Why You Need to be Stretching More!

Nowadays, we tend to do a lot of sitting in our everyday lives. Whether we are sitting for long periods of time at work, or simply lying down at home while watching TV, quite often we don’t have enough stretching involved in our day. Frequent stretching has tons of benefits for our body when it comes to health, so it’s a great idea to include it into your daily routine!

Health Benefits of Stretching

Increases flexibility – regular stretching is a great way to become more flexible. Flexibility goes a long way in helping your body perform everyday activities much easier. It also contribute to increasing your range of motion, meaning your joints will be able to move more freely and with ease.

Reduce Muscle Pain – when your muscles tighten up, they tend to cause discomfort and pain as the stress builds up. Stretching will help to release the tension in those muscles and the pain that may have come with it. A great place to focus on is areas such as the neck, back, and shoulders. These spots tend to carry a lot of stress from activities in our daily life such as sitting and carrying things. Frequent stretching of these areas will help reduce their stress and reduce pain!

Improves Posture – there are many things we encounter throughout the day that contribute to developing poor posture. This can include sitting habits at work to the shoes that we wear. Thus, it’s important to stretch to help combat these postural issues, as stretching helps to strengthen muscle groups that will help with proper musculoskeletal alignment.

Helps Performance in Physical Activity – With the above benefits of increased flexibility, less muscle pain, and improved posture, stretching will allow you to perform better in physical activities. This can include sports, working out, or simply the walking you do in your daily routine.

Types of Stretching

To start adding stretching into your day, try these two different types depending on when you’re doing them:

Static Stretching – holding a stretch for about 15-30 seconds in a comfortable position. This stretching is most useful after an exercise to reduce muscle tension.

Dynamic Stretching – active movements that help to stretch the muscles but don’t hold the stretch in the end position. This is most useful before an exercise to safely prepare your muscles to be worked.