Why daily stretching is important, and how to keep it simple
My daughter loves gymnastics. She’d do cartwheels down the sidewalk for days if someone would let her. She also love’s massages, especially right before bed.
Lately, she’s been asking me to make sure I massage her shoulders, they hurt from all the gymnastics, she tells me. Then she tells me she knows she should be stretching but she either forgets, or just doesn’t feel like it.
No surprise. I hear this alot from clients. I know I should, but. I get it, one more thing we have to add into the millions of other things we need to remember to do.
So, let’s not overcomplicate it.
Let’s explore this simple but easy to forget activity, and then let’s make it easy to fit into your day. Trust me, your body will thank you!
If you know me, you know I love a good analogy, something we can visualize to relate to the topic. This week we’ll use rubber bands. What’s the first thing you do to a rubber band before you use it – or shoot it off? Yep, you stretch it.
Why do you stretch it? Because if you don’t it may not go as far, or worse, it could snap. Kinda similar to the body.
If you don’t warm up first with stretching, the body may not work as well, and could even cause injury.
That’s just the beginning though. There are so many other benefits and reasons why we should be stretching. Range of motion is something that can help ease your joints, and when things get tight, so does range of motion. Stretching can help increase your range of motion, and keep things moving in a healthy way.
Then there’s flexibility. This comes in handy when working out, and using your body to capacity. We want our muscles long and strong, and stretching is the way that we are able to accomplish that.
Over time a lack of stretching starts to creep into the body keeping us from normal daily activity.
When muscles start to shorten from a lack of stretching, doing activities that immediately call on them to lengthen, like walking, becomes burdensome over time. Balance is the key, and without strong muscles, balance can become difficult.
Start small. Like with anything you’re trying to start, don’t overcomplicate it. Make it simple, and you’re more likely to stick with it.
Here’s 3 quick, and easy stretching ideas, to add this routine into your day:
- Don’t get out of bed, until you stretch. Before your feet even touch the ground, do a few body stretches to warm up those muscles before starting your day. This can take you 1 minute, if that’s all you have. This can be as simple as stretching your arms above your head, pulling your feet down towards the bottom of the bed, to stretch out the legs, and/or placing one leg over the other twisting to the side to give a good hip and leg stretch. Have fun with it, and see how many stretches you can do without even getting out of bed. Then track how much lighter you feel when your feet hit the ground. How much easier your movement is. Once you are aware of the difference, you may just stick with it!
- Don’t get into bed, until you stretch. Allow your bed to be a trigger for stretching. When you see it, you know to stretch, and before you get out of it, you know to stretch. Before turning those sheets down, place a leg on the bed and lean into it, then repeat on the other side. Or, get down next to the bed, and do some light stretching on the floor. Out body is suspended for hours on end while we sleep, and stretching before and after that long night of restorative sleep, can help you feel more comfortable throughout the night, and throughout your next day.
- Find a mid day activity you do daily, and start to add stretching to it. You eat lunch every day, right? What else do you do daily? Take a minute to think about it, and then see if it makes sense to tack on stretching before that activity. Do you go for a walk every day, or feed the dogs around the same time? Taking something we already do regularly, and then adding something we want to do, is a great way to form a new habit.
Remember that adding in small healthy habits and routines, don’t have to be complicated. Small changes can often make a big impact. Instead of thinking, this won’t work for me, shift it to how. How can I make this work for me?
This is the only body you get in this lifetime, take good care of it.
What other simple things do you do that help ensure healthy habits are part of your routine?
