Did you know walking is one of the best exercises for heart health? Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood throughout your body. Like every other muscle the heart needs exercise to stay healthy and perform efficiently.
Exercise keeps your heart healthy by reducing inflammation in the arteries and helping blood flow more freely through your vessels.
Even if you are a couch potato or the idea of breaking a sweat gives you the hives, there are many fun and easy ways to get your heart pumping. In this article, we have outlined the best exercises for heart health. So let’s break a sweat!
Walking
You don’t have to devote endless hours to vigorous exertion to keep your heart healthy – you just have to move regularly. Studies have shown that just 30 minutes of walking most days each week can increase life expectancy and reduce the risk of heart disease. Not sure how you can fit 30 minutes into your already crammed schedule? Try this:
– Break the time up into smaller chunks, like 10 minute increments.
– Ditch convenience – take the stairs, get up to change the channel rather than use the remote, walk, rather than drive to get the mail, walk to co-workers rather than send email.
– Walk around your home.
Take a break for fun
Make a list of fun things you love to do. For example:
- Crank up the music and dance to your favourite tunes.
- Have a time of exercise with the kids or friends.
- Jump on a bike and cycle your way to health.
- Join a hiking team and climb the mountains.
- Jump into the pool for a swim
Aerobic Exercises
Aerobic exercises improve circulation, which results in lowered blood pressure and heart rate. In addition, it increases your overall aerobic fitness, for example, it helps your cardiac output (how well your heart pumps). Aerobic exercise also reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and, if you already live with diabetes, helps you control your blood glucose.
Ideally, at least 30 minutes a day, at least five days a week aerobic exercise will help your heart health.
Examples: Brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, playing tennis and jumping rope. Heart-pumping aerobic exercise is the kind that doctors have in mind when they recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate activity.
Join the gym
The gym offers a buffet of heart healthy choices. Joining gives you options for strengthening this all important muscles in a variety of ways. Even better, you don’t have to go it alone. At Ella’s place, we have an array of heart health exercises for women that you can choose from.
You can also choose to exercise in a group. When you exercise in a group or with friends you get a social as well as a physical outlet. How is that for heart heath?
