After the age of 60, the body tolerates very poorly long periods of immobility, especially with the neck slightly tilted forward (television, cell phone, reading).
What’s the matter?
- The neck muscles tighten like a hard rope.
- Blood flow to the brain is reduced.
- Position sensors in the neck send confusing signals to the balance system.
Doña Marta described her feeling like this: “It’s as if I had a brick inside my head.”
He spent more than 6 hours a day in the same armchair, with his neck forward.
What to do
- Every 30–40 minutes, get up for at least 2 minutes.
- Move your shoulders back, gently turn your neck from side to side, and look into the distance through the window.
- Avoid spending hours looking down (cell phone, tissue, book). Raise whatever you’re using to eye level.
Mistake 5: Almost not drinking water and living on coffee and infusions
Many tell me:
“Doctor, I’m not dehydrated, I drink coffee all day.”
The problem is that the body doesn’t count coffee as water.
After 60:
- we have less thirst,
- the blood becomes a little thicker when there is a lack of water,
- The pressure becomes unstable.
Result: dizziness when getting up, cloudy vision, weak steps.
Excess coffee, strong tea or diuretic infusions worsens dehydration and, if you also take blood pressure medication or diuretics, dizziness multiplies.
What to do
- Keep to a simple goal: 6–8 glasses of water a day, spread out.
- For each cup of coffee or tea, try adding a glass of water.
- Have a small bottle in sight: what you see, you drink.
- If you get up a lot at night to go to the bathroom, concentrate most of the water in the morning and afternoon.
Mistake 4: Breathing shallowly and quickly all day
You don’t have to feel “short of breath” to breathe badly.
When you’re focused, worried, or sitting for a long time:
- You breathe short, from the top of your chest,
- the diaphragm hardly moves,
- the neck and shoulders do a job that does not correspond to them.
This generates:
- reduced cerebral oxygenation,
- more cervical tension,
- A feeling of mental cloud and a heavy head.
Balance uses the breath as an internal anchor.
If you breathe heavily and shallowly, the brain interprets disorder and instability.
Simple exercise
Several times a day, especially before getting out of bed or when starting a walk:
- Inhale through your nose for 3 seconds.
- Hold the air for 1 second.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 seconds.