Cooling down after exercising is just as important as warming up before exercising. They both provide a smooth transition between exercise and a state of rest. The main purpose of cooling down after exercise is to reduce the heart and breathing rates, gradually cool body temperature<span>, return muscles to their optimal length-tension relationships, prevent venous pooling of blood in the lower extremities, which may cause dizziness or possible fainting, and restore physiologic systems close to baseline.</span>
Cooling down are low intensity exercises to permit the body to reduce stress into a resting state. Actually, these processes depend on the intensity of the exercise developed before, could be a jog or a walk, also stretching can be used.
So, basically, cooling down is important after exercising to avoid delayed-onset muscle soreness cause by lactate production, which is a energy source to muscles.
