I have been noticing a lot about some of my participants in my balance classes. Attention is a key player in balance. I have noticed that as we age our minds become less able to multi-task and our attention is often hard to stay focused. I talked to many people in my class, who are good physical condition, about their falls. Many of them said it was a freak accident, or they didn't know how it happened. They couldn't put their finger on why it happened. One lady in particular that I have in mind has had 3 falls in the past 3 months. Each time it was something different. She thought they were unrelated, accidents; I however think it is something different.

I think as we age, our minds are less able to filter out distractions. I think this is where a lot of our memory loss comes from, the inability to focus on what we are doing: where we are putting our keys, what we are reading, who we just talked to and what their name was and even where we are going.

All of us has experience this struggle with attention. Could you remember what you were trying to read while the TV was on, or what the teacher was saying while the hot girl or guy happened to glance your way in class? It just becomes magnified as you get older. As our brains begin to lose the ability to filter out distractions, we must become intentional in our approach to handling the problem. Just like everything else, we get good at what we practice; the body is very adaptable. The first thing I have done with my group is to try and eliminate the fear of falling. That doesn't mean for them not to be careful or aware of their problems; it only mean to not be afraid to address the problems and constantly be distracted by the very thing they are trying to avoid. If they are constantly being afraid of falling they will take their mind off of what they are doing, be it walking, standing, reaching, etc. This could create a self-fulfilling prophecy because it they aren't concentrating on what they are doing at the time and only worry about falling, they might fall from paying attention.

The aforementioned step is probably the hardest thing to do. The next step is to begin specific drills to improve balance, muscle strength, core, spatial awareness... there are a lot of techniques out there. If you are interested just ask me for some and I would be more than happy to share.

Lastly, when they are getting decent at the drills, I start throwing curve balls (this is where you have to be careful to make sure they don't fall, because even though you feel comfortable that they can do the exercises; this is where they might fall due to their lack of attention). I start adding distractions: lights, sounds, objects moving and in the way, anything I can think of to make them take their mind off their actions and onto something else. It is a little mean at first, they might think they are regressing; but in actuality they haven't forgotten what to do, they are just getting distracted from their task. It is learning how to filter out the distractions and focus that help them achieve their goals.

Does anyone have any good techniques for eliminating distractions while they focus that I can try on my class?

I don't know any good techniques for eliminating distractions except for practice. Practice makes perfect! I would believe that the more you practice balancing with your elders while giving them distractions, the better they will get at it!

I have found that games like simon says and repeating patterns, like the game simon, are doing wonders... if anyone wants to know more about it... just ask!

Ok... I want to know more about it.

You can actually recovery reflex response and short-term memory if you practice games that challenge you in these areas. Cross-word puzzles, say or do something then have my class repeat it back and add something to it making it increasingly harder. Challenge your mind and you will get good results, just as if you started a workout routine for your body.