Exercise
Today's advanced technology promotes sedentary lifestyles. At work and during leisure time, few people engage in vigoruous physical activity. Staying active by maintaining your home environment, as well as participating in hobbies and sports such as golf and bowling are important, but not enough. More vigorous physical exercise is needed.
Increasing activity throughout the day is helpful when considering the accumulative benefits of exercise such as parking your car further away from your destination, walking the dog, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and hiding the television remote control. However, heart rate is typically not elevated long enough to derive the most benefit.
The most appropriate type of exercise to strengthen your heart is "aerobic" exercise in which the body uses oxygen to produce the energy needed for the activity. The exercise should be rhythmic in nature and use large muscle groups such as brisk walking, swimming, skating, rowing, cycling, cross country skiing, and running. Intensity of exercise should be enough to increase heart rate and breathing rate, and should be maintained for 20-60 minutes. To be beneficial, exercise must be performed on a regular basis for 3-5 days per week. Flexibility exercises and moderate intensity resistance training for muscular strength and endurance are also recommended.
Establishing a target heart rate range and monitoring your pulse is a method to assure adequate exercise. Generally, low-fit individuals can exercise approximately 20 beats above their resting heart rate. More fit individuals need to exercise at a higher target heart rate to improve or maintain fitness. Keep in mind that medications can affect heart rates.
A method to determine if you are doing enough exercise is to use the Borg Scale that rates perceived exertion:
| 6 | |
| 7 | (very, very light) |
| 8 | |
| 9 | (very light) |
| 10 | |
| 11 | (fairly light) |
| 12 | |
| 13 | (somewhat hard) |
| 14 | |
| 15 | (hard) |
| 16 | |
| 17 | (very hard) |
| 18 | |
| 19 | (very, very hard) |
| 20 |
After three minutes of allowing your body to adjust to your exercise workload, consider how difficult the exercise feels with respect to overall physical stress, effort, and fatigue. Exertion should not be assessed in terms of localized discomfort such as leg fatigue. Concentrate on your inner feeling of exertion and equate that with the descriptive words next to the numbers on the Borg Scale. You should be able to speak and carry on a conversation with someone. If your breathing is too hard and you are not able to comfortably speak, you may be doing too much work and should slow down. Achieving a rating of 11-14 on the Borg Scale should provide adequate exercise intensity.
Sample Program
Warm-up:
- 5-10 minutes slow to moderate aerobic activity
- 5-10 minutes stretching
Stimulus:
- 20-60 minutes moderate to vigorous exercise
Cool-down:
- 5-10 minutes moderate to slow aerobic activity
- 5-10 minutes stretching
Resistance training:
- 8-10 exercises, 1 set each
- 10-15 repetitions
Always talk to your doctor before embarking on an exercise program. Remember to begin slowly and ease into the program to give your body time to adjust and reduce muscular soreness. For example, in addition to the warm-up and cool-down, start walking with one block out and back, then add a block each day until you have reached your goal. If you miss a few days, reduce your level of exercise and gradually progress back to your previous level.
Benefits of Exercise
- Gives energy
- Tones muscles
- Helps heart and lungs work more efficiently
- Expends calories to lose or maintain weight
- Reduces stress and tension
- Improves confidence
- Increases HDL "good" cholesterol
- Improves blood pressure
- Slows down progression of heart disease
- Reduces anxiety and depression
- Strengthens bones
- Decreases blood glucose
- Improves ability to sleep
Special Considerations
Exercise should be performed in moderate temperatures. Avoid extreme cold, wind, heat, humidity, and days with precipitation. Climate controlled settings such as a mall or fitness center provide appropriate environments.
Avoid exercise for at least one hour after eating a large meal.
If you are diabetic, drink juice within 30 minutes before exercise and take some form of fast-acting sugar with you.
Stop exercise if you experience the following: chest, arm, back, shoulder, neck, or jaw discomfort/pain that occurs as exercise begins or right after you stop exercising; excessive shortness of breath; profuse sweating; lightheadedness or dizziness; heart irregularities; or nausea. Contact your doctor before resuming activities.
Include activities you enjoy. Exercise can provide quality time with a family member or friend. Pets love and need exercise, too.
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MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
This site provides materials for information and education only. It is not to be considered medical advice. LVCA encourages you to see your physician for any of the health issues discussed here. The field of medicine changes on a regular basis, therefore we do not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided on this site, nor do we guarantee that the information represents the most currently accepted standards.
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