GIVE YOUR HEART SOME LOVING!

Since it is the month of love & World Heart Awareness month let us take time to look after our beating hearts! Being physically active is a major step toward good heart health. It's one of your most effective tools for strengthening the heart muscle, keeping your weight under control and warding off the artery damage from high cholesterol, high blood sugar and high blood pressure that can lead to heart attack or stroke. More importantly helping us live a long healthy life!

Aerobic Exercise

What it does: It improves circulation, which results in lowered blood pressure and heart rate. It also increases your overall aerobic fitness and it helps your cardiac output (how well your heart pumps). Aerobic exercise also reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and if you already live with diabetes, helps you control your blood glucose.

How much: Ideally, 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

Examples: Brisk walking, running, cycling, swimming, cycling, playing tennis and jumping rope. Anything that gets your heart pumping.

Resistance Training (Strength Work)

What it does: Resistance training has a more specific effect on body composition. For people who are carrying a lot of body fat (including a big belly, which is a risk factor for heart disease), it can help reduce fat and create leaner muscle mass. Research shows that a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance work may help raise HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.

How much: At least 2 nonconsecutive days per week, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

Examples: Working out with free weights (such as hand weights, dumbbells or barbells), on weight machines, with resistance bands or through body-resistance exercises, such as push-ups, squats and chin-ups.

For more advice on how to go about starting out an effective exercise plan or to help achieve your exercises goals correctly, please reach out to us.