Easy stretching exercises are now being linked to improved circulation and blood vessel health. Stretching exercises help you become more flexible and extend your range of motion. You will also be stretching muscles and reducing their tension. All of these benefits are good for those parts of your body that you cannot see– your blood vessels.
The endothelial lining of your blood vessels expands and contracts evenly when you are in good health. That’s normal. When you become stressed mentally or physically or emotionally, your blood vessels tighten and narrow. The vessel lining is affected first when atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries develops. Tests show that there are several ways to maintain healthy function of your blood vessels, thereby improving your ability to maintain your overall health.
1. Laughter. Tests have been shown that laughter is an antidote to many harmful conditions. Laughing has also been shown to be a first line of defense against cardiovascular disease.
2. Diet. Okay, we all know the roles fat and sugar have played in our diets. We have literally been killed because of too much of the wrong kinds of fats and too much of the wrong kinds of sugars. Now, diets referred to as “Mediterranean diets” have been proven to lower cholesterol and improve vasodilation, the activity of expanding and contracting of the blood vessels from increases in blood flow.
3. Stretching! Yes, stretching helps to improve the endothelial lining by helping them to relax and let blood flow more easily. This relaxation in your vessels helps the other organs in your body operate more effectively. Even the simplest of morning stretches will help to ward off premature aging.
Every morning, do these three simple stretches. Make sure you do these easy stretches very slowly and stretch only as far as you can go, no farther. You just want to wake up your muscles and get them ready for a good day.
a. Stand with both feet evenly spaced on the ground and hands to your sides. Reach your hands up to the sky as far as they will go. Count to 15 while taking slow, deep breaths.
b. Brings hands down and place them on the sides of your hips. Take in a deep breath, slowly bend forward toward the floor, keeping knees as straight as is comfortable. Let your hands slowly drop toward the floor. Keep this position for a count of 15. Take a deep breath and slowly come back up to your starting position.
c. Raise hands up again parallel to each other but as high as you can reach them. Keeping your hands parallel, take a deep breath and bend sideways as far as you can comfortably. It may just be a few inches. Hold that position for a count of 15 then go back to your starting position. Do the same to stretch to the other side of your body.
You are now ready for the day! Go forward and be all that you can today. Rest assured you are starting on a program to use stretching exercises to prevent atherosclerosis.
