You Can

Be More Active

Your Heart Is a Muscle

Like any muscle, the heart gets stronger with exercise. The more physical activity you expose your heart to on a consistent basis, the more benefits you’ll get in terms of cardiac health and overall wellness. Replacing a sedentary lifestyle with a more active one strengthens your heart and helps reduce your risk of heart disease.

What Does Exercise Intensity Mean?

Exercise intensity refers to how much energy or effort is put towards doing a physical activity. Basically, how hard your body is working when you’re doing the exercise. The American Heart Association recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic activity every week.

Moderate-Intensity Exercise

Aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity five days a week. If your schedule doesn’t allow for 30 minutes, you can do short bursts of exercise in intervals of 10 minutes or more at a time.

Moderate intensity is an activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster but still able to carry on a conversation. Moderate activities may feel challenging but shouldn’t leave you feeling exhausted, some examples include:

  • Brisk walking (not race walking)
  • Biking (no hills, primarily flat terrain)
  • Swimming laps or water aerobics
  • Tennis (doubles)
  • General gardening or yardwork

High-Intensity Exercise

High-intensity (or vigorous) exercise isn’t for the beginner, you need to ease into it. Give yourself time to build your fitness foundation with moderate-intensity exercise first; strengthen your heart and lungs, allow your muscles and joints to get stronger. Prepare your body for the strenuous demands of high-intensity exercise.

When doing these activities, there will be a substantial increase in your heart rate and breathing. Your breathing will be deep and fast; you won’t be able to say more than a few words without stopping for a breath. These types of activities include:

  • Running
  • Speed walking or hiking uphill
  • Cycling (with steep inclines)
  • Tennis (singles)
  • Heavy gardening (with digging or hoeing)

Add in Strength Training

The American Heart Association recommends incorporating some type of weight or resistance training into your workout routine at least twice a week. Strength training is a form of exercise where you use your body weight or equipment (dumbbells, weight machines or resistance bands) to build muscle mass, strength, and endurance.

Strength training provides a range of health benefits, including:

  • Improves muscle strength and tone.
  • Helps maintain muscle mass as you age.
  • Promotes better mobility, flexibility, and balance.
  • Reduces your risk of falls.
  • Protects joints from injury.
  • Boosts metabolism and reduces body fat.
  • Increases bone density.

For more information on exercises to benefit your heart health and help preventing heart disease, schedule an appointment with your St. Elizabeth primary care provider or cardiologist today.

Inactivity Hurts Your Heart

Living an inactive lifestyle is when most of your time is spent not moving your body or not moving enough. In today’s world, so much of our everyday tasks involve more and more bouts of sitting for long periods of time, such as using a computer, cell phone or other device, watching TV, playing video games and long commutes.

This sedentary behavior can lead to a myriad of chronic health issues, including hypertension, diabetes, depression, heart disease and stroke.

Harmful Effects of Being Inactive

The more time you spend not moving your body, the higher your health risks are. This doesn’t mean you need to get a fancy gym membership or start training for a marathon – it just means you need to get up and get moving.

Your body and its systems (including the heart and cardiovascular system) function poorly when you have an inactive lifestyle:

  • Slow blood circulation – allows fatty materials to build up in your arteries. This can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
  • Burn fewer calories – making you more likely to gain weight.
  • Spikes in blood sugar levels – can lead to Type 2 diabetes and obesity, both are risk factors for heart disease.
  • Increased inflammation – causing you to pack on extra pounds.
  • Changes in metabolism – body has trouble breaking down fats and sugars.

To learn more about the comprehensive cardiology services at St. Elizabeth, including expedited appointments, call (859) 287-3045 or visit our website.

Get Moving

To reduce your risk of heart disease, you need to be active every day – the more you can do, the better. If you’ve been inactive for a long time, start slow and gradually add in more time and intensity. Find practical ways to get off the couch and onto your feet, you can take a walk, go for a swim, or put on some music and dance around while cleaning the house.

When you are sitting, put a timer on your phone or set up an egg timer as a reminder to get up – for every 20 minutes of sitting, stand for eight minutes and move around for at least two minutes.

Tips to Overcome Exercise Excuses

  • “I hate exercising.” – There are lots of reasons why you may dread working out. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re lazy, maybe it’s because you haven’t found an activity that you enjoy. Try different things until you find the right fit, the important thing is to make movement a habit.
  • “I don’t have time.” – Try squeezing in short 10-minute workouts throughout the day. These “exercise snacks” can fit into the busiest of schedules, and they keep you on track.
  • “I’ve tried exercising, and it doesn’t work.” – Manage your expectations. You’re not going to transform your body overnight. Expecting too much too soon will quickly lead to frustration. Stick with it, the payoff will come in time.

Play it Safe!

If you haven’t exercised in a while or have a heart condition, consult with your primary care provider before doing anything too strenuous or ambitious. They can do an overall assessment of your cardiovascular health and may suggest certain testing – like a stress test – before you start a new exercise regimen. They can also make recommendations based on your unique needs and fitness level.

Do you need a partner in caring for your heart? There’s no better place to be. Schedule an appointment with a St. Elizabeth cardiologist. 

You Can Be a Healthier You

Call Us

For more information about Take Time for Your Heart or other Heart & Vascular Prevention and Wellness services, call
(859) 301-WELL (9355) today.