  Motivated by recent studies in human balance control, we study a delayed
random walk with an unstable fixed point. It is observed that the random walker
moves away from the unstable fixed point more slowly than is observed in the
absence of delay. It is shown that, for given a noise level, there exists an
optimal delay to achieve the longest first passage time. Our observations
support recent demonstrations that noise has a beneficial role for balance
control and emphasize that predicitive strategies are not necessary to
transiently control balance.
