Heart failure is best described as a cardiovascular condition where the heart is no longer able to pump enough blood to support the body's current needs. It develops as a result of a number of different conditions, including high blood pressure, heart arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, heart infections, atherosclerosis, diabetes and valve damage. To keep this condition from worsening, most medical professionals use a combination of treatments, one of which is exercise.
Guidelines
Since so many conditions can contribute to heart failure, exercise guidelines vary greatly from person to person. Not only are these guidelines informed by the cause of the heart failure, but they're also established based on your health, age, weight, fitness and current level of activity. This means no standardized exercise guidelines truly exist for rehabilitative purposes after heart failure, so talk to your doctor or cardiologist to establish an individualized workout program.
Exercise
Though exercise programs can vary from one person to the next, they often entail low-to-moderate intensity activities, such as walking or biking. This doesn't mean no other activities can be used to improve the strength of the heart after heart failure, but these are the most frequent conditioning activities employed.
Duration
The duration of your chosen athletic pursuit is typically the first guideline you'll encounter when exercising after heart failure, notes a review of common methods for exercise training that appeared in the April 2001 issue of the journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise developed at the Swiss Cardiovascular Center Bern in Switzerland. You'll usually start off with shorter durations, sometimes as short as three to five minutes in length. Your ultimate goal is to work up to a stretch of exercise that lasts 20 to 30 minutes at a time.
Frequency
After duration, the next guideline that needs to be established for exercise after heart failure is frequency. The frequency of exercise is influenced by the duration. When the duration of the activity is relatively short, the frequency of exercise is often greater. This helps to reach the goal of 20 to 30 minutes of exercise. As the duration lengthens, however, you'll likely reduce the frequency of exercise sessions.
Intensity
As the duration lengthens and the frequency is minimized, your next goal is often to attain a proper level of intensity. When you're able to work out for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, your cardiac rehabilitation team may then recommend increasing the intensity of your workout. Basically, this means you'll pick up the pace of your chosen athletic pursuit to increase the heart rate, which can improve the strength of the heart and help it pump blood more effectively.
References
- Mayo Clinic; Heart Failure; March 2011
- Cleveland Clinic; Heart Failure Exercise/Activity Guidelines -- Exercise; Nov 2011
- American Heart Association; Exercise and Heart Failure; Ileana Pina, et al.; 2003
- Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise; Exercise Training in Heart Failure: Recommendation Based on Current Research; K. Meyer; April 2001
