Why Do I Get Lightheaded When I Stretch? 7 Tips
One of the most common questions asked when working out is: why do I get lightheaded when I stretch? It’s a valid question and one that has a variety of possible answers. When you feel lightheadedness during or after stretching, it’s usually due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. This can be caused by a number of things, such as dehydration, low blood sugar, or standing up too quickly.
You may experience dizziness when you least expect it. It’s common to get a head rush after working out, especially while stretching. It can just be an indication that you’re having difficulties recovering from the workout, or it might indicate something more serious.
WHY DO I GET LIGHTHEADED WHEN I STRETCH
Why Does My Vision Go Black When I Stand Up/Stretch? Why Do I Get Lightheaded When I Stretch?
Stretching signals your body to increase blood flow to a certain place. Other areas, including your skull, experience less pressure as a result. Think of your body as a long, partially inflated balloon that is nearly totally deflated at one end. The rest of the balloon becomes somewhat less inflated when some of the air is transferred to the deflated area.
The muscle fiber is essentially a collection of sacs that expand when blood is added, allowing their geometric arrangement with one another to produce tension. Stretching involves the conventional use of one set of muscles to enlarge another artificially.
A little reduction in blood pressure is what’s to blame for the lightheadedness. Your brain eventually adjusts to it, restoring your capacity for rational thought.
What Causes Dizziness And Lightheadedness When You Stand Up/Stretch
One explanation could be that while you stretch, you’re likely somewhat bearing down and bracing your core. You’ll observe that you obtain the same result if you bear down and press out your abdomen. If you want to look it up, the Valsalva maneuver is what you’re doing. The pressure in your abdominal cavity rises as a result of doing that.
Abdominal Pressure
The diaphragm, a muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity and permits breathing, is compressed as a result, decreasing the chest cavity’s volume and raising the chest cavity’s pressure. The superior and inferior vena cavae, two significant veins that return blood to your heart, are compressed by the increased pressure.
Less blood is returned to the heart by these arteries as they constrict. Because your blood arteries are essentially connected in parallel, decreasing blood flow at one location will affect all of them. Therefore, because the heart is not filling to its normal volume as a result of the lower blood return, the heart’s output is also decreased.
As a result, your brain receives less blood, which causes you to feel dizzy and eventually pass out.
Blood Pooling
If you experience lightheadedness during stretching, it may be because you aren’t adequately cooling down. You are more susceptible to experiencing vertigo after lower-body exercises because a lot of blood can pool in your legs. Your body can more evenly distribute blood if you cool off.
Orthostatic Hypotension
When you stand up, you probably have orthostatic hypotension if you feel dizzy. It can be caused by minor dehydration, low blood sugar, or other conditions, and is frequently not a dangerous condition.
Though it may be a sign of a more serious health issue if it occurs regularly, especially if the dizziness is so extreme that it causes loss of consciousness.
Cervicogenic Vertigo
According to a Vestibular Disorders Association post, neck pain might truly make you feel dizzy. It’s a challenging problem to diagnose, and you shouldn’t try to do so because your dizziness can be brought on by another issue.
There are no diagnostic procedures to determine if you have cervicogenic vertigo. That would be one sign that you have this issue because it would originate from a neck issue like a shattered vertebrae.
If you have cervicogenic vertigo, moving your head will make your headache and lack of balance worse. You may have this issue if your dizziness grows worse as you extend your neck.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, which may be brought on by tiny fragments of broken-off calcium called canaliths in the inner ear, is similar to cervicogenic vertigo in that it makes you feel dizzy when you shift the position of your head. Twenty percent of all dizziness, regardless of age, and fifty percent of all dizziness in older persons are brought on by BPPV.
Why Am I Dizzy When I Get Up
Orthostatic hypotension is a common occurrence. Up to 20% of adults over 65 experience orthostatic hypotension to some extent. It basically means that when you go from sitting or lying down to standing, your blood pressure lowers and you briefly feel dizzy.
That’s because when you stand up, blood briefly pools in your legs, and it takes the body some time to make up for it by forcing blood out of the major veins in your legs and somewhat speeding up the heart. Due to the fact that digestion diverts blood flow and may drop your blood pressure, you could experience dizziness just after eating.
Dr. Christian Ruff, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital believes that if the condition is only sporadic or minor, it is not necessary to treat it aggressively. But you should be assessed if you believe you could trip or if it’s affecting your quality of life.
Things To Do If You Feel Dizzy When Stretching
It’s recommended to begin with easy movements and build up to more difficult ones gradually. Once you become acclimated to it, don’t push yourself too hard, but if you do need to utilize weights, don’t be scared to do so!
Try to concentrate your attention on the sensation in your muscles rather than trying to completely relax them, which might leave you dizzy after a stretch. Hold motions that last a few seconds longer than usual. As you stretch, keep your muscles free and pliable. This will stop the body from unintentionally giving them more liquids than they need.
Drink More Water
Stretching should be done while being hydrated. Water, not urine or sweat, is the primary kind of bodily fluid lost. Dehydration causes additional fluid to be taken into the bloodstream rather than being eliminated by the kidneys, which might make you feel dizzy after a while.
Try to drink extra water every day if your diet is deficient in water or if you feel a little dizzy after a long stretch.
Take Breaks In Between
Between sets that last more than 15 minutes, take pauses. This tip might not be applicable if you exercise vigorously all day (like weight lifting), but you should still try to cool down after each set of motions to prevent overworking yourself on workout days.
Lessen Salt Intake
Reduce the amount of salt in your diet to prevent fluid retention and dizziness brought on by stress. This can be done by omitting processed foods like those that contain high fructose corn syrup or preservatives and substituting fresh fruit and vegetables for salt.
Things To Avoid If You Feel Dizzy When Stretching
When feeling dizzy during a stretch becomes too uncomfortable, trying to compensate by moving faster or deeper will have a negative impact on your form and strength, which could make the situation worse and, in some situations, result in injury or even more excessive muscular strain.
It may take longer for fluid levels to recover after a workout and for muscles to mend themselves if a muscle is stretched more frequently than once per week.
Measures To Take If You Get Lightheaded When Stretching
If stretching causes you to feel dizzy, try gradually changing your stretching regimen or using a cool down after the stretch. You should also wait at least until the next day and take some time to recover. Once the body has repaired itself, stretching is safe once more. Occasionally reduce your weight lifting to a minimum as well.
If that is ineffective, discuss with your doctor whether there are any alternative therapies that might be more effective for you in treating this issue. Ask your doctor if there are any alternative therapies that might be more effective for you if you’re still feeling dizzy and painful despite taking precautions to avoid it.
To obtain more precise information, they could also be able to propose straightforward procedures like a physical exam and medical history, or they might even be able to request basic blood tests.
In limited circumstances, doctors are able to use a needle to inject medication directly into the muscles, speeding up the healing process and making fluid balance adjustments. In some circumstances, doctors are able to implant a catheter in the bladder while using a local anesthetic, which is sometimes referred to as muscle stretching.
Conclusion
When you stretch, dizziness can occur rather frequently. But it shouldn’t be a problem if you’re stretching correctly and watching what you eat. Just keep in mind that stretching properly is the best technique to lessen dizziness. If you use these suggestions, you ought to be able to permanently banish your lightheadedness.
