Dear LPG readers,

I hear so many people who, as they approach their mid-seventies, continue to say that they don’t feel any different from when they were thirty. When it comes to your outlook on life, I agree. But those little physical aches and pains have usually started to make the gradual changes so slowly that we often don’t even realise they are happening.  

I am not saying we don’t feel the twinges as they reach us. I know I spend more time getting to the doctor these days. It is easy to put that down to how difficult it is to get through to any department of the NHS at any time. While that may be harder to do, if we think about it, we have to try more often because of those same little twinges. 

The secret is not to let all the downsides of getting older get to us. I am a positive septuagenarian. However, when I think of the future, even though I am one of the many who now live on my own, I hope to spend it at home in the environment that I have come to know and love. 

If I am worried about anything, it is whether I can live at home as I age. A few of my friends who are not much older than me have no choice but to leave their homes. The thought of losing my ability to do what I want when I want has to be the thing that I fear most. 

There are many reasons why the decision to leave home might be made for you, and when we consider the hard facts, quite a few will be beyond our control. We have all heard of the effects of dementia on the independence of an older person who lives alone, but if we can do something about some of the other things that might make a difference, it has to be the way to go.

One of the top reasons why older people cannot live alone is the fear of falling and breaking their more fragile bones.

This thought got me asking Google a few questions and I got my answers.  Walking is one of those subconscious actions that we take every day.  We do so much of it that we don’t even think about it and don’t notice how much we depend on our sense of balance to do it properly.  It is also that, when you do things that often, we get lazy and find all the shortcuts the textbook version warns against. 

I looked at what Google had to say about keeping on top of our balancing acts and discovered a couple of tests that might help you work out how good yours is.  I also found a few exercises that might help improve it and I have had a go.  Most of them look easy, but I suggest you have a go when one or two other people are around.  The tests and exercises were a good excuse to get together with a few friends and compare each other’s performances, which made for an enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment.  One worth repeating now and again. 

After trying it out, here’s a quick reminder to check where yours is. It might be a good way forward, so I hope LPG will share the links to make it possible.    

EK, Crofton Park

EK shares a few balance tests…

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… a few exercises that might help…

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… and a few statistics about the realities of falling…

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