Stretch your world Oct13 '08

I'm obsessed with stretching. I need it every few hours max. Especially in my profession which requires sitting at the computer for hours on end, my body tends to tighten up.

I crack just about every joint in my body, despite warnings against it. I can't help it. It just feels so damn good.

Stretching, motion, and cracking all provide relaxation responses throughout my body. I instantly feel at ease, calmed, less stressed.

I stretch first thing in the morning, and as the last thing before bed. I do it all throughout the day, in private places such as bathroom stalls. After all, I'd look like a complete goof stretching in the middle of the office with business clothes on.

It makes me wish workplaces offered a "yoga room" with minimal lighting, sound-proof walls, and floor mats. It would be an environment to calm, relax, refresh. Who doesn't need that during the grueling 9 hour workday?

I could never get through the day without stretching or some sort of repetitive muscular motion, such as rolling my ankles, neck, arms. I would literally explode with frustration, all pent up inside. I'm not sure how everyone else does it - sitting all day without any type of motion or regular blood flow.

I don't get massages regularly, but that's something I'm considering. Along with stretching, massages are amazingly calming and help to relieve stress, increase blood flow, so you can focus on work, and not external distractions and aggravation.

I'd also like workplaces to employ a daily "masseuse" to visit workers individually at their desks, and give them brief shoulder massages while they work. Imagine that during a hectic workday. Or perhaps a "lunch-time massage." That's a much better way to spend your 45-60 minutes than sitting at your desk reading feeds and eating junk food.

I think a lot of people would read such ideas and say, "Keep dreaming." I don't think it's that implausible though. It would just be another employee benefit. As an employer, would you not want your employees feeling good all day? I sure would. The happier my employers are, the more productive they are.

We live in a world where stress is commonplace. It's accepted as a society "fact of life." But it has dangerous health consequences. It's an illness like anything else.

Sorry, I have to go now. Since I've been writing this, I've felt the urge to stretch.

Categories: Health

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I'm with you on the whole "popping" thing. I can even get a few pops out of my thorax region, if you can believe it. The technique is a lit ... Read more.

matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

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