Why stretch?

You were probably told from when you were young that stretching reduces the risk of injury. Unfortunately, in spite of a great deal of effort, there is no scientific evidence it works. In order to put this matter to rest, in 2025 a panel of twenty experts from around the world published a consensus paper that summarized current knowledge about stretching. They state that there is no evidence that stretching reduces injuries.

However, there are still good reasons to stretch. First, stretching seems to improve your mood. Here is an explanation of how stretching might have this affect: Stretching sends a stream of interoceptive information to our brain. Interoception includes information about pressure in the joints, tension in connective tissue, the movement of your diaphragm, blood pressure, and more. It could be that these interoceptive signals reach our brain and displace other cognitive processes, such a circular ruminations. In this way, stretching may reset the activity of your brain.

Another explanation for how stretching might improve our mood is that stretching shifts our sympathetic versus parasympathetic balance. Roughly speaking, the sympathetic nervous system is your fight or flight response to threats, while the parasympathetic system promotes rest and recovery. An overactive sympathetic nervous system has many negative downstream affects on your mood and well-being. When we stretch, we intentionally put our body in positions that our brain perceives as threatening, which raises the activity of your sympathetic nervous system. However, as you hold a stretch, your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in to overcome the sympathetic response. In effect, by holding a stretch you are training your parasympathetic nervous system to regulate your sympathetic nervous system, much like the way you would train a muscle.