Holidays: An extreme sport!!
By Sigita Beliunaite
From the first day of summer we look forward to our holidays and the opportunity to escape routine & our stressful lifestyles in London to enjoy sunshine, warm weather and nice beaches. Holidays are wonderful for recharging our bodies and minds – but what happens to our bodies when we expose them to all kinds of unaccustomed activities like long car/plane journeys, wrangling heavy luggage, cricket on the beach, swimming & surfing? Holidays can be an extreme sport if you have spent the rest of your year less active or at your desk!
The human body is a perfect mechanism designed to move and to stay in an erect position – against the pull of gravity. Each muscle has a specific function to create movement it is designed to do. However modern lifestyles have changed; most of the population do less and less physical work and spend more of the time sitting. We sit at the work desk, we sit on the train or in the car & we sit down to eat meals or watch TV. Because of this, some muscles become strong and tense due to overuse, whilst other muscles become weak due to under use and a postural imbalance develops in our body. For example, you may experience lower back pain whilst lying on the beach to get that golden glow, if normally you spend most of the day seated with your hips flexed. Carrying heavy luggage or more physical demanding holiday activities may even cause an injury.
A preventative sports and remedial massage can help you to enjoy your holiday even more without experiencing unnecessary aches or pain. High quality massage helps to release chronic muscular tension and remedial exercises can strengthen weak muscles to help restore balance and alignment in the body. Preparing to go on holiday can be a stressful time, however slow and deep massage strokes stimulate nerve endings, resulting in a positive effect on the nervous system, helping you to cope with travel stress and enjoy your relaxation all the more.
If you have any specific questions or concerns about being “holiday fit” do ask your therapist, who will be delighted to help.
We wish you all happy summer holidays!
