Of Losing Balance

Losing balance is an infirmity which comes to a person while aging. When it is felt at the start, the person would begin to feel insecure and may even entertain future problems. However, this is bound to come to all. We may as well accept it and know how to deal with it.

May I share with you some and hopefully they will help you more to manage yourself, since you had helped yourself on this for some time, I suppose. For older persons especially approaching retirement, there are normal changes in the body which are proceeding towards weakening. This happens to persons at different age depending on your health and other factors. I had my consciousness of it late and after I was sixty years.

Taking care of your eyes is a primary function. For many who do a lot of reading, seeing your doctor seems a ‘must’ every year if you have to change your lens. For me, it started at age 35 and is going on until now. At the start, it was for reading . But lately, it is now also for keeping my balance. As I see the ground’s up’s and down’s, I am aided to be ready to step up or down. Even only a change of elevation of a few inches matters lot. It also enables us to see pebbles, or holes or wet ground or canals and gutters. Therefore, the vision of our eyes is so important for reading and for balancing.

I suppose taking care of the ears is affecting our balance too. Many do have ear problems. The gradual loss maybe natural. I have not gone to the doctor for my ear since I feel my not perfect hearing is just normal for me. But if this affects the person more, healing it is necessary. If ears are not healthy, balance is also affected. Hence, we see the doctor for the primary purpose and at the same time, healing it could help improve our balance.

The third factor is our naturally increasing weakness. Again, this is something we can accept. Many take supplementary food, vitamins, minerals, organic products and others as prescribed by some doctors. At my age, I take regularly my prescribed medicine but I go for natural food for my nutritional needs. I am trying not to take supplements.

All these and others I may fail to mention, may contribute to our physical weakness and this affects our balance. May I mention some ways to help ourselves. To summarize, take care of your eyes and ears.

For women, we refrain from wearing high-heeled shoes and carrying heavy bags and luggage. When we walk, we provide a distance between our legs so that they will not touch other. We walk of such speed that we could have short time to bring our body back to the center. If need be, a person walking by your side who you could hold on lightly will be a good help. When we cross the street, have the street empty before you cross. If you take the jeep or bus, request the driver to wait until you are seated before the vehicle moves forward.

When we go up and down the stairways, face side-wise so that if you fall, you may fall on the steps, not facing the bottom of the stairs. Avoiding walking on wet ground, pebbles, other objects on the ground, also ramps in streets. Added to this, we avoid walking in dark places.

As we need to exercise, happy safe walking!