Updated 20/2/2021

The heart is an essential organ in the body, clearly, and for your body to function well, it must be active and in good condition.

Living a sedentary lifestyle is one of the major problems that contribute to heart problems. Some of the most severe heart problems include coronary heart disease, heart valve disease, and aorta problems. Exercising is one of the best approaches to ensure your heart is healthy.

How Exercise Helps Improve Heart Health

It is evident that exercise will improve your heart, but people don’t take it seriously. To improve your body health, the heart must be exercised. Exercising makes the heart muscles strong for improved blood circulation. The stronger the heart muscles are, the better it is able to serve it’s main purpose – circulating blood!

Exercises that improve heart health

1. Aerobic exercise

This kind of exercise improves your blood circulation and helps to lower blood pressure over time. Exercise also helps to increase aerobic fitness and cardiac output. This form of exercise can also help victims with diabetes because it helps to control blood glucose.

It is best to perform aerobic exercise on a regular basis, say 3-4 times per week, for about 30-60 minutes. Examples of aerobic exercises are like cycling, playing tennis (or any form of sport), running, swimming, and skipping.

2. Strength work

This kind of training contributes most to body composition and lean muscle mass. Excess fat is a significant cause of heart problems. Resistance training as a form of exercise helps reduce fat and create leaner muscle mass.

This kind of exercise can be done 2-3 times a week. Examples of resistance training are exercises using dumbbells (hand weights), resistance bands, and body resistance exercises such as push-ups and chins.

3. Stretching, flexibility, and balance

This kind of exercise doesn’t contribute directly to heart health, but they improve musculoskeletal health, hence keeping you healthy and free from joint pain and stiff muscles.

Try stretching regularly – even just a few minutes here and there.

After exercising, always ensure to cool down or stretch gently. You can perform some simple hand stretching, push-ups, sit-ups and some jogging but you should ensure that your muscles are not overstretched.

Conclusion

A healthy heart equals a healthy body. It is the engine that keeps your body going. It should therefore be maintained in the right conditions at all times. The above insights can help you to achieve this.