> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://aarr.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hand-Eye Coordination After 60: The Exercises and Everyday Activities That Help Keep It Sharp - URL: https://aarr.org/hand-eye-coordination-exercises-after-60/ - Published: 2026-09-24T18:11:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-24T18:11:43.000Z - Description: Hand-eye coordination slips with age, but Harvard Health Publishing says there is a lot you can do about it. Here are the grip, balance and ball-sport exercises its doctors and therapists recommend, and everyday activities, from playing catch to knitting, that help. - Author: AARR Staff - Tags: News, Physical Fitness, Preventative Healthcare ## Clumsier Than You Used to Be? You Can Do Something About It Hand-eye coordination is what allows you to drive a car, cook a meal, pick up an object or grab a handrail without giving it a second thought. Harvard Health Publishing describes it as the cooperation between the information your eyes take in and the signals your brain sends to your arms and hands, and it calls that coordination key to maintaining your independence. The ability declines with age, too. Reflexes, speed and accuracy all dull, according to Harvard, possibly because of vision loss, poor health or changes in the brain's wiring. Dr. Andrew Budson, a neurologist and chief of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at VA Boston Healthcare System, told Harvard that many people over 60 who eat a Western diet and do not exercise enough have tiny strokes in the brain that they never notice, and that those strokes can disrupt connections in the brain's coordination centers. He added that everyone gradually loses some of the brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that helps the brain regulate movement and coordination. The good news, Dr. Budson says, is that coordination can be improved through exercise, practicing skills and treating underlying health conditions, and a decline is not something anyone has to accept. ## Why You Feel Clumsier Now Dr. Howard LeWine, chief medical editor at Harvard Health Publishing and a practicing internist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, has identified several changes that make people clumsier as they age. The senses weaken, including hearing, the sharpness of vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the sense of touch in the hands and feet. The brain, spinal cord and nerves also change in ways that slow processing, which makes it harder to react quickly to an obstacle or a distraction. As muscles lose strength, power and flexibility, they can no longer adjust quickly enough to keep you from falling when you start to lose your balance, or from dropping a dish you fumble on its way into the cupboard. The balance system in the inner ear and brain also works less efficiently. Dr. LeWine points to medications as well, such as older antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl), which cause drowsiness, and blood pressure drugs, which can cause dizziness or lightheadedness. A lapse in attention increases the chance of a slip, and chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes and Parkinson's disease can make clumsiness worse. ## Steps to Keep Your Coordination Sharp Dr. LeWine says many of these changes cannot be reversed, but there is still a lot you can do to reduce clumsiness and avoid injury. The steps below come from Harvard Health Publishing, which drew on Dr. LeWine and on occupational therapist Jennifer Packard of Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. 1. **Exercise your hands every day.** Dr. LeWine recommends squeezing a tennis ball two or three times a day, stretching your fingers gently and often, buttoning and unbuttoning a shirt, and working on jigsaw puzzles to strengthen your grip and improve fine motor skills. 2. **Lift weights two or three times a week.** Dr. LeWine recommends resistance training on that schedule to build stronger muscles. 3. **Add balance exercise.** He suggests tai chi and yoga. Harvard describes tai chi as a series of slow, flowing movements combined with deep breathing, in which you gradually shift your weight from one pose to the next to improve reflexes, balance, strength, flexibility and range of motion. 4. **Take up a sport with a moving ball.** In tennis, racquetball and pickleball, your eyes follow the ball while your brain directs your body to meet it. Packard says the speed of the ball is what makes these sports challenging, because your brain must guide your arm even where you cannot see it, such as when you reach behind you or to the side, and that forces faster reactions. 5. **Try swimming.** Packard says swimmers visualize what their hands are doing without watching them, and she notes that the different sensations in the water also challenge the brain. 6. **Consider noncontact boxing.** This form of exercise involves wearing boxing gloves and shadow boxing or hitting soft pads. Harvard says aiming left with your right hand, or right with your left, is especially demanding for the brain, and Packard says that making the brain cross the body's midline this way brings a considerable benefit. 7. **Increase the difficulty over time.** Whether you train on your own or with a physical therapist or fitness coach, keep making your practice harder, and Harvard suggests switching to a smaller ball or a more difficult activity. Packard says that increasing the challenge once a month is an impressive accomplishment. 8. **Protect your sleep.** Dr. LeWine says that inadequate or poor-quality sleep reduces focus and stability, which makes clumsiness worse. ## Everyday Activities That Help Harvard Health Publishing says you do not have to break a sweat to sharpen your hand-eye coordination, and it recommends a number of enjoyable activities: - playing catch with a friend - bouncing a ball against a wall - playing cornhole, the beanbag toss game - juggling - playing darts, with magnetic darts as a safe choice - sewing or knitting - painting or drawing - playing a video game If one of these activities is too difficult, Packard suggests adapting it. You can hit a balloon back and forth instead of playing catch with a small ball, or play pickleball instead of tennis, since the court is smaller and requires less running. You can also play Ping-Pong with a pickleball or a light plastic baseball, either of which may be easier to hit than a Ping-Pong ball. Harvard's complete article on [activities to sharpen your eye-hand coordination](https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/activities-to-sharpen-your-eyehand-coordination) has more detail. ## When to See Your Doctor Age-related changes make all of us clumsier, Dr. LeWine says, but you should still consider whether a medical condition is behind the difference. If your clumsiness has gotten worse over a short period or has caused a fall, he advises getting a medical evaluation.