Pain Free Hotel Stays:
What can you do to restore your body and eliminate body aches at the hotel?
This is important for many people because they are sleeping in a place that their body is not used to. Either the bed is too hard or soft for their physical comfort, and their body responds by protecting itself. This can cause stiffness and your body will ache in the next morning.
One of the first things you want to think about is that you are indeed not in your bed and in your home. So you have to mentally get your body ready for this new environment.
Allow your body to ‘just roll with it’ when the time comes for you to sleep in an unfamiliar bed.
- Control What’s Inside You
The best way to do this is to focus on controlling what is happening inside you, not your environment. You can do this simply by breathing.
One of the first exercises you can do is the following:
When you first wake up, you can sit up straight, bending your legs and moving them tightly close to you. You can wrap your arms around your legs so all your extremities are close to your main torso. Take a few minutes to get into this posture and breathe so your belly is expanding into your legs. This is going to be an indicator that your belly is expanding.
As a result, you will start to gently move your body up and down. As your belly hits your legs, your whole body will start to expand as well, because you are filling up with air. This will clear your mind and give you a slight stretch in your lower back which will get your back to open up. So if you have a bad night’s sleep, this will start the process of getting your body to move better as soon as you wake up.
- Activate Hamstrings
The next exercise you can work on is getting your hamstrings to move.
By getting your hamstrings to activate, you are protecting your back from any ongoing pain that you had the night before. Place one leg outstretched on the bed, and the other down on the floor at a ninety-degree angle. Now tighten your glutes and make sure everything is straight in your lower back. Then you are going to try to bring your heel to your glutes slowly.
This exercise will stretch your quads and will get your hamstrings to turn on, which in further protect your back. As you slowly do this, you want to continue breathing into your belly. As your heel is brought up, you can exhale your breath. This exercise does not have to be done fast or hard, just slowly and calmly.
Performing both of these exercises will reset your body every morning and will begin getting it to move better from the start of your day.
Takeaway:
Control what is inside you, not what is in your environment. Your environment might always be changing, but that does not mean your body needs to change with it! Focus on what’s happening inside your body to help it stay in a constant movement pattern. You can do this by sitting up and moving your belly towards your legs as you breathe in. Gently fill your body with air so your mind can become clear and focused.
Next, activate your hamstrings by slowly moving your ankle towards your glutes. As you do this while breathing continuously, your hamstrings will protect your back and allow it to open. These two exercises will get your back and lower body to start moving, giving your energy for the day!