Wondering why is it important to incorporate stretching into your daily routine?
Put shortly, because it is incredibly healthy!
With many benefits for both your mind and your body, stretching helps relieve aches and pain, reduces stress, and improves body posture. And all at the same time!
But don’t be fooled. A good stretching routine doesn’t just reduce to a few minutes of push and pull after your twice a week workout session. To reap the rewards and feel the benefits, you need to stretch for at least 15 minutes daily.
And if you are still not sure why regular stretching is good for you, the following 8 benefits might just get you convinced:
Improves Mobility And Flexibility
No matter if you are looking to improve your athletic performance or you simply want to move better, flexibility and mobility are two key elements for your overall health.
Regular stretching coupled with a professional chiropractic treatment like the ones offered by Los Gatos chiropractors, can totally transform your well-being. It will help keep your spine healthy, maintain your muscles lean and flexible, and improve your joints’ mobility. The result is a more efficient range of movements not only in sport, but in everyday life.
Reduces Muscle Stiffness
Muscle stiffness is when your muscles feel stiff and tight, and you have a difficult time moving. Together with muscle stiffness, other common symptoms you might experience are pain, pins and cramps.
But what causes your muscles to become stiff?
There are many probable causes, but the most common reasons are:
- Soreness following intensive exercising
- Limited movement
- Arthritis
- Injury
- Infection
Regular stretching is one of the most effective prevention methods against stiffness.
How does stretching help?
By keeping muscles flexible and improving circulation.
Improves Posture
We see people with bad postures everywhere nowadays. With muscle imbalances mainly caused by bad habits such as slouching and inactivity, it can be easily said that bad posture is one of the most common problems our society is experiencing.
But did you know that stretching is also beneficial for improving posture?
If you had no idea about this till now we don’t blame you. But it’s high time you found out!
Done regularly, stretching helps restore proper body alignment and can reverse most poor postures entirely.
Prevents Injury
Why would stretching prevent injuries?
Stretching won’t magically protect you if you cross the street on the red light. But as far as it comes to preparing your muscles before an activity, it can do a lot of good!
A flexible and warm muscle is less likely to get injured during various exercises, and will experience less strains.
Calms The Mind
Not many of you might know that stretching is good for the mind too.
But just like yoga, stretching can have a significant impact on our mental health. And if you find these two practices similar, that’s because stretching is one of the key elements of yoga. Through its slow, calculated movements, stretching helps us re-center, calm our minds and reduce stress.
Improves Blood Flow
Improper blood flow and circulation can lead to serious health problems, including heart attack or cancer.
To keep your body in a perfect state of health and wellbeing, you need to make sure you have good fluid circulation. Like this, you’ll maintain a proper oxygenation throughout the entire body, which in turn will help all your major organs and muscles function properly.
If you are not a big fan of strenuous aerobic exercises, a few minutes of stretching can have the same effect. By increasing blood flow and circulation, stretching will help you feel more energized, have a clearer mind and a more cheerful disposition.
