8 Ways to Add Stretching into Your Daily Routine
Stretching is something that all of us should be doing on a more consistent basis. With all of the movement and stress that we put on our bodies, a routine with stretching can help alleviate the stress in our muscles. Setting up a routine may sound easy, but sometimes it takes some help on your own part to get a system in place, so you can hit the easy button, and make it a part of your daily routine. Placing some stretching tips into your thought process will help make it easier to get your habits into a formalized routine. Below are 8 different tips on how you can set yourself up for success with making stretching more of a priority.
- Remind Yourself That Stretching Is Important For Your Body: There are many stretching benefits that your body will appreciate. Some of these benefits are addressing muscle imbalances, improving your flexibility, reducing the overall stress on your muscles, helping your mind and body relax, getting your body ready for workouts and also cooling down after a workout. If you stretch before you exercise, your body will flex better and your workout will go smoother and feel better overall. Reminding yourself that being more mobile with added flexibility is a very good thing for your body and mental state.
- Place Your Workout / Stretching Gear Near Daily Routines: Placing your workout gear or stretching apparatuses near where you walk by daily in your home will make your more than likely to think about stretching or exercising. This could be your foam roller, massage tool, yoga mat, or exercise ball. All of these items could be a fantastic reminder to get active and think about stretching.
- Small Habits Create Big Results: Creating small habits around your daily routines creates bigger results of you acting on stretching and completing your goals. Find a few stretches that you really like doing, and then start with doing those daily to help make you feel better. Once you get on a routine with these, adding a few more will not seem like a big deal because you will feel better and your body will enjoy the additional movement.
- Creating A Buddy System For Daily Habits: Stacking other habits that you do already with a stretch or exercise will help you achieve more stretching into your daily routine. For example, when you are doing something in the kitchen that requires you to wait, you can add some standing leg stretches, neck stretches, or arm stretches. While watching a show, add some stretching during breaks. These are just a couple of ideas, but adding a task to a daily habit that already exists helps you attain the goals that you set out to do.
- Always Try To Plan Ahead: We all have things in our daily schedule we have to plan for so we will not forget. One way that can help add stretching to your routine is to plan it out. Add a reminder to your calendar on your phone or computer that can pop up during the day on repeat. When you plan ahead, you are more likely to complete the task, or at least you see the reminders on the calendar, and will think about it more often.
- Don’t Make Stretching Too Formal: Stretching does not have to be a chore that takes a long time to complete. When we make something more of a chore, and it has a longer duration in our mind of what is needed, we will likely push it off to a later time and end up not doing it at all. A little bit goes a long way when you stretch. Make stretching fun again by setting it for 1-5 minutes at a time. This way you create mini stretching sessions that you can easily complete and will make your body feel better. Some examples of this could be stretching your arms and chest on the walls when you stand up from sitting or when walking down a hall, stretch your hamstrings when you stand, or stretch your calves against the door or wall before sitting back down. There are many different ways to get a mini stretching session in; all you have to do is start with one way that will help you create a habit.
- Technology Is All Around Us: With technology today, there are so many different types of apps on our phones and smart watches for you to use. If you like competition, you can get an app where there are other people doing workouts and trying to close fitness rings. Technology is here to help us and this is one option that will help you start the trend of a stretching habit that you can enjoy.
- Always Listen To The Body: During the day, you can feel different aches and pains throughout your body. It could be when you are sitting and your lower back starts to ache, when standing up hurts your body, or when you are sitting or lying down and your arms and legs fall asleep. All of these feelings are your body’s way of telling you that there are areas that need attention. This attention could be in the form of fixing your posture, doing some additional stretches or exercises, or could be that you need to drink more water.
All of these tips and tricks are ideas that can help you attain your goals of adding in some good stretching habits to your daily routine. Our days are busy with a multitude of tasks that we must complete, and stretching sometimes takes a back seat to all of the other things we do. Taking care of how are bodies feel need to be more of a priority, as it will help your overall mental status for when your body feels better. Start slow and add a few tips or tricks into your day, and once you see how your schedule can adapt to these new added activities in your schedule, you will feel better overall, and your body will thank you for it.
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Chiropractic
Neck Pain
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