Mathangi is in her 50s. She makes every effort to maintain her health. She is fit and spry and looks much younger than her years. She jump-starts her day by doing a set of stretches when she gets up in the morning. She finds that she is flexible and pain-free if she keeps up this routine.

Wake up your body with stretches

Why should you stretch in the morning? Simple stretches in the morning have benefits for both your body and mind. They give you a emotional boost because you have done something positive toward maintaining the machine that is your body.

Waking up in the morning is not always the most pleasant thing! When accompanied by back discomfort and stiffness, hip or leg pain or just general aches, it becomes even more unpleasant. Sleeping at night causes your muscles to stiffen up. The stress of the previous day may also cause some of your muscles to tighten up. It is not unusual to wake up in the morning with a stiff neck and shoulders or with a mild low back pain. All this comes from our day-to-day stresses that may contribute to tightening up our muscles even when we are sleeping.

On waking up, most of us tend to stretch our arms over our heads or twist our bodies to iron out the kinks. Even a cat or dog stretches luxuriously when it wakes up from sleep!

Getting our muscles and joints loosened up and limber, without placing a lot of stress on them, is important. Early-morning stretches also realign your spinal column and improve your posture. They are a great way to increase blood flow throughout your body.

The transition from a half-awake state to complete mindfulness is made smoother with early morning stretches. Taking deep cleansing breaths with the stretches also has great benefits.

Principles of stretching

• Timing of each stretch

A 15-20 second stretch is effective. Start the stretch, feel it in the muscle group that you are stretching and hold it for 10 seconds. Take a deep breath and intensify the stretch and hold it for 10 more seconds. Then exhale gently. The stretch should be comfortable and should stop short of pain.

1. Muscle groups to stretch
   Focus on stretching the major muscle groups in your legs, gluteals, lower and upper back. Neck stretches and shoulder rotations will help loosen the tension in your neck and shoulders.