7 simple stretching exercises you can do first thing in the morning.

It’s normal to feel a bit stiff in your body when you wake up in the mornings since you have been inactive for so many hours in a row. Therefore it’s a great way to start the mornings with some stretching to wake your body up and prevent it from stiffness and soreness. As many of us know, if things are getting to complicated or takes to much time, we feel overwhelmed and are not doing them continously. That’s why I want to keep things as simple as possible so it become easy to make them as habits, because it only counts if we actually do them, right?

So here are 7 simple stretching exercises for you to do every morning or at least most mornings.

Hold each stretch for 3-5 deep breaths.

Before even getting out of bed:

1. Lower back stretch - Stretches your lower back and glute muscles.

2. Spinal twist - Stretches your lower back and glute muscles.

3. Piriformis stretch - Stretches a specific muscle in your glutes called Piriformis. This muscle often gets tight due to prolonged standing or sitting and can be a cause of sciatic pain in some cases.

After getting out of bed:

4. Neck rotations - Stretches out your stiff neck. Do both sides or move it around in circles and stop and hold where you feel tension.

5. Hip flexor stretch - The muscles at the top of your leg and hips gets tights due to prolonged sitting and inactivity. Raise your arm to get a stronger stretch and stretch your body over to the opposite side to feel more in the hip.

6. Chest & arm stretch - Stretches your arms, chest and upper back between your shoulder blades. Important stretch if you sit a lot in front of the tv or computer.

Benefits of regular stretching:

• Improved mobility

• Increased blood flow in the body

• Helps to prevent you from getting injured easily

• Better performance in other activities

• Easier to handle tasks in your everyday life

• Feeling refreshed, clear in mind and ready for your day!