Lack of physical exercise is often considered as a major risk factor for coronary heart diseases. Physically inactive people are more likely to develop heart diseases than the active people. A program of regular physical activity reduces the risk of heart attack to a considerable extent, but it is always safe to consult with your doctor to determine from where you should start and how much exercise you can physically afford.
Advantages of Regular exercise
Exercising regularly is exceptionally beneficial to your heart because it helps you to lower your total blood cholesterol and at the same time keeps your blood pressure normal that considerably reduces the chance of heart attacks. By making regular exercise a habit you can lower the bad cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood and raise your good cholesterol level. More blood is pumped through the blood vessels when you exercise which helps in conditioning of the heart and prevents blood clotting as well. When your heart is well conditioned it does not have to work hard to pump blood during your normal everyday activity or at times of stress and that reduce your risk of suffering from a heart attack.
As regular exercising habit reduces the risk of heart attack, lack of physical activity can enhance it to a much more dangerous level. Even children who are healthy but inactive may expose themselves to future heart diseases. As physical inactivity affects the transfer of oxygen from blood to cells, there is every possible chance of a heart attack as the heart tends to lose muscle mass during long periods of physical inactivity and gets weaker. The attention you pay to your diet doesn't worth a penny if you do not exercise. It is often considered as the single worst risk factor for coronary diseases for men and women yet the fact is that seven out ten adults do not do enough physical exercise.
How much exercise is enough?
Being physically active nearly halves the risk of heart diseases and a thirty to forty minutes brisk walk three to four times a week is supposed to be enough to improve your fitness level and sure to lower your cardiovascular risk. If not daily, you can also exercise for thirty minutes five days a week and that will also improve the condition of your heart to a considerable extent. It is not at all true that you must have to go to gym or somewhere else for it, as walking, gardening, swimming and other forms of moderate exercises on a regular basis are considered to be the key to a good and sound health. According to the experts it is important to realize that the amount of necessary physical exercise should depend on a number of factors like the age group, sex or people with different risk factors and a professional should always be contacted to prepare the exercise routine for you. Still the bottom line is that it is impossible to calculate the ideal amount of exercise that one needs and the perfect prescription for exercise should vary to some extent for every individual depending on factors that can't be ignored like age, health status and his ultimate fitness goal. If avoiding heart attack, diabetes or other diseases is the primary aim of your fitness program then at least half an hour of moderate physical activity is recommended and you can also break up the activity into three sessions of ten minutes each. But we can never say that longer and more intense activities are not beneficial or harmful. The primary aim should be to stay at the level where you feel comfortable and be regular.
Lose weight to have a healthy heart
Obesity is often considered as a reason for many heart diseases and lack of physical exercise may be considered as the primary reason behind someone getting obese. Fat people are more prone to heart attack and other coronary diseases as obesity also contributes to several other risk factors related to heart attack such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. It is quite easy to determine if you are overweight or not by calculating your body mass index and waist circumference and if the result is positive then it requires immediate precautions to save your heart from getting choked with fat and cholesterol. It is a matter of concern that around fifteen percent of children and teen agers are overweight due to lack of physical exercise and are vulnerable to different types of heart diseases including heart attack at a very early age. Over weight adolescents face an increased risk of dying from heart attacks during their adulthood.
There are numerous evidences that couch potato behavior has a direct relationship with obesity and increases the risk of many chronic diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Overweight people have a greater chance of developing critical medical conditions like congestive heart failure, arthritis, sleep apnea, gout and breast and colon cancer also. But the good news is that even a small weight loss through regular physical exercise can also help you to reduce the chances of being affected by those diseases.
Other Factors
Apart from all the reasons mentioned above there are other factors also that can expose you to various heart diseases like smoking, which accounts for one out of five deaths due to cardiovascular diseases while lack of physical exercise stays a close second as a reason behind heart attack. Your diet, weight and stress and hostility also play important roles in determining the condition of your heart and the most amazing thing is that with only some regular physical exercise, you can bring most of them under control except smoking. Physical exercises like sports and games or swimming are considered as great stress relievers and help you to regulate your mental stress by allowing you to unwind within a short period of time. Only a little bit of physical activity on a regular basis can save you from all the possible health hazards and might also save you from dying due to a heart attack.
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