Friday, November 6, 2015

Finding Time for Anti-Falling Exercises

I'm sitting here, 7pm on a Thursday night, and realizing that I have not done all of today's balance exercises.

"I'm too busy", we all say to ourselves.

One day, we won't be too busy to sit in a rehab center, or in a hospital room, or even worse, lie in a nursing home, if we injure ourselves one too many times by falling.  Hit your head, and life as you know it may be over, as it is for the mother of one of my in laws. Broken hips equal a low life expectancy in a senior, and my spouse's 103 year old aunt broke a hip last year.  Falls can break bones in any of us.

I've been lucky - so far.  I am 62 years old.  I have fallen several times already with resulting bruises but no broken bones.  Yet.  This past May, I decided to take matters in my own hands and attend a falls prevention class.  Here in the Binghamton, New York area, we are fortunate because of our large senior population, to have a number of these programs.  They are inexpensive and well worth your time.

So, how do we find the time in our busy lives to practice falls prevention?  Here are four ways to balance time with balance exercises to help our balance.

1.  Exercise first thing in the morning, right when we get up.  That works for me - sometimes.
2.  If we take mass transit, exercise at the bus stop.  Some exercises can be done holding a bus stop pole, for example, heel stands.
3.  Do you work?  If possible, devote 10 minutes of your lunch to the exercises.  If you have a desk job, you can do two of the exercises sitting down (sit to stand, and leg raises).  In fact, the sit to stand exercise can be one of the most important exercises you ever do.
4.  At home, do you watch TV? Several of the exercises can be done while watching TV - for example, raising your legs while in a sitting position, and rotating them.

It's all about practice.  (And remember, it's best to learn these exercises from a professional who teaches balance/fall prevention. )

Practice your balance today.  Your life may depend on it.

Do you have problems with falls?

This is day 6 of NaBloPoMo, brought to us by BlogHer, where hundreds of bloggers have committed to blogging every day in November.  I invite you to click on the link and visit other participating blogs.

10 comments:

  1. Good that you are exercising in the morning, Alana. I search for excuses as I am lazy to exercise in the morning. Need to get out of that

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    1. Well, after writing that - I haven't exercised at all today, and it is almost 6pm. So much for "do as I say".

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  2. I start exercising with great zeal and then I'm done.. broken.. wait for another motivation to push me up.. I don't really know when will I finally egg on this exercise routine!
    Loved reading your post though..

    Happy Exercising

    Cheers

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    Replies
    1. It is so hard to be consistent - this is something I fight on an almost daily basis.

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  3. My husband does his daily exercise. I should but I don't and won't offer any excuses.
    Coffee is on

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    1. The exercise really helps with weight control - I see the difference when I don't exercise as much.

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  4. I think it gets easier to do them with practice. By that I mean that you have to get in the habit of making time to do them. Like with anything new.

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    1. I hate to exercise - it's as simple as getting beyond that.

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  5. Thanks for sounding the alarm on this important issue! I'm not too far behind you, at 57. I know I really need to get back into a regular exercise routine.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you can manage it, with everything going in in your life. But it's so necessary. I tell myself that daily.

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