If you are somebody with family history of heart disease or are just concerned in general, then you may be wondering how to improve heart health. So many of us live what we think is a healthy lifestyle, but then we find out later on that we have heart problems.
Improve Heart Health in General
If you are somebody who is concerned or has a family member with heart problems, then you want to be proactive in trying to prevent these in your own life. Though you may think that you are lower risk, these types of health problems can really sneak up on you. In the end, your health depends largely on how you take care of yourself and what you do as part of your lifestyle.
Creating a Healthy Lifestyle with Your Cardiac Wellness in Mind
One of the best ways to help improve heart health is to create a truly healthy lifestyle. Now, this may very well sound like common sense, yet far too few of us actually take the time to really do it. We may think that we’re overall healthy, but we then eat the wrong foods, which is a problem. We may think that we’re doing all the right things, but then we take on too much stress, which will always work against proper heart health. Everything that we do in our lives will either help or hurt our overall heart health, so it’s time to pay closer attention to how we take care of ourselves—and fitness is, by far, one of the most important components!
Fitness May Be the Most Important Component
Though a healthy lifestyle matters greatly to how we improve heart health, fitness stands out for a variety of reasons. If we try to work out each and every day, ideally for an hour, we help to improve overall cardiovascular health and well-being. We get the heart rate elevated moderately if we engage in exercises that are at our appropriate level. When the heart is pumping and working in the right way, it helps to build strength and overall endurance. We feel the positive impact of this each and every time we work out, and the strength just continues to build. So, though we may tend to look at exercising in this way primarily for weight loss, it really matters in terms of taking care of our hearts, too.
Variety in Your Workout Hour is Key
Therefore, when you look at what it takes to improve heart health, realize that it matters greatly how much and how well you work out. Try a good mix of cardio and strength training. Start at the appropriate level and then work your way up. All of these measures will help you to achieve a proper weight range as well as ensure that you take care of your heart proactively.
Even if you are healthy and well now, regular workouts in the right way can help you to get to exactly where you want to be for the long term. If you decide to look for pills to support your performance, make sure you choose only the best quality supplements and don’t hesitate to discuss them with your doctor first. This is a great way to ensure that you are your best with your heart health now and well into the future.
Types of Exercises to Improve Heart Health
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, there are three kinds of exercises that should be mixed into your workouts throughout the week. These include:
- Aerobic Exercise (cardio workouts)
- Resistance Training (strength work)
- Stretching, Flexibility, and Balance
It may appear that only aerobic exercise is the best to improve heart health, but each of these play an important role in cardiovascular wellness.
Aerobic Exercise – Cardio to Improve Heart Health
This type of workout boosts your circulation and respiration. Doing it regularly helps to control your blood pressure and heart rate. It can also benefit the quality of your heart’s output.
How Often? At least five days per week for at least 30 minutes (this can be broken into two 15-minute sessions – they add up).
Examples of aerobic exercises include:
- Brisk walking
- Jogging
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Skipping rope
- Tennis
- Dancing
Resistance Training (Strength Work)
This is the type of workout that impacts your overall body composition. It is particularly helpful for people who carry extra body fat around the middle. It aids in lean muscle building and can help to raise good cholesterol (HDL) while lowering bad cholesterol (LDL).
How Often? Ideally, you should aim to do some resistance training to improve heart health at least twice per week on non-consecutive days.
Examples of resistance training exercises include:
- Free weight workouts
- Kettle bell workouts
- Resistance band workouts
- Exercises done through body resistance like push-ups, chin-ups, squats and so on.
Stretching, Flexibility and Balance Exercises
These workouts are surprisingly great to improve heart health, though they do so indirectly. What they do is support the other types of workouts you do, help to prevent injury so you can remain active, and even help with stress control, which can also be beneficial to cardiovascular wellness. These workouts can also help to reduce joint and muscle pain, enhancing your performance during other types of exercise.
How Often? Daily is ideal. Before and after the other exercises can be quite beneficial.
Examples of this kind of exercise to support your efforts to improve heart health include:
- Yoga
- Tai Chi
- Gentle warm up exercises
- Gentle cool down exercises
