Invest in your Vestibular System
Let's head to the most fascinating body part of all, the vestibular system.
These tiny little inner-ear organs send rapid, reflexive commands into the body, automatically contracting the necessary muscles so you don't fall over and hit your precious noggin.
To keep your brain safe the vestibular system is always asking two questions:
“Which way is up?” and, "What direction am I moving?"
This gets tricky for the vestibular system when the fluid that helps with transmitting these signals becomes viscous (or in other words too thick to send the signals rapidly). This can happen for lots of reasons…
Gut issues - the primary vestibular association cortex is beside the homunculus for the intestines so they can impact on each other.
Hormonal issues - polycystic ovaries, menopause, or any hormonal issues related to oestrogen can affect the fluid dynamics of the inner ear
Antibiotics - one of the side effects is damage to the sensory cells in the inner ear.
NSAIDS - drugs such as Ibuprofen affect the viscosity of the fluid.
Ear infections - if you've had lots of these there is a chance you might have vestibular deficit as these two structures are connected.
Wheelchair or lots of sitting as we age - if you don't use it you lose it
What can you do about it? Well, yoga and fitness is a great tool, but these don't always promote varied head positions. We can do a lot to help the inner ear by adding unique head positions to our squats, vinyasas and balances. This will help stimulate the vestibular system making the inner ear fluid flow more freely.
You can also stimulate the vestibular system by moving backwards, in circles or jumping.
Don't be shy in kids playgrounds. Get on the swings, seesaws, and slides. These all will add varied loads into the vestibular systems helping to up regulate the inner ear fluid dynamics.
You can also enjoy the classes on the AnatoMove App which have various drills woven into the sequences to build up your vestibular system progressively and consistently challenge it.