As almost unarguably the most vital muscle of the body, it’s always important to give our hearts some extra tender love and care! Thankfully, like every muscle, we can easily make it stronger with the right kind of lifestyle, and there’s a big variety of ways to do so! Here are three “easy” things you can look into to help yourself stay at peak health and peak heart health!
1) Moderate intensity exercise for about 60 minutes per day, at least 3 days per week! Moderate intensity exercise is a level of exercise that increases our heart rate well above baseline, but without pushing ourselves so hard we cannot pass what many trainers affectionately refer to as the “talk test” (can you still hold a conversation during your exercise). This usually include thins like cycling, steady state jogging, stair climbing, and rowing. For beginning exercisers, this may include walking, but you will often find that your heart rate will not elevate very far past your average, which means you’ll have to do more to provide that challenge relatively quickly!
2) Vigorous intensity exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, at least 3 days per week also serves as a more efficient way to get in the appropriate amount of exercise! This higher intensity means that you should usually be on the other side of the talk test. By this I mean you should feel like you cannot hold a conversation during your chosen style of exercise. Certain types of dance, martial arts, sprints, and swimming often fall into this category. And because of the higher load on our system, we don’t need to do quite as much to get the job done!
3) Appropriate nutrition is still vital regardless of type of exercise. There is a popular truism in the healthcare world that you cannot out exercise a bad diet. Ensuring that you have not overdone the sweets and calorically dense foods and making sure you are getting adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals, oils, vegetables, proteins, and high quality carbohydrates is absolutely paramount to maintaining a healthy system and heart!
While all of this sounds simple, it is always a good idea to talk to your doctor before starting any sort of program. Keep an eye on your current health with an expert to make sure you are doing what is best for your heart health!
