One of the most common complaints I hear from my clients as they age is stiffness and specifically morning stiffness. If you often find yourself feeling stiff and creaky wondering what is going on with your body…I have some great news for you. There are lots of things you can do to improve how your body feels and diminish the feeling of stiffness!
Robert Chu wrote a great article called 10 Tips to Overcome Morning Stiffness and here’s what he lists as the main causes of Morning Stiffness :
The basic causes of morning stiffness are lack of daily physical activity, being overweight, having a poor diet, not sleeping properly, and being in an environment that tends to be cold and/or damp.
The great news about this list is that all of these things are things you have control over! By doing things like moving more, paying attention to what you are eating, having good sleep habits and keeping your environment comfortable you can keep your self feeling less stiff and creaky and more mobile!
Here’s a few of my favorite movement inspired tips for feeling best in your body:
- Regular exercise that moves your body in a variety of ways. You know how every time you look at a 5 year old they are doing something different with their body…jumping, twisting, summersaulting, squatting, etc.? As adults we could take some lessons from those 5 year olds. My favorite motto when it comes to our aging bodies is: move it or lose it! When we don’t regularily move our body in different ways… we start to lose the ability to move like that. It might not be socially acceptable for most adults to twist and cartwheel throughout their days, but what we can do is choose exercise time that encourages our bodies to move in a variety of ways to counter the fact that most of us are probably not moving as much as our bodies would like them too! Practices like Pilates, Yoga and Martial Arts are great for safely introducing a variety of movements.
- Add more mini movement time throughout your days. When we make an effort to look at our activity throughout our days most of us probably are finding we are pretty sedentary. Taking more breaks from sitting, parking further away at the grocery store or always getting up during commercials of your favorite TV show can help keep your body moving more and feeling less stiff and creaky! Need some ideas on how to move more? Check out our Office Pilates series on YOUTUBE for a great series of movements that can be done at the office or even from your favorite lounge chair at home!!
- Drink lots of water...this one seems so simple but it is so important! Did you know staying well hydrated actually helps your joints feel better? Read more about the benefits of drinking more water and joint pain here! It turns out your joints need water to stay healthy and as you might guess everything in our body functions better when it has enough water. If you are adding more movement time in you may want to consider adding more water in to your life as your body will need it to function at it’s best!
- Stretch more. The feeling of stiffness often is a result of muscle tightness that happens due to our lifestyle. Sitting for long periods of time can especially affect muscles in our neck, back and hips. Self massage techniques using small therapy balls is one of my favorite ways to stretch and lengthen tight muscles and fascia(the connective tissue covering the muscles in our body). If you are new to these techniques try a rolling class like our Roll, Release and Relax class that is designed to help you stretch and lengthen muscles throughout your entire body! Do you experience tightness in your low back, hips or backs of legs? Some simple stretches at home with a theraband or yoga strap can really help loosen up tight muscles and will probably only take 5-10 minutes at the most!
Looking for some ways to add more healthy, safe movement into your life? We would love to introduce you to the benefits of a mindful movement practice like Pilates in your life! Sign up for a complimentary private session to get introduced to the studio, talk to an experienced teacher about your health goals and get introduced to Pilates!
Everybody has to start somewhere and if you are looking to start practicing Pilates or maybe come back to your practice, this is a great place to start. The Pilates Mat for Beginners class will focus on learning the fundamental Pilates skills as it introduces participants to a beginner mat sequence perfect for building strength and mobility in your body no matter where you are starting. By committing to 4 weeks you’ll have a chance to not just try it out but to really experience how a weekly Pilates class can change how your body feels. This is a great class for those brand new to Pilates, those coming back to their Pilates practice and those who are wanting to just fine tune their Pilates practice.
I’m a morning person…or at least that’s what I tell myself! I’ve found that my life just works better when I’m a morning person. I get more accomplished, I’m able to spend more time with my family and I actually get my workouts in. I don’t necessarily think I’m any different from non morning people other than I decided to be a morning person. When I look closely at my morning routines I’ve discovered that I do a lot of little things without even thinking about them anymore (because they are habit) that help me enjoy my mornings and make the most of them. 
Want to try out being a morning person? Join me on: