Can Exercise Really Help You Prevent Heart Disease?

Even though health experts have been saying for many years that getting regular exercise is important to maintaining healthy bodies, it hasn`t been until the last seven or eight years that the data has really accumulated to show the association between exercise and preventing heart disease. Let`s take a moment to look at the general effects of getting regular exercise:

WEIGHT CONTROL – This is one of the biggest problems in our society and it`s a big risk factor for coronary disease. Exercise is an important component of maintaining cardiac fitness and prevention of heart disease.

BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL – It`s clear that if you and your loved ones exercise, it will have a significant impact on controlling your blood pressure.

CHOLESTEROL – Exercise raises the HDL or “”good”" cholesterol levels in your body.

Conversely, not getting enough proper exercise is a known risk factor for heart disease either because a person is obese or because his or her fitness level is so low that it just puts them at higher risk. Recently, research has indicated that patients that have suffered from significant heart damage and heart failure actually benefit from a supervised type of exercise program. Even for patients that have had heart damage, exercise itself has become a way of improving the situation as a tool of treatment. So, in all of these areas, exercise is important for maintaining fitness and preventing heart disease as well as, in certain groups of patients, treating heart disease.

So, with all of these things in mind, how can we incorporate exercise into our lives to help us fight heart disease? The old notion – that exercising twice or three times a week is adequate – has clearly been disproved. Your body needs much more! If you could exercise for 30-40 minutes for at least six days per week, it would have a significant long- term positive impact on keeping your heart healthy. The hard part is making the time commitment. But if you can get into a regular aerobic exercise routine involving activities like walking, jogging, biking or swimming you would greatly improve your chances of avoiding serious complications down the road. Making the decision to get into an exercise routine is a wise choice that can benefit you and every member of your family.