Why You NEED To Start Stretching
It doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete or someone working in an office, stretching regularly will increase your productivity, health and sleep
I guarantee if you look at any top athlete they are going be decently flexible, probably really flexible. But being flexible doesn’t just help athletes, it can improve your overall health and is essential for preventing injuries that become increasingly more common as we get older.
But what exactly is “flexible”, is it being able to touch your toes or do the splits? Everyone is going to have their own definition of flexible, but as a general definition, flexibility is the ability for a joint or series of joints to move through an unrestricted, pain free range of motion
So now that we have established what it means to be flexible, lets look at the range of benefits that being flexible provides:
- The biggest benefit in my opinion is the decreased risk of injury, flexible muscles are much less likely to be injured by extensive movement
- Regularly stretching also promotes blood circulation which allows your body to recover quicker after a workout, this means that you can get back to something at 100% rather than at an 80% with sore muscles
- Stretching also reduces lower back pain and improves your posture by taking less stress off the back and shoulders, its important to note that your entire body should be stretched not just certain muscle groups because a tight hamstring could lead to back pain not just a tight back
- Stretching also increases your body awareness which can help you in all sorts of things like balance and more controlled movements
- Not only does stretching provide physical benefits, it also provides a range of mental benefits, by stretching regularly you will reduce your overall stress because when your muscles are less tense, your body sends signals to the brain that contribute to emotional relaxation these signals reduce feelings of stress
- Stretching releases endorphins which can contribute to an improved mood and also increase your focus which then increases your productivity
- last but definitely one of the most important ones is that stretching can drastically increase your sleep quality, stretching before bed signals to your body that its time to rest
So now you’re set on being flexible and can’t wait to improve your health, but how do we actually get flexible?
Getting flexible can often seem like a challenge, but in reality it can feel amazing and become a part of your regular routine very easily.
Stretch 15 minutes a day or if you want to see even more benefits, do so for 30 minutes a day. I like to break up my stretching by doing 15 in the morning, 15 at night and then after I workout I do a 15 minute cooldown stretch. Not only does this improve my sleep, let me wake up easier and reduce my soreness, but it also makes me more flexible.
Stretching only brings you good things, so by stretching to get short term benefits like an easier wakeup and reduced soreness, it allows you to get the long term benefits like improved sleep and sometimes unnoticeable health benefits without needing the long term motivation.
We all struggle to do stuff for extended periods of time, but thats why if you stretch to make yourself feel better and because you enjoy it, then it will be so much easier to keep stretching over the course of weeks and months.
Hey there! Thanks for reading until the end, if you enjoyed this story then feel free to give me a couple of claps and if you have any questions or story suggestions then leave them in the comments below!
