Keeping your balance - Mental agility counts, too

  As we age, balance becomes an issue.

  While fitness plays a role in preventing falls, so can mental agility, new research shows.

  Researchers at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill have designed fitness classes with mind-over-matter drills, such as "the four-square step test,''  combining memory, movement and speed, according to an article in today's Raleigh News and Observer.

"Leg strength is important, but it might be that your ability to interact with the environment is more important,''  Tiffany Shubert, a Ph.D. physical therapist who led the study, told the reporter.

Fear of falling often will cause people to limit their physical fitness. And it's not just older folks -- Shubert said she's seen people in their '40s and '50s curtail their fitness regimens because of this fear.

She suggests taking steps to improve your concentration while moving. It can be something as simple as carrying on a conversation while walking or reciting every other letter of the alphabet while maintaining your walking or jogging speed.

It makes sense to me. I walk every morning and count among my walking pals Burt and Elie Landy. They've been walking around the Granada Golf Course in Coral Gables - a 3.2-mile jaunt - for nearly 40 years. They walk daily except Saturdays, or log in 936 miles a year - roughly the equivalent of walking from their front door to Washington, D.C.

Elie says they wouldn't miss their morning walks for anything - they're out at 6:30 six days a week.

"Heck, I'm 78 ... and Burt's 79, and we're still going.''