Learn the right way to do your daily dozen

Every day we strive to keep our body healthy and free from pain. Despite our busy schedule, we do try and devote some time to the exercises — a healthy part of our daily routine.

Today when we work out, do we really give our heart and soul to it or have we really learnt the correct way of doing exercises and focused on the right posture of sitting, standing and sleeping. It is imperative to do our exercises properly to get the best out of them.

Let's unlearn the wrong way of doing the exercises and learn to live young and free from pain.

When we start the fitness regimen, squat is the basic exercise that we should know. It helps to strengthen our legs and core and help to prevent knee injuries. But, if we are not doing squats correctly, it leads to knee and backache.

The proper way of doing is:

a) Always start by standing up straight with your feet shoulder- width apart.

b) Then, with your arms straight out in front of you, slowly lower yourself down with hinging from your hips until your knees are bent at a 90degree angle. Make sure that your knees should not cross the mid- foot.

c) Carefully lift yourself back up to the starting position and repeat.

Everybody knows that good posture is important, not only in standing, walking or sitting but also vital while sleeping because the muscles and ligaments of your body relax and heal themselves while we are asleep.

With cervical pain, if you are a side sleeper it's better to keep a little thick pillow under your neck which maintains the good alignment of your spine and prevent early morning stiffness.

It is important that you discuss your pain and discomfort with your doctor/ physiotherapist. Besides, let him know of the basic lifestyle issues ( sleeping straight/ on side) which can help the care- giver guide you better. Otherwise you may end up aggravating your issue or may take longer to heal it. Taranjeet Kaur Senior nutritionist & metabolic balance coach aktivhealth