Enjoy Good Heart Health With Exercising!

One of the best gifts you can give your heart is physical activity. Combining regular exercise with a balanced diet, adopting healthy habits, and maintaining normal body weight is a great way of keeping cardiovascular ailments at bay.

How exercising benefits the heart?

Understanding how exercising benefits the heart can be a strong motivation to get moving. Here is what you need to know –

• Lowers blood pressure

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Physical activity stabilizes the heart rate and brings down elevated blood pressure. It also lowers ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and boosts ‘good’ HDL cholesterol, thus cutting down the risk of heart conditions.

• Helps keep body weight in check

Any sort of physical activity, especially when combined with a good diet, works great for weight loss. More importantly, it helps reduce weight, thus optimizing heart health. Being overweight or obese puts stress on the heart, making it prone to a stroke or a heart attack.

• Helps in muscle strengthening

Regular exercising improves your muscle’s ability to draw oxygen during blood circulation. That reduces the need for the heart to work harder to pump more blood to the muscles.

• Helps reduce stress

During stress, your body releases adrenaline hormone, which causes your heart rate to speed up and blood pressure to rise – a condition that increases your likelihood of developing heart disorders, like ischemic stroke. Certain deep-breathing exercises may help you to relax and ease stress.

Best exercises for strengthening your heart

Your exercise plan should include the following –

• Stretching – Simply stretching the legs and arms before and after exercising helps prepare your muscles for activities, and prevents muscle strain or injury. Stretching regularly also improves flexibility and increases range of motion.
• Aerobic/Cardio exercises – Aerobic or cardiovascular exercises have the most benefits for the heart. This type of physical activity strengthens your lungs and heart and improves the body’s ability to utilize oxygen. Over time, exercises like jogging, running, swimming, cycling, brisk walking, and others may reduce rapid heart rate, lower blood pressure, and improve breathing.
• Strengthening exercises – These refer to exercises that cause repeated muscle contractions until they become tired. For strength training, you can use resistance bands, weights, or even your own body weight – for example, yoga to tighten the core muscles. If you are working with heavy weights, you should restrict yourself to 2-3 days a week.

It is never too late to start exercising. People who are physically inactive, are twice as much likely to get cardiovascular diseases compared to those who are active. Aim for a minimum 150 minutes of moderate to intense exercising session, amounting to 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days every week, on average.

However, do check with your healthcare provider before getting started on the activity program. Your doctor might be able to work out a plan that matches your physical condition and fitness level.