Cardiovascular Health

7 Benefits Of Exercise For Your Heart

Our heart is the most important muscle in our body. Ensuring that it is healthy is important to our survival. As we all know, exercise is a critical part of our overall health and has multiple benefits to all of our body’s systems, and since our heart is at the core of these systems, having it operate at optimum capacity is key. With exercise being beneficial, what exactly are the benefits to our heart?

What are the Benefits of Exercise?

As you can imagine, exercise is beneficial for a whole score of reasons. Cardiovascular benefits of exercise consist of maintenance of healthy weight, reduced chances of hypertension and diabetes, and other health benefits. So, how exactly does exercise benefit our heart specifically? Research at Johns Hopkins has determined several cardiovascular benefits of exercise, including:

1. Control Blood Pressure

Regular exercise has been proven to be beneficial for regulating and controlling blood pressure. That is because exercise improves the efficiency of the heart, allowing for more effective blood pumping and maintenance of healthy levels. Engaging in physical activity on a regular basis can reduce their risk of developing hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.

2. Weight Control

If you're looking to manage your weight effectively, exercising is essential. It helps burn calories, which is a crucial factor in maintaining a healthy weight. Not only does maintaining a healthy weight contribute to overall wellness, but it also helps prevent serious conditions such as obesity, which can put a strain on the heart and lead to other health issues.

3. Strengthens Muscles

Exercise, particularly resistance training, helps strengthen the muscles, including the heart muscle itself. A stronger heart is more efficient in pumping blood throughout the body.

4. Reverse or Slow Diabetes

Physical activity plays a significant role in preventing and managing diabetes. Exercise helps the body utilize insulin more effectively, reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes or helping manage the condition for those already diagnosed.

5. Lowers Stress

Exercise has stress-relieving effects. Physical activity stimulates the production of endorphins, which are natural mood lifters. Reduced stress levels contribute to a healthier cardiovascular system.

6. Quit Smoking

Exercise can also help with smoking cessation. When individuals engage in regular exercise, they often experience improvements in overall health and fitness, making it easier for them to quit smoking. Additionally, fit individuals are less likely to start smoking.

7. Reduces Chronic Inflammation

Exercise has been found to have anti-inflammatory effects, which can help to reduce chronic inflammation and lower the risk of various cardiovascular diseases. By incorporating exercise into your routine, you can lower your risk of heart disease and improve your overall health. 

These benefits alone are fabulous reasons why we should exercise in order to benefit our hearts. Regular exercise also can help you quit smoking since when smokers become more fit, they tend to quit smoking. Also, fit people are less likely to start that disgusting habit, which can lead to plaque buildup in our arteries, affecting circulation. As your body becomes more accustomed to regular exercise, chronic inflammation can also be reduced.

Exercises to Keep Your Heart Healthy

So, if regular exercise can benefit our hearts, are there specific exercises we should be doing? There are some simple ways to exercise in order to benefit our hearts that is easy to accomplish. Being physically active doesn’t mean hitting the gym for three hours a day. We can increase our physical activity by simply changing the way we do some everyday tasks, as well as employing an exercise routine. Try some of these baby steps in order to jumpstart your exercise regimen:

• Park away from your destination so you walk more.
• Avoid the elevator and use the stairs.
• Walk: A little during lunch or on a bad weather day, hit the mall.
• Rise and shine early to exercise to start your day.

Heart Health and Exercise - Supplies You May Need

Exercising is more than just good for your health, and incorporating a wide variety of specialized exercises helps to target the affected area. Doing so can require specialized fitness equipment such as - 

1. Cardio Equipment

Cardio exercise refers to exercises that get your heart pumping more than usual. These exercises may or may not require specific equipment such as treadmills, steppers, pedal exercisers, and elliptical machines to improve the circulation of blood in the body as the heart and lungs work harder to supply oxygen-rich blood to working muscles. These exercises also increase the ability of working muscles to use that oxygen to generate enough energy for the movement. Cardio machines allow your body to indulge in continuous rhythmic activity that involves large muscle groups simultaneously, like running, jogging, brisk walking, cycling, swimming, aerobics, etc., which fall into the category of cardio exercises.