Re: I did not know this.

[jeff marx <marxj2@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>]

I'll chime in with a report from two young guys...

fellow colleague, age 30; held 34 seconds
myself, age 28.5; held 45 seconds.

I made several runs at this after my initial attempt. Somewhat to my
surprise, I found it was actually easier to hold my balance longer if I
kept my arms and raised leg close to my body. After 20 or 30 seconds
fatigue became a factor, thus, making it diffucult to maintain my arms and
leg positions within the allowed two or three inches. (If I permitted
myself to flap around wildly to maintain balance, then the
arms-and-leg-extended mode was obviously the superior posture.) As was
suggested by Sam Sampere, practice could really make a difference.
Fun.

Later,
           jeff


At 08:00 AM 2/23/99 +0100, you wrote:
> Ask somebody to stay at rest on one leg for 30 seconds.
> Most people will do this without trouble. (To "stay at rest"
> means not to wiggle the suspended leg or arms by more
> than two or three inches). Then ask that person to do the
> same with closed eyes; it is a different story. Try it.
>
> I wander how a blind person would perform. Probably
> much better than most of us. The book I am reading
> states that young people (below 60), on the average,
> have much better balance than old people (over 70).
> But this refers to their performance with open eyes,
> I suppose. Is the closed eyes balancing also age related?
> I am going to be 68 this year and my best try (out of first
> ten) was about 12 seconds. Post your results, if you
> want.
>             Ludwik Kowalski