Your heart is one of the most vital organs of your body. Due to its important functions, good heart health is essential for long and healthy life. An overall healthy lifestyle is a prominent way of keeping your heart protected against many illnesses. Your heart is a muscle and needs exercise to help keep it fit so that it can pump blood as efficiently as possible around the body. Without regular physical activity, the body slowly loses its strength, stamina and ability to function well.
Along with improving factors linked to cardiovascular health, resulting in lower blood pressure, healthier cholesterol levels, and better blood sugar regulation, exercise also promotes positive physiological changes, like encouraging the heart’s arteries to dilate more readily.
A common heart rhythm problem, known as atrial fibrillation (AFib) comes with a five-fold increased risk of stroke caused by a blood clot. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a strategy of weight loss, diet and exercise can result in lower rates of AFib and less severe disease. The American Heart Association (AHA) has also reported study results which indicate that patients who exercised regularly with a short-term, high-intensity interval training regimen, the incidence of AFib were cut in half.
How Exercise Benefits Your Heart
Regular exercise has a number of important benefits, including strengthening your heart and improving circulation. It’s important at every age to be proactive about your heart. Committing to a regular exercise routine especially as you get older can bring positive benefits to your health that last well into your senior years.
Regular physical activity can help you build strength and endurance, lower your triglyceride levels and blood pressure increase HDL (good) cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, fight diabetes and achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity for a total of 150 minutes, or at least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity for a total of 75 minutes for optimal heart health per week. Any type of exercise such as aerobic weight-training and stretching can improve your health. Aerobic exercises increase your heart rate and benefit your heart the most, according to the American Heart Association. A single exercise session may protect the cardiovascular system for two to three hours.
Examples of aerobic exercise include:
- Brisk walking
- Jogging or running
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Jumping rope
- Climbing stairs
- Playing sports, such as tennis, soccer, basketball, or racquetball
Benefits of Strength Training
Resistance training, or muscle-strengthening exercises, increase the strength of your muscles, their size, power, and endurance.
Strength training helps you perform everyday activities and protect the body from injuries. Stronger muscles also boost the metabolic rate, meaning you’ll burn more calories even while you’re resting.
Resistance training you can make part of your routine include:
- Lifting or working out with free weights, such as hand weights, dumbbells, or barbells
- Using weight machines or resistance bands
- Body-resistance exercise, including pushups, pullups, squats
How Do You Get Started?
It is never too late to include exercise or any form of physical activity in your daily routine. Your health risks will decrease as soon as you start to move. Changing a few daily habits can soon add up to a more active you. Try to be active in as many ways as possible every day. Exercising and moving around for even 10 minutes of everyday counts.
Few tips to keep in mind when you are getting started:
- Start in small amounts
- Find an activity that you enjoy doing
- Set yourself a realistic target to do a little exercise each day
- Ask family or a friend to join you
- Build up to 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day.
- Gradually increase the amount you are doing. Go for a little longer or a little further.
Stretching and Balance are Also Key Aspect
Stretching might not directly contribute to heart health, it does benefit musculoskeletal health, which can help with joint pain, muscle cramping, and other musculoskeletal issues.
Practising yoga also has numerous benefits including increased lung capacity, improved respiratory function, lower resting heart rate, and improved circulation. Studies have also shown yoga, as well as meditation, can help lower blood pressure, which is important for decreasing risk of heart attack, stroke, and other health problems.
Ways to Get More Exercise
There are many ways you can get your heart pumping and fend off cardiovascular diseases. Here are some tips to get in your regular physical movement and keep your heart healthy.
- Find the motivation you need to get out of your bed and move. If exercising by yourself doesn’t sound as appealing to you, you can find a workout partner or join online communities and support groups aimed toward health and fitness.
- Wear comfortable clothing and appropriate footwear.
- When you begin your activity, begin slowly for the first few minutes and build up gradually. When coming to the end of your activity, take time to slow down
- Avoid exercising if you are feeling unwell. Taking a break in between days is also important to give your body the time to heal and rejuvenate.
- Stop exercising if you feel any pain or discomfort.
- Talk to you doctor if you’re on any medications, such as for diabetes, about the appropriate workout program for you.
