Why stretching is important

Most people forget to stretch after a hitting the gym.

They just pick up their face towel, take a final sip of their water bottle and head straight to the shower.

Stretching is an important phase of any physical activity routine. While stretching might not be considered a calorie burning activity, it increases your flexibility and does so much more. It reduces and relieves soreness. Have you ever had that feeling where you can barely move your legs or sit down on the toilet after a day’s work out?

The reason you feel like this is that your muscles are still tight and you did not stretch at all, or enough after your work out. It is important to do stretches because it improves your mobility after your session while increasing oxygen delivery and blood flow to the muscle cells helping to speed up recovery.

Stretches are good for cooling down. When you exercise, you will realise that your heart rate increases depending on the speed and intensity of your training and work load during weight training. This will also be evident from the way you sweat because your internal body temperature wants to remain constant. While drinking water is simply used for hydration, stretching will help lower your heart rate, gradually giving you time to analyse and reflect on the session you’ve just completed. Stretch to prevent injuries: If you notice your muscles are tighter after any physical activity, they will be more prone to tear and sprains due to flexibility and elasticity. So you need to stretch them to avoid these unnecessary injuries. Stretches increase your mobility: If you are an office person, you will realise that you spend most of your time sitting down behind a desk or driving. You will also notice that your feet tend to swell and especially after a long flight or commute to work. Your muscles become tighter because they are held in a shortened position when sitting. Stretch often: Find a reason to leave your desk and do something. Go get coffee or instead of calling your workmate on her extension, walk over to her. Take the stairs instead of the lift and walk if the distance is short. This stretches your legs more. After your long tedious journey, massage your legs to increase blood flow and reduce swelling. Own flat shoes: Women who wear high heels regularly tend to have extremely tight calves. This somehow restricts oxygen circulation and blood flow all around the leg area. That is why you feel tired after walking too much in high heels. It is good to juggle  between flat shoes and sports shoes to increase mobility, relax those tight calves and increase blood flow. Common tight muscles may include the back, shoulders, hip flexors, neck and legs. Make stretching a necessity whether you are in the office, at home and while exercising and this will eventually enable your body relieve some stress any time you do something.