Pilates Combats Stress

Seventy-five percent of Americans report feeling stressed at least one day a week. Recent studies have shown the side effects of stress are often weight gain and lack of sleep. But Cathleen Murakami shows how a Pilates workout in the morning conteracts the effects of stress, releasing endorphins and reducing the amount of adrenal hormones the body produces in response to stress in her new book, Morning Pilates Workouts (Human Kinetics 2007).

The mind-body connectiveness of Pilates not only helps reduce stress, but fosters more restful sleep and prevents against weight gain.

As stress takes hold, muscles become tense and the first thing to falter is good posture. Often this results in back pain and fitful sleep. To help reduce back pain, Murakami suggests a spine stretch with extension.

Begin sitting upright with the legs stretched in front of you straight and opened to approximately 90 degrees with the ankles flexed.

Bend the knees if hamstring shortness prevents an upright, neutral pelvis.

Stretch the arms in front of you, parallel to the floor, at shoulder height with the palms down.

Inhale to prepare and lengthen the spine.

As you exhale, flex the spine forward until the fingertips touch the floor.

Inhale in this position.

Exhaling, slide the fingers forward, increasing the flexion of the spine.

Avoid collapsing in the chest and shoulders.

Inhale in the flexed spine position.

As you exhale, return the spine, vertebra by vertebra, to the starting position.

Inhale as you place the hands on the floor behind the hips and arch the upper torso slightly back (spinal extension).

Exhale as you return to the starting position.

For more information on Morning Pilates Workouts or other books in the Morning Workout series, call 800-747-4457 or visit www.HumanKinetics.com.