Balance Exercises for Seniors: What I Do Daily at 71

Four friends have died recently. Two of them from falling down.

I have been to more funerals in the last year than I care to count — one last week, one a month ago, another four months before that. Close to half as many funerals as I have been to in my whole life, if I set my parents aside.

And falling was the cause for half of them.

The Thing Nobody Warns You About

You spend your life worrying about the big diseases. Cancer. Heart attack. Stroke. Then you get older and the thing that actually gets you is the floor.

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death for adults over 65. More than 14 million of us fall every year, roughly one in four. And it is getting worse, not better — the CDC has the age-adjusted fall death rate up 21 percent between 2018 and 2024, from 64.7 to 78.4 per 100,000. About 37 percent of people who fall end up with an injury needing treatment.

My grandmother fell in her apartment. Her old wooden cane broke and went into her side, and she broke her hip. They thought she would die. She did not — but she was never the same person again.

When I interviewed Richard Rossi from DaVinci 50, he put it about as plainly as it can be put: you do not want to die from stupid stuff. You have got enough ways to die already. Falling down is a stupid way to go.

Try This Right Now

Stand on one foot. Time yourself.

If you are over 70 I promise you it is harder than you expect, and if you have not tried it lately you are going to be surprised at how bad it is.

Then try walking a straight line, heel to toe — the thing the police ask you to do when they think you have been drinking. I do not drink any more. A glass of champagne at New Year, maybe. But a year ago, stone sober, I could not have passed that test.

I know a man who was arrested for exactly that. Taken to jail because he could not walk the line. When they tested his blood there was no alcohol in it at all. He was just old.

What I Do About It, in Under Five Minutes a Day

Balance is trainable. That is the good news, and it does not take much time.

Stand on one foot for 100 seconds. Then the other foot for 100 seconds. That is a minute and a half each side. It was hard when I started and it is still not easy — I have been at this close to a year. If you cannot manage it, stand next to a chair or a counter so you can grab something. Holding on when you need to still counts.

Walk a straight line every morning. I use the seam where the carpet in my house meets the wood floor. Ten feet up, turn around, ten feet back. Four or five times, about fifty feet total. It costs nothing and you already have a line somewhere in your house.

I am still not great at standing on one foot. But I am good at walking a straight line now, and I would pass that roadside test comfortably.

Why This Is on the List at All

Most of what I do in this project is about the long game — supplements, bloodwork, sleep, the slow stuff that might pay off in decades.

Balance is not that. Balance is the thing that can end all of it in one afternoon, and it takes four minutes a day to work on. There is no supplement in my whole stack with a better return than that.

I have also written about the one-minute heel-to-toe drill I do, and about the two miles I walk every morning, which is where this video was recorded.

Come Walk With Me

I post every day about longevity and health at 71 in my Facebook group — a health tip, an anti-aging tip, a supplement tip. Literally every day, sometimes twice. Come join us at garyleland.com/facebook.

And tell me in the comments what you do for balance. I am always looking for something better.

Keep Going

Everything I take is listed with its dose on my supplement stack and on my protocols page. What I do to stay strong is on my fitness page, and every blood number I publish is on my test and stats page.

Stay sovereign, stay healthy,
Gary

A note from Gary: I am not a doctor, and I am definitely not your doctor. I am a 71-year-old man running a 129-year experiment on himself in public. If you have had a fall or you are unsteady on your feet, talk to your physician — there are treatable causes, and balance problems are worth a real assessment.

Applications Are Open

The 200 Year Life Mastermind

If you would rather do this alongside other people than alone, I am opening a small group. One year, live on Zoom, working through the protocols together.

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