Exercise is the very best gift you can give to your heart. An excellent protection plan against heart disease is exercise. Most medical practitioners believe that heart patients should adopt Mediterranean-style diet, maintain weight, and not smoke with regular exercise to avoid future health complications.
According to health experts in certain heart health conditions, exercise can be as powerful and beneficial as some medications.
Workouts have many benefits for heart patients, including:
Reducing blood pressure
Exercise can help lower blood pressure and slow down the heart rate, which can help reduce the strain on your heart and blood vessels.
Exercise is key to losing weight
If you are overweight, combining a weight loss diet with exercise is good for heart health and reduces the risk of heart disease.
Exercise Improves heart muscle
A combination of aerobic exercises such as walking, running, swimming, and strength training can help strengthen your heart and muscles, which improves your ability to pump blood.
Exercise helps in quitting cigarette
Smoking is one of the major factors for heart disease. With exercise, you can easily quit smoking for a healthy heart.
Exercise helps in maintaining blood sugar level
Regular aerobic exercises such as cycling, brisk walking, or swimming can help improve the body's ability to use insulin, which can help lower blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of diabetes.
Lowering Cholesterol Levels
Exercise can help lower cholesterol levels. It can help lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol and increase HDL ("good") cholesterol. It also reduces the risk of heart disease.
Exercise reduces inflammation
Regular exercise has anti-inflammatory effects on the body.
Exercise reduces markers of inflammation in the body, which may help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Exercise Reducing stress
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Exercise can help reduce stress and improve mental health, which is beneficial for heart health. Exercise can help you ease stress.
Best Exercises For A Healthy Heart
All exercise provides heart health benefits. Exercise keeps your heart healthy and strong.
These exercises include:
Aerobic exercise ("cardio")
Activities such as cardio machines, running, jogging, walking, cycling, jumping rope, swimming, kickboxing, and biking increase your heart rate, improves cardiovascular fitness, and strengthens your heart.
Water Aerobics
Water aerobics can be an effective exercise for heart patients. These exercises can be heart-healthy without causing stress on joints. For water aerobics, you enter a swimming pool and do the exercise while standing in the water.
Yoga
Yoga is the best exercise for heart patients because it improves flexibility and reduces stress. Moreover, Yoga is also a mental exercise, lowering your blood pressure. Heart patients can do 30 minutes of Yoga, which is nearly five days a week.
Stair Climbing
Climbing stairs is a simple exercise for heart patients. Heart patients can do it at home or in the gym with a stair machine.
Dancing
Dancing is a good option for a heart patient. Dancing will stimulate your heart's beat and also cheer up your mood.
Gardening
If you do not want to go to the gym, do not worry about your exercise. You can do some workouts in the form of simple activities like gardening, cleaning the yard, and trimming the plants can help bring back the healthier state of your heart.
Tai-Chi
Tai-chi is a Chinese form of exercise based on martial arts, best for heart patients. With a combination of concentration and deep breathing in Tai-Chi, heart patients experience slow rhythmic body movements. It is a peaceful exercise for both mind and body.
Resistance & Weight training
Lifting weights or resistance bands strengthens your heart and increases muscle mass and metabolism. You can also try to do push-ups, squats, and chin-ups. For a heart patient, these exercises will help in losing weight and fat.
Rowing
Rowing is low impact exercise for heart patients. It will help boost your heart rate while keeping your heart healthy. You can mix 15 minutes of rowing with 15 minutes of treadmill walking.
Cycling
Both outdoor and indoor cycling can be practical exercises for heart patients. Healthcare practitioners have noted that cycling helps reduce the risks of heart disease.
Swimming
Swimming is an ideal aerobic exercise for heart patients. It increases the overall fitness level of the human body and increases energy.
Walking and jogging
It is one of the most common exercises for heart patients with stents. Both walking and jogging are effective ways of boosting stamina and relieving stress.
Stretching
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Stretching can be a beneficial activity for heart patients, as it can help improve the circulation of blood, and reduce stress and tension.
How Much Exercise Is Safe For Heart Patients
It recommended that individuals with heart disease or other cardiac conditions get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. The amount of workout that is safe for an individual with a heart condition will depend on several factors, including the type and severity of their condition, patient age, physical fitness level, and any other medical conditions they may have. Individuals with heart disease need to consult their doctor or a cardiac rehabilitation specialist before starting an exercise program. They will be able to assess the individual's condition and provide recommendations for a safe and effective exercise plan. In some cases, a supervised exercise program may be necessary.
In general, individuals with heart disease start with low intensity exercise and gradually increase the intensity and duration of their workouts as their fitness level improves. Many health professionals recommend a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Knowing how these types of exercise affect your body can help you create the perfect exercise routine.
Exercising after a heart attack
Stay active with regular exercise after a heart attack because it is generally safe and beneficial for heart patients. Heart patients may need to take extra precautions and modify their exercise program to accommodate their health condition. Make sure that the exercise you would like to do is safe for you if,
- You had a heart attack recently.
- You have been having chest pain or feeling difficulty in breathing.
- you are a diabetes patient.
- You had a heart procedure or heart surgery recently.
Heart patients should pay attention to their body's signals and unusual symptoms, such as,
