5 simple ways to feel better

Posted on 16. Mar, 2009 by Keith Scott in Back to Health, Blog

Most of us take our bodies for granted. Plain and simple, many of us spend more time and money and care on our cars, than we do on our own bodies. We abuse these wonderful, physical machines each day by overeating, not moving enough, sometimes moving too much, pounding them in the gym, on those long runs, etc.

In this article I am going to outline 5 simple ways that we can help our bodies feel better, or somewhat back to normal no matter what the problem. Are there more than 5 ways? Sure there are tons, but I will outline 5 ways that I have used on my athletes and clients, as well as myself with great success. I think anyone can implement these 5 things into their daily lives and help make a real difference.

Now, these methods will not “cure” your ailments, but I can almost guarantee that if you follow these suggestions, in a few short weeks, you will feel better on a daily basis. Even if you are relatively “healthy” and feel fine, it is a good idea that you incorporate some or all of these into your daily routine. Of course, if you have a serious problem, make sure to consult a medical professional.

For a bonus, if you are an athlete, a weight lifter or do any type of exercise where you are looking for improvements, these methods will help you improve in all of those areas.

PLEASE NOTE: If you already have a medical condition, please see your doctor before starting any kind of exercise program or perform and exercises.

5 WAYS TO FEEL BETTER:

1. STRETCH – Yea, I know, you already know this and still don’t want to do it. How about taking a new approach to stretching instead of the one you have stuck in your head from your high school gym class or Pop Warner football team. You can effectively stretch the important parts of your body in less than 5 minutes each day. That’s right, no more than 5 minutes to stretch those important areas!! Everyone has 5 min.

2. FOAM ROLL – What is foam rolling? By using your own body weight and a foam roller, a deep pressure is created and applied across your muscles and muscle tendons. This pressure acts like a deep massage, and helps to rid the areas of tension, scar tissue, and any types of adhesions that may be present and causing pain and inhibiting normal function. In case you are the science type and really want to know the true name for this, it is called Self Myofascial Release. The foam roller is the easiest and most effective way to do it.

3. Control that butt!! – regain control of your hips, especially your glutes!! There are so many reasons to regain control of your butt muscles. Most people have tight hip flexors. When the hip flexors are tight, that causes the glutes to be in a weakened state. This will cause the hamstrings to overcompensate most of your movements. Not only are you setting your self up for more potential injuries to the hammy’s and hip flexor area, you are also going to put way more stress on the low back. Most people in this predicament will have tight hammy’s as well because they are over activated. This ultimately causes low back stress and chronic pain.

4. MOBILITY WORK – No this is not the same as stretching. Static stretching is aimed at increasing the length of the muscle-tendon complex, which is a goal in certain parts of our body. While this is important for overall physical health, it still leaves us short of gaining optimum function. Mobility work will help improve joint mobility, which is not the same as the muscles. When a joint is immobile it can set you up for a load of chronic pain, limits in motion and take away from basic everyday function. Not to mention that if you are an athlete, limited joint range of motion is a precursor for injury.

5. NAP – find time (and a place) to take a 10 minute nap each day. Yep, 10 minutes is all you need. Research has shown that an afternoon nap of even 10 minutes can improve alertness, mood, and mental performance. If you are someone that takes naps, then you already know this, but if you are someone that is not a nap person, give it a try. 10 min. Just be careful not to sleep more than 30 min… you may wake up feeling more tired, and if you are at work, you could lose your job!!

If you really want to feel better and stay pain free and healthy, you need to become Unbreakable. Check out the Unbreakable program and see why so many other people have finally learned how to live pain free for good.