Participating in regular exercise is one of the best steps you can do to reduce your risk for heart disease and improve your overall health, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. You should include aerobic exercise and strength-training into your workout, and choose activities you like so you can maintain interest in them.
Types of Exercise
Aerobic exercise, including brisk walking, cycling, running and swimming, can help your heart become more efficient. After a period of aerobic exercise training, your heart becomes stronger and is able to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to your body with less beats. Having a strong, efficient heart and cardiovascular system can help reduce your risk for heart disease. Your risk for developing heart disease is also decreased when your body is leaner. Strength-training exercises can help you improve or maintain your lean muscle mass.
Benefits of Exercise
Regular exercise helps reduce your overall risk for heart disease and can also help control or lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, which are two major risk factors for heart disease. In addition, regular exercise can help you control your weight, which is another major risk factor for heart disease. Regular exercise of all types also helps reduce your risk for developing some types of cancer, type 2 diabetes and helps reduce feelings of anxiety and stress.
Recommendations
For most healthy adults, 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise done on five days each week is enough to maintain health and reduce your risk of chronic diseases, reports the American College of Sports Medicine. For weight control, 60 minutes or more of aerobic exercise may be necessary. The American College of Sports Medicine also recommends strength-training exercises for your major muscle groups at least two times each week. Muscle-strengthening exercises can include lifting weights, using resistance bands or doing exercises that use your own body weight as resistance, such as pushups or pull-ups.
Considerations
Check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise program if you have been sedentary for some time or if you have a condition that may make exercise unsafe for you. Always begin and end your exercise sessions with a warm-up and cool-down period and slowly and gradually work your way up to the recommended amounts of exercise. In addition to participating in regular exercise, eating a healthy diet can help you reduce your risk for developing heart disease.
References
- Harvard School of Public Health: The Nutrition Source: Staying Active
- "ACSM's Certification Review"; Khalid W. Bibi, Ph.D., ed.; 2010
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Growing Stronger - Strength Training for Older Adults: Why strength training?
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity for Everyone: The Benefits of Physical Activity
- American College of Sports Medicine: Physical Activity & Public Health Guidelines
- American Heart Association: Nutrition Center: Healthy Diet Goals
