Fitness is becoming a part of daily lifestyle; if you are a little conscious about your health, you know it is important to exercise daily. For most of us, exercise is just a 30 minutes session, and if you do it daily, you will get used to it, and your muscles will respond to it normally. However, if you are doing it for the first time or you have been out of practice for a long time, you can feel soreness in your muscles. Usually, the first gym session is quite painful because our body is less flexible, and the muscle wear and tear is maximum. To reduce the chance of muscle cramps, it is better to start with a warm-up; however, prolong the gym session can also be painful. Most people wonder why this happens. To make it easier to understand, here is a simple explanation of muscle cramp formation.
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Why Do We Have Cramps?
When we walk or exercise, there is an ongoing energy conservation mechanism where energy packets are broken down to provide energy that is used for the movement of muscles. In some conditions, when oxygen is not enough and more energy is required, an anaerobic process of breaking down energy is used. In this process, there is no need for oxygen, and you can still extract energy; there is only one downside to this process. There is a formation of lactic acid as a byproduct that is usually accumulated in the muscles. This soreness in the muscles or muscle cramps is due to the accumulated lactic acid.
If you want to know how it feels, you can feel pain and a hard lump in the area of soreness. If your body is dehydrated or over fatigued, your pain will be more, and for this reason, it is suggested that you should have electrolytes in your body. Drink as much water as possible during exercises, and make sure you are taking in all the minerals as well. Some people try to cure it with a smoothie; however, not every food is ideal for the cramp situation.
If you are facing cramps or a hard lump in your body, you can treat it with different remedies. However, for someone who has never experienced cramp, here are few things that you can try.
Get It Moving
Usually, the first few days of exercise are quite painful, and you will feel soreness; however, as you keep moving, you will see that you will feel less pain every day. Apart from this, stretching helps a lot. With every passing day, the body starts to reverse the process, and lactic acid accumulated in the muscles gets back, soreness and hard lump decrease, and you will feel relief. If you don’t want to follow the regular or natural path, you can also start with a message and gently apply oil to your muscles. Rubbing the oil will help you soothe the muscles; this might help you feel less pain, and you will feel better right away.
Heat Press
When we talk about heat-press, most people think about actual heat or hot water bottle presses. When it comes to muscles, most people use these hot presses; however, for cramps, we suggest a hot bath salt press. You can take a damp or wet cloth and add Epsom salt. Use this to soothe the muscle cramp, and you will feel much better. If you don’t want to try this, you can also try a hot bath with Epsom salt added to it. Usually, people prefer bath overheat press; some of the companies also make bath bombs with lavender, Epsom salt, and various other essential oils that can help your body relax.
Choose Good Food
Your food content can prove as a good remedy for your cramps as well. As mentioned above, water intake, along with minerals and vitamins, has proven to help with cramps. Apart from this, bananas, avocados, lentils, beans, and other protein-based food can help with the treatment as well. Apart from this, your good active wear and sports attire can help you support your body, and this will eventually help with the overall cramps. Most of the athletes get good sports attire and drink a lot of water and juices just because they want to avoid the cramps.
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Sanya
- February 3, 2021
