6 Ways Your Day Will Benefit from Stretching

This is a guest post made by Vive Health

1. Better Posture

Bottom line – tight, stiff muscles in your back, neck, and shoulders are going to make you want to scrunch and hunch when you sit. Spending your day staring at screens, whether it’s your computer at work, your TV at dinner, or your phone in bed at night; leaves you rounding your shoulders, craning your neck, and placing lots of unnecessary pressure on your spine and hips. Stretching helps muscles relax and stay limber, encouraging you to sit up straight and lengthen your spine.

2. Better Breathing

Did you know the diaphragm that helps you inhale and exhale is actually a muscle? Stretching and strengthening your respiratory muscles with deep breathing can boost lung capacity and increase your mental clarity and ability to focus. Deeper, better breathing means more oxygen in your blood, and it can even help you de-stress and lower your heart rate.

3. Better Workouts

Enhance your daily exercise routine with stretching to help aid muscle repair, flush out waste by-products, build new muscle, and promote flexibility. Whether you’re running, spinning, lifting weights, or rowing; static stretching after you work out re-lengthens and reorganizes muscle fibers, and boosts blood flow rich with oxygen and nutrients to speed up muscle recovery.

4. Better Moods

Stretching, when combined with mindfulness-cultivating practices like yoga and tai chi, can foster more positive moods, relieve stress, and induce calm and relaxing confidence. The pain relief associated with stretching, especially in the lower back region, will also make anyone with constant soreness or achiness feel better and therefore happier.

5. Better Balance

Stretching muscle groups overtime leads to a range of motion and flexibility you can be proud of. With increased flexibility, even the clumsiest person can strengthen their coordination and sense of balance. Incorporating stretching with balance activities (like standing on the best balance disk while phoning your mom or sitting on a stability ball instead of a chair at work), can have you rocking your center of gravity like no other.

6. Better Energy

Lacking energy and motivation during your day? A quick stretch could be the revitalizing kick your muscles need to get into gear, releasing tension in your muscles and joints and making you more alert and focused. If you find yourself dozing at your desk or super stressed under a tight deadline, get up and stretch for a few minutes! You’ll notice a difference right away.

For more information on the current scientific research into Dynamic vs static stretching, see this analysis by Healthy But Smart