Improve Balance While Brushing Your Teeth

Post menopause, the average woman will lose muscle mass, bone density and balance every year as she ages. This is a reality because many women are not strength training, moving enough and/or eating well as they age.

This also puts these same women at significant risk of falling as they age, breaking bones, and sometimes premature death due to complications from their original injuries.

Use it or lose it! This very much applies to our muscles and our balance. There are so many opportunities to improve balance every day and it doesn’t have to be hard. .

Several of my clients use the time they spend brushing their teeth to practice standing on one foot and then the other. They also stand heel to toe, which can be harder to do (both from a balance perspective and also from a not drooling toothpaste on yourself perspective).

When you practice balancing on one leg (your right for example), you shift most of your weight over that leg. The ankle and leg do much of the work but balancing is way easier if you also ask for help from your core and the right glute (butt muscles).

To engage your core, you pretend to zip up an imaginary pair of tight pants and then “brace your core” by tightening your muscles as though someone was going to bump into you and you didn’t want them to knock you over.

To engage your right glute, you squeeze the muscle and keep squeezing while you balance. If you can’t tell whether your glute is engaged or not, put your hand on it. Feel it while it’s relaxed and then squeeze it. It should feel tighter.

If you’re balancing on your left leg, you’d do the same thing except that your weight would be settled over the left leg, your left glute will contract and your core again will assist.

Brushing your teeth is a great time to practice your balance because it doesn’t require a whole lot of thought or effort. It’s a well established habit that you can do automatically.

It’s important to note that the counter top is always available to help you with balance. Sometimes people forget to put their foot down when they’re losing their balance and if this is you, use the counter top.

Anytime you are waiting for anything (e.g. for coffee, in line in supermarket, etc.) you can practice balancing on one foot. The more you practice, the better you get at it and most of the time, no one has any idea that you’re even doing it.

The closer your foot is to the ground, the easier it is to balance. When you move your foot farther away and add movement, you increase the difficulty.

Play with it and have fun. Be the exception to the rule and increase your balance as you age. My clients are all women with more balance than average, but they also work at it every week.

You can do it anytime, anywhere and don’t need anything but your body to do it!

Action Step:

• Test yourself to see how long you can balance on your right and left leg.

  Work up to being able to balance on each leg for at least 30 seconds. Your fall risk decreases significantly when you’re able to do this!