The connection between balance training and brain health

The link between balance and brain health

Your brain and body rely on a complex set of sensory and motor movement systems to balance properly. Your eyes—part of the vision system—tell you whether you’re on slippery ice or a rocky beach. Balance sensors in your inner ear—part of the vestibular system—help you maintain your equilibrium. And sensors in your feet, joints, and muscles—part of the proprioceptive system—track the changing position of your limbs, according to the Vestibular Disorders Association.

Each of these systems sends information to the brainstem, where it gets sorted out and integrated with learned information from the cerebellum, the coordination center of the brain, and the cerebral cortex, the locus of decision making and memory, says Mark Hallett, MD, FAAN, chief of the Human Motor Control Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

“If any of these systems are off, the results can be catastrophic,” he says, adding that difficulty with a balance is one of the most common neurologic symptoms. Balance and coordination rely on high-level thinking, including learning, memory, and response time. As that declines with age, or because of a neurologic condition, balance becomes even more compromised.

A small 2017 study published in Scientific Reports found balance training can help increase memory and spatial cognition (a process involving how the brain organizes and uses information about its environment). The researchers examined 70 people in Germany, all of whom were healthy but weren’t athletes with excellent balance.

The research subjects were split into two groups. One group went through a balance training program, and the other group didn’t. Everyone was tested on a set of memory and spatial cognition tasks before and after the training program. As expected, only people in the balance training group significantly improved in the brain health tests.

The Scientific Reports study used what the researchers call a dynamic balance training program. The researchers didn’t simply ask participants to see how long they could stand on one leg. Instead, they had people in the study maintain balance on one leg while being pulled to one side with an elastic strap around their hips, and stand on a wobbling board while passing a medicine ball to a partner, among other exercises.

What’s important is that these exercises involve coordination, thinking, planning, and reacting, Dr. Lubetzky says. “A few studies show that more complex exercise improves the brain more, and that’s not surprising,” she explains. More complex situations make our brains work harder.

The brain likes blood and oxygen, Dr. Kilgore says. “And so, one of the most important things to do to help stave off dementia is to get the cardiovascular exercise that improves blood flow to the brain.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week (broken up as you see fit).

Dancing improves brain function and reverses signs of aging

This would be an exercise that both raises your heartbeat and improves your balance. Dr. Kilgore suggests biking, which requires balance to keep the bike upright and, if you’re biking outside, requires you to react to different terrain or obstacles in your path while also getting your blood flowing.

There are many other balance exercises you can try. Both Dr. Kilgore and Dr. Lubetzky recommend dance, which involves balance, coordination, and plenty of cardiovascular movement. But even a simple game like passing a ball with friends in the park can be great for your brain. Throwing a ball around makes you balance yourself as you toss and catch. You have to react. You have to have coordination.

Pilates, yoga (especially vinyasa yoga, which is more dynamic), obstacle courses, even walking on uneven surfaces may benefit your brain over time. The important thing is to challenge yourself.

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