when you leave a huge multi-million dollar estate to your heirs why is it OK that they also haven’t earned it? Isn’t your good intentions undermining personal responsibility? Why is it that people who are GIVEN millions and millions shouldn’t have to pay taxes?

See ya next week.