No beauty shines brighter than a healthy heart. – Anonymous.
One of the major causes of heart disease is a sedentary lifestyle. This is why exercise plays an important role in maintaining heart health.
Modern lifestyle is fast turning sedentary with increasing reliance on technology and availability of better facilities. While one may feel comfortable getting everything at their doorstep, the inactive lifestyle is gradually affecting our overall well-being. It is especially taking a toll on our heart health and raising the risk of cardiovascular ailments. This silent impact can be deadly if we aren’t careful. It is important to take out time for exercise every day for keeping your heart healthy and boosting overall well-being.
Here are 5 exercises that can strengthen your heart;
Brisk walking:
It is a good exercise that does not require specific arrangements and can be done at any place and time. If done regularly for at least 30 minutes for at least 5 days a week, it significantly improves the functional capacity and endurance of the heart. Similar effects are seen with jogging and running for at least 90 minutes per week.
Cycling:
Cycling is a good form of exercise, it improves and strengthens thigh muscles, is good for knee joints, and reduces plaque deposition in heart muscle. It also improves heart muscle strength.
Weight training:
This helps in building muscles, reducing fat deposition, mobilizing fat, and burning it. It helps in reducing weight. The overall effect is you have a muscular lean body with less fat and a healthy heart.
Interval training:
It is a form of exercise that mixes short bursts or heavy-intensity exercise with rest, like one minute of running followed by three minutes of rest. It has been proven to reduce weight and improve heart strength.
Swimming:
Swimming is usually considered a leisure activity and is a good form of exercise for whole body muscles including the heart. It improves cardiac muscle function, metabolism and reduces atherosclerosis of cardiac arteries.
Additionally, it is important to balance heart-healthy exercise with a healthy diet. A diet low in saturated fat, refined sugars, and sodium can help control or reduce blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels.
If you have a family history of heart disease, it’s important to start getting your numbers checked by age 20 for blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugars. Knowing your numbers and having a yearly wellness visit is part of leading a heart-healthy life.
Do you have any question or comment? Do share with us in the comment section.