That your doctor will tell you before you get stiff and can’t touch your toes that you need to keep your flexibility as you age in order to lead a healthy life is a real stretch. If your doctor told you before it was almost too late it would be really helpful.
I taught fitness classes for 25 years of varying nature. I taught from age 2 1/2 all the way to 90 years old and one thing I always did was talk about the importance of flexibility.
Many people would ask my advist after their doctor told them that they need to work on flexibility with different stretches. Many of those students could only reach about mid shin when they reached for the floor.
I saw tremendous improvement in many students after attending Yoga and classes specifically designed for stretching and addressing stiffness that comes with age.
Why is this so important?
You see, we only have 4 types of tissues in our bodies. These tissues are made up of cells with the intelligence to know what they are needed for.
Within each type of tissue there are different uses for instance Epithelium is our skin and it has different functions such as protecting us from the outside world, it absorbs in the stomach and intestinal lining, it filters in the kidneys and it secretes from glands.
So let’s look at Muscle tissue and the different functions it performs.
Muscles are responsible for body movement, muscles move blood, food, and waste through the body’s organs and it is also responsible for mechanical digestion.
If you notice Muscles are responsible for moving blood and blood runs through veins. The walls of your veins have the same type of tissue that your muscles are made up of.
What we all need to understand is that when you have a tissue type in the body that is affected in a negative way all of the tissue that is similar in nature will have a similar problem. If muscles get stiff all of the tissue that has the same make up will be affected.
So if we have the same tissue responsible for our muscles and our veins, what do you suppose will happen to your veins when your muscles get stiff and inflexible?
I think you got that right, your veins become stiff and hard, allowing for the sticky, gunky build up known as plaque and also allows cholesterol to block the veins due to their lack of flexibility. The real danger though is the build up of plaque. This Plaque can break free from the walls of your veins and arteries and actually cause blockage. Depending on where the blockage is it can lead to a heart attack or a stroke.
Do we want to wait until we are all stiff and “stoved” up before we start to work on our flexibility? Certainly not and the reason for that is it can be a long road back to having some semblance of flexibility if you have lost it at an older age.
Chances are you won’t get it back completely but there is definitely a chance of that happening with perseverance and determination and the really important ingredient would be dedication.
Don’t let you muscles get stiff, make sure and stretch morning and evening and you will never be sorry you took the 10 minutes to get it done, it is an investment in your future.
Make sure and join Health Pulse Magazine and they explore stretching and lengthening all of the muscles in the body in their special series, “That’s a Stretch” coming soon.
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