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Welcome to the DiRobi Health Show . Today we're talking about

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balance and I'm going to start with two stories . First

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of all , on my wife's side of the family

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, a few years ago she had

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an elderly member of the family we affectionately

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called her Grammy and she was one of these people

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in her 80s that was the life of the party

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. She lived in kind of one of these

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upscale elderly

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retirement homes with all kinds of entertainment

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and good food and she seemed quite happy . She was

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the life of the party . She

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was playing games , she was going to all the activities

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, she was going out to plays . We enjoyed visiting

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her and spending time with her . But

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one day she fell . She

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fell down a small flight

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of stairs . It was actually a large flight of stairs but

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she was towards the bottom and unfortunately

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broke her hip . I

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was fairly young at the time , I think in my

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30s anyway . We went

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to visit her and I was really surprised

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how despondent she was . It was quite sad

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and it

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took so much out of her . This is kind of my

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first introduction to how severe

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it can be when an elderly person falls

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and she died

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within six weeks . She never

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came out of the rehab center after her

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surgery and it was quite shocking

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because she was so healthy until

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she fell down . Story number two

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I was at a CrossFit

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gym . I started CrossFit , did it for a few years in

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my 40s , very much enjoyed

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CrossFit , had some great instructors , went

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through about three gyms over several years and

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had a good experience with it . At

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one point we were warming up and

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they had us take a small ball I think it

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was a lacrosse ball actually . It said

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, okay , now stand on your left foot , hold

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the ball above your head and your right hand and just

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reach down to the ground , lean

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forward . So imagine kind of a stork position . Right

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, your left leg is straight , you have a ball

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over your head . You just go down to the ground

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, let go of the ball , lift your

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other arm , go back down to the

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ground and pick up the ball with your other hand

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, back and forth . I thought , oh

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, I'm going to kill this . I was that kid

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who always had good balance . I was a

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boy scout who when we got to the river

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that had a log over it . I

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was excited to just walk across because I had confidence

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in my balance and felt

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like I could show off and get to the other side and

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if other boys were scared , I was going to be the show

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off who would do it . And that was kind of me

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at that time and I took that

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sense of balance for granted . But that

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day in my 40s , as

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I bent over , I lost my balance and

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I was like what the ? I

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was kind of disappointed in myself . I tried it on my other

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leg and I was shocked to discover

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that this sense

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of balance that I'd taken for granted for so

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long had not been used in some time . And

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it was slipping . And

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other people around me some were struggling

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, some were doing it very well , so they'd

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become the show off kids who could do the thing

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, and I was the one who

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was now watching on

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and going oh my gosh , other

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people have a better sense of balance than

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I do . When did that happen ? Why

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did that happen ? And we

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we come to find out that keeping

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your balance is actually a strong

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marker of longevity . You're

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less likely to fall as you get

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older , and having a

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strong sense of balance is something that we need

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to start paying attention to , especially after

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we turn the age of 40 . So that's what I want to talk

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about today . Balance issues are

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common among other adults . There's

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various factors that contribute , including

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the side effects of medications , inner

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ear problems and conditions like diabetes

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or heart disease . These all can diminish

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your balance . Obviously

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, general aging affects our pro

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pro preoception man

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I struggle with the big words , I'm sorry about that

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Proprioception , the sense

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of body position where we are in

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space , which is crucial for maintaining balance

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. Our reflexes slow down . Our vestibular

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system , our inner ear balance system

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degenerates . And also

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vision . If our vision gets impaired , that also

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takes away from our balance . As a matter of fact

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, if you stand on one leg and close your eyes , you'll

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discover very quickly how important balance

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, or how important eyesight , is to

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your balance . Alarmingly

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, approximately 20%

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of adults over the age of 15 in the United States

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cannot stand on one foot for more than

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10 seconds . This is a terrific test

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for you to do right now , no matter how old

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you are . Try to stand on

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one leg . If you haven't done this in a while

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, you may be shocked . You may not

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have the natural balance that you had as

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a younger person . Try it on

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each leg and then try it , like

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I said a minute ago , closing your

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eyes . What

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we find out , dear listener , is

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that we should start working

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on our balance as we get older

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. This will help us live longer , it

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will reduce our risk of falling

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and we will generally

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keep our athleticism better . We'll be

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able to perform better in any sports

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that demand balance , such as golf

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. I'm going to talk about some of these

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things . First of all , exercise

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and physical activity . One

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of the things that I have changed in my exercise

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, now that I understand this issue of balance

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, is I have changed up some

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of my exercises to do them on one leg

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, or exercises

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that are often done with your legs parallel

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to each other . I will do them a different way

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. Let me give you a quick example . Just this

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morning , my workout called

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for doing lunges with dumbbells

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, one in each hand . I

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don't do them that way anymore because

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of this balance issue . Now , a

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lunge already requires some balance , so

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that's terrific . But let me tell you something

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even better . What you do ? You take a kettlebell

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or a dumbbell and you put

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it in the hand that's opposite

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to the leg . That's working . You

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go down and what you're going to find is that your stabilizer

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muscles have to work when

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you do a lunge that way

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. Then you come up , switch the

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weight to the other hand , and do

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your lunges that way , so that while you're doing your lunges

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, you're also working on your balance

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. There's a variety of other exercises that

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you can do specifically for your balance . There's

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actually so many that I won't even go through very

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many . Just a handful here . But

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if you're really interested in the subject , I

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do recommend that you add weight

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balancing

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workouts or

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exercises into your

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natural routine

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. The simplest of these are just called weight

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shifts , where you simply shift your

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weight just like it sounds like from one

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foot to the other . This is something you can do while waiting

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in line , while you're eating . If you just want

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to stand up for a minute while you eat and go back

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and forth . Whatever watching television

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, you can stand and shift your weight back

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and forth , and it actually makes a difference , even

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lifting the other foot off the ground and

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holding the position . The second one is very much

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like it . It's single leg balance , the only difference

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being that you would focus on developing

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out the strength in each leg to

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stand on one leg for as long as you can

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. The next is bicep curls

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and other exercises on one

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leg . Imagine you

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can probably picture this right now having a dumbbell in each

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hand and doing bicep curls while

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standing on one leg and then switching

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back and forth , similar to what

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I mentioned with the lunges . This is now

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adding balance into an otherwise fairly

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normal activity , but

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you're getting a twofer . You're now doing

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the activity in a way that's improving

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your balance . Don't forget

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the calves . Cavs

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are critical to balance , whether

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we do machine sitting

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calf raises or standing

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calf raises , doing

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simple heel raises . Back

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to the balance thing . Sometimes when I work out at home

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, I will take a 50 pound kettlebell

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, hold it on one side and

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do a calf raise just on the garage

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stairs on the opposite side

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leg . Again , it's working all those stabilizer

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muscles in between from

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left to right . So working on

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the calf muscles is crucial

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to keeping ankle stability and

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overall balance . Top

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to bottom , calves are critical

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to our stability . Then

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activities such as tai chi or

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other flowing moving

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, whether martial arts , yoga

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there's a variety of activities

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we can participate in that demand

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and increase in balance

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. Okay , next let's talk about

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nutrition and supplements . There are two

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that are more critical

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than others to balance , as far

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as we know . One is vitamin

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D , which actually has

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a direct effect on balance . There's

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a lot of argument about vitamin D , something that

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we don't have to take it at

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all because it's in so many products . Some

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people think you need like 10,000 international units

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a day . I strongly disagree

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with that as a certified nutrition coach , because

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vitamin D is one of those that your body doesn't

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just pee out . If it has too much , it

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builds up and becomes toxic . We

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put 2,000 international units in our

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Mimi's Miracle Multi and every year when I get

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my blood work done , my vitamin D is perfect

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, and I think that 2,000

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is a great number for almost

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everybody , and my personal blood work

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proves that out . Why don't you

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give that a shot yourself ? And , of course , mimi's Miracle

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Multi has several other elements that are

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specifically designed for people as they age

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, to be a superior multi than

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those big box white capsules that

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really don't do much . The

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next one that's fairly big is

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omega-3 fatty acids , because

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there is evidence

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that improves vestibular function

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, so it directly helps

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your balance . For

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me , I don't like the deep sea

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fish , the deep . What

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am I trying to say here ? Deep sea fish , deep

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fish , see , deep sea fish . Yeah , that's right , that's

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right . I don't like

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those . Ancestrally , our

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ancient ancestors

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were not able to access fish that lived a mile

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deep in the sea . They lived

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off of what they could find on the land , or small

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fish that they could catch in streams , rivers

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and shores , and so this

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one is plant-based , which your

10:36

body knows what to do with plants , so check out PerfectOmega's

10:38

at dirobycom , and those are probably

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the two that would help you most directly

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with balance . Next

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, let's talk about lifestyle modifications

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. Some of the things

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that are directly working against your balance are

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alcohol medications

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and we mentioned

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this one before your vision

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and so paying attention to

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those things , reducing alcohol and

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, if possible , taking as few

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medications as you need

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. I'm not giving medical advice here . This

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is something that you can work with your health professional

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to do , but

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in this modern day we're kind of hopefully

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getting past the point where multiple

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doctors prescribe multiple things and don't

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work with their clients to try to keep the medications

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down , and more and more practitioners

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are aware of the long-term harm

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caused by chronic drug

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use , and so ideally

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, by improving your lifestyle and working with

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a professional , you can make sure you're taking the minimal

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effective dose of the medications

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that you actually need . So

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I hope this episode

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has been interesting , because

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if you are over about the age

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of 40 , there's a very good chance that

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your balance is deteriorating

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and you may not be paying attention , as I

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was not , and discovered in

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a CrossFit class several years ago . Since

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then I've changed my activities , I've become

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aware of balance and have

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worked on it , and I do not

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have that sense of balance that

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I had as a teen , but it's certainly better

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than a lot of people my age . I notice

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a lot of people do not have balance

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. I see people stumbling , struggling

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to get in and out of cars and just a variety

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of day-to-day things . As you get older start

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to become a little harder if you don't have

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a good sense of balance , and this is

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one of the top things we can do to

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increase our longevity . So

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I hope you've enjoyed this episode . Remember

12:36

we put show notes and graphics and

12:38

fun stuff on our blog at blogdiorobicom

12:41

. Also , remember that you can use the code

12:44

podcast to save

12:46

10% on any of these supplements ever mentioned

12:48

on this show . Until

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next time , this is Dave Sherwin , wishing

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you health and success .