The heart is a very important organ of the body. It helps to pump blood, which transports oxygen and other nutrients to all parts of the body.
For an organ that plays such an important function in the body, keeping it healthy is one of your priorities. This includes doing many things, such as maintaining a healthy diet. One other thing you can do is to do exercises.
When people think of reasons to do exercise, it is usually to lose weight or to keep their muscles well-toned. Rarely do they remember their heart. But if you want to keep your heart very healthy and limit your risks of heart problems, then you should engage in exercises that promote a healthy heart.Â
So today, we would be looking at some exercises that are good for the heart.Â
Aerobics
Aerobic exercises are exercises that increase your heart and breath rate when you engage in them. Such types of activities include running, jogging, cycling, jumping rope, and more. Another good thing about exercises like this is that they reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Ideally, you should aim for at least 30 minutes of such types of activities every day. Numerous medical studies have stated that aerobic exercises can immensely improve cardiovascular health.
Aerobic exercises, also called cardio, because of their impact on the heart, are easy to do because most of them do not require any equipment or tools to do them.Â
Flexibility Exercises
Another type of exercise to do is those that require you to stretch or be flexible. Although activities like this do not directly affect your heart health, they contribute to making your body fit as they get rid of tension around the joints, relieving you of joint pains and other issues that could affect your muscles or joints.
Another key thing about flexibility exercises is that it makes it easier for you to do your aerobic exercises as your body would be more fit and easy to move around.
One study found out that stretching or flexibility exercises can improve heart rate, and reduce arterial stiffness in middle-aged adults.
To do this, you can engage in Yoga or Tai Chi. You can also try stretching around the home or doing Pilates. Doing this every day would help to keep you fit.
Strength Training
This involves exercises or activities that require strength, like weight lifting, doing pushups, situps, using resistance bands, and so on.
Exercises like this usually require you to use all parts of your body, including your hands, legs, shoulders, belly, neck, and so on, meaning they have a more profound effect on the body.
For people who are fat, this can help them to lose bodyweight and also help the development of muscle mass, keeping them healthy.
Engaging in strength training activities can also help increase good cholesterol levels in the body and reduce bad cholesterol levels, effectively reducing the risk of stroke and other heart problems.Â
It is recommended that you engage in strength training activities for at least two straight days a week.Â
Note
In addition to these exercises, you should also pay attention to other things like your diet, reducing your intake of fat and other foods that would increase your bad cholesterol levels, eat more fruits and vegetables, maintain healthy habits such as getting regular sleep.Â
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Collins Nwokolo is a human physiologist, writer and health enthusiast. He loves writing helpful articles on health and fitness, which he enjoys sharing with everyone.
