4 Benefits of a Morning Stretch

When people think about stretching, our mind goes to warming up or cooling down after physical activity.

While stretching before and after physical activities is a good idea, stretching is an important part of overall physical fitness and wellbeing all on its own.

Benefits of Stretching

Stretching is an important part of physical health and fitness because it helps keep our muscles strong, healthy, and flexible. Flexibility is something we require to perform basic, daily tasks. The less flexible we are, the more likely we are to experience stiff and painful muscles, making us more prone to injury.

But it has more benefits than just injury risk reduction.

And in fact, one of the best ways to start your days is by stretching. There are many benefits of stretching in the morning. Here are just some of them.

4 Benefits of a Morning Stretch

1. Stretching increases flexibility. Flexibility helps your muscles work more effectively. This improves performance in physical activities, whether folding laundry, walking the dog, or going on a hike. Overall, flexibility helps your joints increase their range of motion and decreases your risk of injury.
2. Stretching can reduce achiness. With more time spent working from home or doing a job that requires sitting at a desk for long hours, people are moving around as much as they should. Sitting for long periods in the same position can cause muscles to shorten and tighten, which can cause aches and pains in the hips, legs, lower back, shoulders, and neck. Stretching those muscles helps them stay flexible and lengthens them.
3. Stretching in the morning helps decrease back pain. By regularly stretching the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that support your back and neck, you improve your range of motion and overall mobility. This also has the potential to reduce tension in the muscles supporting your spine and may reduce the risk of disability caused by back or neck pain.
4. Stretching reduces stress. When we are stressed, our muscles tighten, and that strain can, in turn, cause more damage. Stretching alleviates tension and helps muscles relax, which helps our body feel less stressed.

Along with morning stretches, another way to support muscle and joint comfort, health, and flexibility is with supplements, like those from Pure Encapsulations, NutriDyn, and Herb Pharm.

Disc-Flex – Pure Encapsulations

Disc-Flex from Pure Encapsulations is a gluten-free, non-GMO dietary supplement that provides intervertebral disc support for enhanced spinal disc health. This supplement contains vitamin D3, vitamin K2, BioCell hydrolyzed collagen complex, glucosamine HCl, L-carnosine, alpha-lipoic acid, devil’s claw extract, Indian frankincense, and grape seed extract. This specialized formulation promotes healthy composition, strength, flexibility, and comfort for your spine.

Chondro-Relief Intensive Care – NutriDyn

Chondro-Relief Intensive Care from NutriDyn is a natural and comprehensive joint and soft tissue support supplement that contains ingredients like green-lipped mussel powder, chondroitin sulfate, manganese, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, MSM, and glucosamine to support cartilage integrity and help maintain normal joint strength and flexibility. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is part of this “intensive care” formula to help temporarily relieve occasional pain, swelling, and irritation in the joints.

Joint Flexibility – Herb Pharm

Joint Flexibility from Herb Pharm is an herbal supplement that supports the healthy function of the joints. Its proprietary extract blend contains devil’s claw, sarsaparilla root, stinging nettle seed, Burdock seed, Angelica root, and prickly ash bark. All of the herbs in this formula are individually extracted to ensure a broad spectrum of therapeutic plant compounds to provide maximum support for healthy joint functioning.

What do you find most beneficial about starting your day with a morning stretch?