Spending five minutes stretching each morning can have a powerful impact on your mornings. This type of exercise can boost blood flow throughout your body, setting up your muscles to be active and ready to take on the day.

Stretching not only benefits your body but also your mind. It activates your parasympathetic nervous system — that part of your brain that turns off your anxiety-provoking fight-or-flight response and helps you relax after a period of stress. Research has even found that stretching can help you think more clearly, focus better, and improve your memory.

In other words, stretching can help wake up your mind and body, helping you stay alert but calm during your morning meetings and activities. Read on to discover simple stretches you can do that may help even more than your morning cup of coffee.

Take your time working through each stretch. Once you get into each position, take five deep, slow breaths and then move at an easy pace into the next stretch.

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