Click Here For Your Free Health and Fitness Magazine Subscription
The Importance of Stretching Daily
Stretching is an important component of a fitness regimen; it not only relieves pain but also helps improve flexibility and joint function. Daily stretching can also enhance sleep quality, increase energy levels, reduce the risk of injury and soreness, and decrease the time it takes to recover from exercise or stiffness from sitting for prolonged periods.
In fact, stretching for two minutes per muscle group three times a day is just as effective at reducing discomfort and improving the quality of life for seniors as 60 minutes of weekly physical therapy sessions!
The Benefits of Daily Stretching
It's undeniable that stretching on a daily basis is great for the body - but what exactly are these advantages, and how do they affect you? To answer these questions in more detail, the following sections spill the beans on why more and more people are incorporating daily stretches into their routine and the benefits they enjoy as a result.
Reduced Pain
Stretching (along with its partner - warming-up) plays an important role in postural control, functional mobility, and athletic performance. As such, stretching is an important part of recovering after a strained muscle while offering greater flexibility and range of motion, whether an injury has occurred or not. Plus, when used in conjunction with medical supports from specialist sites like Podobrace, stretching can help people overcome sports injuries much more quickly.
On the other hand, stretching is not all about athleticism and sports; slow, static stretching - unlike its athletic or dynamic cousins - helps lengthen muscles, tendons, and ligaments beyond their normal range. It enhances strength, increases flexibility, decreases joint stiffness, and increases muscle function. What's more, the flexibility that can be gained from stretching has even been argued to have a positive effect on arthritis pain.
Feel Younger for Longer
Amazingly, research has shown that stretching helps maintain flexibility and protect against joint damage caused by aging. To protect joints as people age, everyone needs to stretch regularly to ensure muscles and tendons maintain tension, which is often overlooked in exercise regimes.
Reduced Risk of Injury
Stretching can be more effective than massage for reducing pain and promoting recovery from injuries. Plus, it can also help prevent future damage by strengthening muscles around the joints that connect them. Ultimately, strengthening those muscles will help support the body in the event of an athletic movement or a slip during physical activity.
Improved Sleep Quality
Stretching improves sleep patterns, decreasing insomnia by alleviating tension in the body while encouraging the release of melatonin - a sleep hormone produced by the pituitary gland in the brain that induces relaxation and drowsiness.
The Importance of Stretching in Your Life
As humans age, it becomes harder to bounce back from exercise because muscles lose elasticity. People also tend to compensate for muscle weakness by stiffening up more than when they were younger. However, regular stretching makes you more flexible, which means less stiffness and soreness when you work out or do anything physical - both before, during, and after activity.
Children are naturally bouncy and flexible, sporting people consciously stretch as part of their fitness routine, and a few others stretch as part of yoga or similar exercise. However, the older the person, the less likely it is that they stretch enough, which is why it's crucial to take the time to do it just a little bit every day - especially in older age.
Given the benefits, daily stretching is important - and the rewards to be reaped from incorporating it into your daily routine should be enough to convince you to make it part of your lifestyle.
Click Here For Your Free Health and Fitness Magazine Subscription
Health and Fitness Magazine | Articles | eBooks | Supplements | Links | Contact
