After exercise, the whole body aches, and the effect is immediate after drinking a cup

Watermelon has always been a favorite among people for cooling off in the summer. The latest research shows that an amino acid contained in watermelon helps relieve muscle soreness after exercise, which undoubtedly brings a touch of coolness to sports enthusiasts in the hot summer.

Studies have shown that L-citrulline, an amino acid found in watermelon, can relieve exercise-induced muscle soreness. Citrulline can react chemically with enzymes in the human body and turn into arginine, which is beneficial to the human circulation and immune system. Arginine can promote the production of nitric oxide and help relax blood vessels.

The experiment was conducted by Enkana Aguayo and others from the University of Cartagena in Colombia. The researchers took ordinary watermelon juice, watermelon juice drink enhanced with L-citrulline, and drink without L-citrulline, and asked volunteers to drink them one hour before exercise.

The results showed that both regular and L-citrulline-enhanced watermelon juice drinks were effective in relieving post-exercise muscle soreness in volunteers, with the latter being more bioavailable and easier for the body to absorb.

Further reading: How to relieve soreness after exercise?

1. Relax after exercise. After exercise, you can lie on a sponge pad or rattan mat to rest for a while. When lying flat, your feet should be placed slightly higher than your head, or at the same height as your head. Never lie on the steamy ground. After resting for a while, you can do headstand or wall handstand for 3-10 seconds. You can do it several times. This is good for blood flow back to the heart from the lower limbs. Then shake your limbs, first shaking and patting your thighs or upper arms, and then shaking your calves or forearms.

2. Massage after exercise is an important means to eliminate fatigue. The main massage techniques include shaking, acupressure, kneading, tapping, and pushing. The first step is to shake the limbs, mainly to relax the elbows, knee joints and muscle groups of the limbs; commonly used acupoints on the upper limbs include Pianli, Quchi, Shouwuli, Biyuexu, etc., which can relieve soreness and swelling in the arms and elbows, as well as various discomfort symptoms caused by exercise such as shoulder and arm pain, neck cramps, etc. Commonly used acupressure points for the lower limbs include Chengfu, Weiyang, Chengshan, Kunlun, Zusanli, etc., which can relieve symptoms such as pain in the lumbar, sacral, buttocks and thighs, leg and foot cramps, stiffness and pain in the waist and legs, stiff neck, low back pain, and soreness in the knees and shins. When kneading and tapping, massage the large muscles first and then the small muscles. After massaging one side, massage the other side.

In this way, you can massage each other's whole body. Most of the Shu points on the back are located 1.5 inches away from the spine. Massage and relaxation are mainly focused on the points 1.5 inches away from the spine and the shoulder's external shoulder point, Jianjing point, and Tianzong point on the shoulder blade. This can relieve back pain and neck stiffness. Combining several techniques can achieve a good relaxation effect and quick recovery. It also has health-care effects on the human body's internal organs.

3. Exercise arrangements should be reasonable. After a period of exercise, the muscle soreness that originally occurred will be less severe with less exercise. And the performance is specific. For example, downhill exercise can reduce muscle soreness caused by downhill exercise after a period of training.

4. Warm the area and apply medication. Soaking in warm water after a workout can help relieve muscle soreness. Topical oils, pastes, or rubs may also relieve pain.

5. Stretching exercises can relieve muscle soreness. Stretching muscles can accelerate muscle relaxation and relieve antagonist muscles, which helps the recovery of tense muscles. This muscle stretching exercise also lays the foundation for preventing strains during exercise.

6. Do a good job of warm-up and cool-down during exercise. Adequate warm-up and proper cool-down can help prevent or reduce muscle soreness.