Exercise is good for cardiovascular health. As age catches up, a form of exercise does help one negate the occurrence of heart attacks. Apart from lowering blood pressure, it increases high-density lipoprotein (or good cholesterol), reduces stress, and improves your heart’s ability to pump more blood into your muscles by efficiently transferring oxygen out of the blood.
Every form of exercise is also beneficial to help improve cardiovascular health, staying active overall is a good way to maintain a healthy heart and avoid heart-related diseases. However, if you are not fond of sweating it out with cardio workouts, here are many low-intensity and low-impact exercises that will help you improve the quality of heart health.
Strength training
While it might be slower in pace and not perceived as a cardio workout, performing at the right intensity can help elevate the heart rate. “Furthermore, resistance training can help increase lean muscle mass which is beneficial to decrease the chances of chronic conditions," says Spoorthi, Fitness Expert, Cult.fit.
Yoga / Pilates
“Pilates is a great form of exercise for heart because it helps in decreasing physical exertion and emotional stress, and through improved metabolic function. If someone is suffering from heart diseases and is advised to avoid heavy exercises, pilates can be adapted for strengthening of your body and health overall," says Diksha Chhabra, Pilates expert and Founder of Diksha Chhabra Fitness Consultations.
Yoga and pilates improve overall health and wellbeing while focusing on breath, flexibility, and balance. Research says that beyond off-loading stress, practicing yoga may help lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose levels, as well as heart rate, making it a useful lifestyle intervention.
Walking
It is probably the most easy and simple exercise to do, but also very effective. Walking can be done anywhere and anytime, and at the pace that you wish to. “Other ways to make your walks more challenging are by walking with some weights in hand, adding more distance every time you go for a walk or even adding short jogs in between," adds Sporthi.
Play a sport
When you play a sport that you like, you are sure to have fun while you are at it and also not overexert yourself. Most sports demand rapid movements and this can in turn elevate the heart rate when done for a duration of time. It can be a fun but effective approach to cardio-based workouts.
Just be active all day
While all the above workouts, including cardio exercises, can be beneficial to improve heart health, nothing beats the perks of staying active throughout the day. This helps increase NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) which further increases ones’ energy expenditure. This can include, walking, playing a sport, doing household chores, or just switching options such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
You can also build a regime with all the above workout formats to have a holistic approach towards bettering your heart function, without adding a lot of running and/or cycling. “A healthy heart and a healthy body are important – even more so as we grow older and want to maintain independence, strength, and optimum health and vitality," signs off Chhabra.
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