Explainer: how do our bodies balance themselves?

TheConversation: Balance is the vital sense that gives much-needed stability to our teetering, upright bodies. Good balance is usually associated with having stable posture, but it also has a lot to do with visual stability. The importance of the balance system is shown by the vast number of connections it makes with the brain. These connections reveal that the forces of motion we create and encounter in the environment can go on to affect many parts of the brain, including those that control vision, hearing, sleep, digestion, and even learning and memory.

Walking, simple exercises improve balance

Mayo Clinic: Health Letter covers why older adults sometimes struggle with balance and offers strategies to move with more confidence.
With age, some of the systems involved in balance and stability change. Vision can decline. Depth perception is reduced, and night vision might be more difficult. Changes can occur in the way the muscles respond to nerve signals, and a decline in physical activity can result in loss of muscle strength. Reduced speed and muscle power can make it harder to respond to situations that affect balance. Exercises to strengthen and maintain balance can help older adults live more actively and move more confidently. A big benefit is reduced risk of falls, a leading cause of injury in older adults.

Playing catch can improve balance, prevent falls in older adults

University of Illinois. US: The simple training exercise of catching a weighted medicine ball can improve balance and may help prevent falls in the elderly, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Their results are reported in studies available online to subscribers in advance of print in two journals: Electromyography and Kinesiology and Experimental Brain Research.