Our bodies are designed to move and stay active, which supports healthy, regular functioning. Your heart is vital to your body’s function and keeping active can be a great way to keep it healthy.
This blog post explains how exercise improves your heart health, the benefits of exercise, what exercises you should do and how to stay safe. Discover all you need to know about regular exercise and maintaining your heart health with Expert Cardiologist.
How does exercise improve your heart health?
When you exercise, your heart works harder than usual and it takes more effort to pump blood around your body, which benefits your health.
Regular physical activity strengthens your heart by increasing the size of its chambers and conditioning it to pump more efficiently. As a result, your heart must make less effort to pump blood, taking the strain off your cardiovascular system.
You can support your future and reduce the risk of developing conditions that affect your heart by improving your health.
Benefits of exercise on heart health
Some of the benefits of exercise on your cardiovascular health include:
- Improved circulation – doctors associate poor circulation with conditions like varicose veins, angina and blood clots. However, exercising increases blood flow and reduces your risk of complications.
- Lowered blood pressure – high blood pressure causes stiff, inflexible arteries, making it harder for your blood to travel through. Regular exercise boosts circulation and encourages your blood vessels to expand and regain their flexibility. Exercise also causes your body to produce nitric oxide, which widens your blood vessels, enhancing circulation and lowering your blood pressure.
- Improved cholesterol – exercise increases your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (sometimes called ‘good’ cholesterol). We associate higher levels of HDL with a lower risk of heart disease as it regulates cholesterol and reduces inflammation.
- Less chance of developing type 2 diabetes – this type of diabetes may elevate your risk of heart problems and heart attacks. This is because people with type 2 are more likely to have high cholesterol or high blood pressure as it’s linked to being overweight. Both high cholesterol and high blood pressure increase the chances of poor heart health. However, regular exercise may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes as exercising helps to maintain a healthy weight.
- Weight management – being overweight increases your risk of many health conditions negatively affecting cardiovascular health. Regular exercise helps to maintain a healthy weight, supporting healthy cholesterol and heart function and reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.
- Reduced risk of coronary heart disease – in this condition, plaque (a thick, waxy substance) builds in your coronary arteries and causes them to narrow, restricting blood flow to the heart. Blood clots and heart attacks can result. However, regular exercise can reduce your risk of coronary artery disease as it helps to lower your blood pressure, improve circulation and prevent plaque buildup.
- Decreased risk of heart attack – exercise helps your heart to work better and reduces your risk of heart attacks. It may also minimise the risk of having a second one if you’ve had a heart attack before.
With so many possible benefits, getting enough exercise each week is crucial to maintain your heart health now and in the future.
What types of exercise are best for your heart?
Many different exercises are available, but the best ones for heart health are aerobic exercises, resistance training, and balance and flexibility exercises.
Aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercises mean moving your largest muscle groups, such as your arms and legs.
Examples of aerobic exercises are:
- Walking
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Jogging
- Hiking
However, you may already be doing aerobic exercises in everyday activities like gardening, climbing stairs and housework.
Aerobic exercises strengthen your heart and help you to maintain a healthy weight, reducing your risk of heart problems.
Resistance training
Resistance training makes your muscles work hard. It can involve lifting weights or using resistance bands. The positive thing about resistance exercises is you can tailor the weight or resistance to suit your needs.
Resistance training takes the demand off your heart while you work out as it uses your muscles. The stronger your muscles, the better you’ll be at aerobic exercises and everyday activities, such as going up and down stairs.
Balance and flexibility exercises
Balance and flexibility exercises include yoga, pilates and tai chi. These enhance your flexibility and balance while supporting your heart health by bringing more oxygen into the body and relieving stress. Increasing your body’s oxygen may reduce your blood pressure and alleviating stress helps reduce inflammation and other risk factors that increase your chance of a heart attack.
Each exercise brings varying benefits to your heart health, so make sure you incorporate each into your weekly routine.
Do I need to exercise daily for heart health?
The good news is that you don’t have to be in the gym daily to achieve a healthier heart through exercise.
NHS guidelines suggest that you should:
- Spread your activity out over four or five days
- Complete strengthening activities twice a week
- Do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week
Staying safe while exercising
It’s vital to check with your doctor before exercising as they can tell you what’s safe for you. You can start if they confirm it’s OK for you to exercise.
However, keeping safe is essential as you can easily hurt yourself.
Be sure to:
- Always warm up and cool down
- Follow your doctor’s advice
- Speak to a professional, such as a fitness instructor, if you need advice on performing exercises
- Push yourself within your limits (overdoing it will do more harm than good)
- Wear the correct clothing
Most importantly, stop exercising immediately if you feel unwell and seek medical attention if needed.
Keeping motivated to exercise
It’s tough to find the motivation to exercise regularly. However, you can integrate exercise into your daily routine without hitting the gym.
Some top tips to keep motivated to exercise are:
- Find an exercise you enjoy so it doesn’t feel like a chore
- Attend exercise classes with friends (meeting new people can make it more fun)
- Keep track of your achievements, such as how many steps you’ve done or what weight you can lift
- Choose a time of day that works for you
You can also exercise without joining a gym. Why not try:
- Taking your dog for longer or more frequent walks
- Choosing the stairs instead of the lift or escalator
- Walking during your lunch breaks or after work
- Dancing (you don’t have to be a professional!)
- Cycling or walking instead of driving short journeys
Essentially, you should increase the activity you do and reduce the time you spend seated. Try to incorporate these tips into your daily routine and you’ll soon support your heart health.
Put your heart health first with Expert Cardiologist
Getting enough exercise may seem challenging, but how little you need and the types of exercises you can do will make it feel much more effortless. With so many possible benefits, exercise is crucial in caring for your heart.
You can also support your heart health in other ways. Expert Cardiologist offers a wide range of heart tests and treatments that help you prioritise your cardiovascular health.
Get in touch and discover how Dr Georgios Karagiannis can safeguard your heart health.
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