One of the disheartening sights is the unusually large number of wheelchairs lined up at arrival terminals at airports when a flight from India arrives.
With our average life expectancy being around just 70, do we get infirm and immobile early, taking to the wheel chair or seeking physical support too easily as we grow old? And if we do show signs of aging early, is it just “genes”, or how we looked after ourselves in the preceding decades leading up to it?
Dr Michael Roizen from the Cleveland Clinic, an expert on longevity and aging, points out that our ability to maintain balance is a good indicator of how long and healthy we are and can expect to live.
He describes a “one leg test”, that is a senior person’s ability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds; those who can achieve the feat are three times more likely to live longer and healthier lives than their same-aged counterparts who could not!
Holding balance indicates three aspects of a person’s health. For one it gives an idea about the strength of our leg, spine and body muscles.
Second, the act of balancing requires nerves, muscles, eyes, vestibular system (behind our ears) and brain to fire and function in a balanced and coordinated manner, and provides a quick assessment of the state of neurological decline that accompanies aging.
And third, patients who suffer from neuropathies, especially diabetics, find it hard to perceive sensations from the legs, and hence their balance.
He noted that those who could hold their balance, were more alert and had better cognition or learning abilities.
How then can we hold on and strengthen our balancing skill? The tree-pose or Vrikshasan asana seems tailored for just that.
Other methods include toe-heel walks, walking on a straight line or walking up stairs without holding the rails.
Walking on a wall or a beam, or in its most challenging form, on a rope, is what it is all about. Many elders would reminisce how they used to do it then when they were young and active. Wouldn’t of course advise my senior compatriots to revisit their agile childhoods now!
Giving up too easily and taking to the wheel chair could enhance our motor deterioration. Regular practice could slow our age-related decline in movement, and of our balancing skills.
