A cool down is the act of gradually lowering body temperature, heart rate and breathing rate following exercise. The purpose of cooling down is to slowly return your body to a lower or resting state. When exercise ends abruptly, blood pressure also drops, which could cause dizziness or fainting. A proper cool down prevents the sudden pooling of blood in your extremities and re-circulates blood back to the heart, skeletal muscles and brain. This phase of your workout helps prevent muscle stiffness or soreness too. You may see conflicting advice as to whether cooling down prevents post-exercise muscle soreness (also known as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS). However, even if cooling down doesn’t prevent DOMS, the other benefits of cooling down mean that you should always make it a part of your exercise session. A cool down can be a slower or lower-intensity version of the activity you just did during your exercise session (like walking after running). The cool down should be gradual. In other words, do not go straight from running full speed to a walking. A light jog in between would be more appropriate so your body can slowly return to normal. The cool down can also be a different activity than you just did, provided it involves the same muscles. Contrary to popular belief, stretching is not the same thing as cooling down. In fact, stretching should come after a proper cool down.  What are the Benefits of Cooling Down?A proper cool down provides many benefits. Some of these include:
How to Cool DownWhen cooling down, keep the FITT Principles (Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type) in mind.
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