Why is strengthening the heart important

The more muscle mass you develop, the more calories you burn, says Johns Hopkins exercise physiologist Kerry J. If you have a new or existing heart problem, it's vital to see a doctor. Our heart health checklist can help you determine when to seek care.

Health Home Wellness and Prevention. Aerobic Exercise What it does: Aerobic exercise improves circulation, which results in lowered blood pressure and heart rate, Stewart says.

Resistance Training Strength Work What it does: Resistance training has a more specific effect on body composition, Stewart says. How much: Every day and before and after other exercise. What's the Best Exercise for Weight Loss? Stay on Top of Your Heart Health If you have a new or existing heart problem, it's vital to see a doctor. Being overweight puts stress on the heart and is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. A combination of aerobic workouts which, depending on your fitness level, can include walking, running, swimming, and other vigorous heart-pumping exercise and strength training weight lifting, resistance training is considered best for heart health.

That reduces the need for the heart—a muscular organ itself—to work harder to pump more blood to the muscles, whatever your age. As smokers become more fit, they often quit. And people who are fit in the first place are less likely to ever start smoking, which is one of the top risk factors for heart disease because it damages the structure and function of blood vessels.

Stress hormones can put an extra burden on the heart. Exercise—whether aerobic like running , resistance-oriented like weight training or flexibility-focused like yoga —can help you relax and ease stress.

With regular exercise, chronic inflammation is reduced as the body adapts to the challenge of exercise on many bodily systems. This is an important factor for reducing the adverse effects of many of the diseases just mentioned. Begin with small starts like these, and build up from there. Health Home Wellness and Prevention.

According to research from the University of South Carolina, men who reported more than 23 hours a week of sedentary activity had a 64 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who reported less than 11 hours.

Inactivity also affects other risk factors for heart disease. For example, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, sedentary people have a 35 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure than physically active people do. While a lack of physical activity raises the risk for heart disease, engaging in regular exercise lowers it. Consider the following:. According to the American Heart Association, exercising 30 minutes a day five days a week will improve your heart health and help reduce your risk of heart disease.

This includes: climbing stairs, playing sports, walking, jogging, swimming, biking, and more. No matter what you do, all studies indicate that some exercise is better than none. According to a review published in Circulation , people who engaged in minutes of moderate-intensity leisure activity per week had a 14 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who reported no exercise.

The more you exercise, the lower your risk. The Mayo Clinic suggests that you can even benefit from minute intervals several times a day. Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program. They can help you find activities that will increase your heart health without the risk of injury. Exercise is key to preventing heart disease. Statistics show a link between exercise and reduced risk of heart disease.

Experts say even lower levels of exercise broken up into different segments during the day can have benefits for your heart health.