Best Stretches for People With Long Commutes

For many of us, daily commuting is just part of life. We break up the boredom of our long drives with podcasts, music and phone calls to friends and family. While you are whiling away the hours of your driving trip each day, you are probably unaware of the damage that sitting in a car for so long can do to your body! If you are tired of feeling sore, tired and generally exhausted after your daily commute, these great stretches will help you to beat the slump that is caused by too many hours in the car each day! Morning Stretches: What you probably have not thought about since you started commuting, is that you are probably at your least limber in the morning when you jump in the car to head to work.

Most of us roll out of bed, get ready quickly, grab a cup of coffee and head out the door. This means that we have barely moved around before we sit down for the duration of our commute. This can lead to sore and tense muscles right off the bat! To fight off these early in the day blues, you can do some simple neck rolls and shoulder shrugs each morning before you get into the car. Consider also doing some reaches down to your toes and some side to side twists to help your body limber up and get the blood moving.

For people who tend to have tight lower backs, you can stand with feet hip-width apart and bend your legs one at a time. Reach down with your hand on the same side and stretch gently for about twenty seconds. Repeat for a few reps to get your legs warmed up. You might also enjoy: Best Stretches if you Sit in Front of a Computer All Day . Back at Home: After your long day of staring at a computer screen and then driving all the way home again, you should repeat the neck and shoulder stretches that you did in the morning.

You should have more time to stretch out now, and you are more limber from your day, so this is the time to add some more stretches into your routine. You might also enjoy: Best Scents to Use in Your Home Office . Lie on your back and lift your knees to your chest. You should feel a slight pulling sensation in your lower back but nothing that hurts. Hold this stretch for twenty seconds and repeat as needed to loosen your lower back.

Back on your feet, you can reach across your body and stretch out each shoulder by pulling gently across the body. Lift your shoulders to your ears and hold for ten seconds, then drop your shoulder and switch arms. Hold your arms out off your sides and rotate your arms forward for three rotations, then switch and circle the opposite way. Bend forward at the waist and let your body hang. Allow your neck to relax and hang forward for about twenty seconds.

Adding these stretches to your daily routine can help you to fight off the stress and tension that comes with commuting and can prevent injury from poor posture while driving. Much like the stretches that we should all be doing at our desks each day to prevent injury, stretching before and after our daily commute can help us to feel better and be healthier overall. You might also enjoy: Best Tasting Herbal Teas ..