Help your body recover from working out - News

If you exercise strenuously, you need to take at least one day off per week to help your body recover, says Carol L. Otis, M.D., formerly a physician with the Primary Care and Women's Sports Medicine Clinic at Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles. In fact, she says, there are things you can actively do on your rest day to aid the process:

Get plenty of sleep. It restores muscle, energy and brain function and can help injuries heal.

Use relaxation techniques to replenish your energy and balance and improve your sleep.

Learn self-massage or treat yourself to a professional massage to soothe sore muscles. (There's no proof that this improves performance or speeds recovery, however.)--K.D.

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