It doesn’t matter what way you do it, cardio is great for improving the health of your heart. Many studies have found that physical activity and better fitness can help to assist a healthy heart and overall good cardiovascular health. The overriding view is that active individuals tend to develop (or have a lower risk of developing) cardiovascular disease, compared to their sedentary counterparts. And even if coronary heart disease does develop, it occurs far later and is generally less severe. It’s for this reason that so many health experts are praising exercise as one of the top ways to improve the health of your heart, thanks to the reduced risk of such conditions. As many as 25,000 deaths each year, in the United States alone, are attributed to a sedentary lifestyle. Furthermore, studies have found that physical activity can protect against non-insulin dependent diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis.
Limiting your exercise regime means you’re opening yourself up to many health risks. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the main five factors for cardiovascular disease, along with high blood pressure, smoking, obesity and abnormal values for blood lipids. Simply by exercising more, you can reduce your risk of a heart attack, as well as helping to maintain a healthy weight. Regular physical activity has a positive effect on the established risks for CHD and other heart-related diseases, as it also improves your blood pressure as well. Exercise has been known to reduce the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, and in diabetic patients it has been shown to improve the body’s ability to control insulin levels. Though it may seem an exaggeration that exercise can provide such a positive effect, when combined with a healthy diet and overall good lifestyle, it really can improve your wellbeing.
Studies have proven that regular exercise can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease through increasing your exercise tolerance, reducing your body weight, improving your cholesterol risk and increasing ‘good’ cholesterol, and reducing blood pressure. In addition to this, exercise also has a positive effect on your mental attitude as well – the body’s ability to utilise and take in oxygen improves the capacity to blood vessels to dilate and respond to hormones. It can reduce stress, lower the levels of anxiety and even improve self-confidence. However, while exercise is recommended and can offer numerous health benefits, studies have shown that there are no exercise programmes which have been able to improve the heart’s ability to pump more effectively, or alter the diameter of the coronary vessels which supply oxygen to the heart muscle.
Cardio exercises refer to any form of exercise which increases the work your heart and lungs do – in other words, anything which gets your heart rate up. This includes brisk walking, jogging, aerobics and cycling. It’s advised that adults do around 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most days of the week. In order to improve your cardiovascular endurance, you should be aiming to do 20 to 60 minutes on three to five days of the week. If you’re new to exercise, it’s important to take it slow in the early stages and build up to a regular routine from there – going in to a fast-paced regime straight away will increase the risk of injury and may put excess strain on your body. If you’re unsure, speak to your GP first who can advise you the best pace for your lifestyle. It’s also important to remember that exercise doesn’t remove the other negative aspects of your lifestyle, so a healthy diet and giving up smoking are also essential for a healthy heart.
