Exercise for Heart Health

There are no surprises here, exercise is healthy for our bodies.  Every organ system benefits from movement... our brain and nervous system, our lungs, joints and muscles, lymphatic drainage and more.  But since February is American Heart Month, let’s spend a moment and look at some fun facts about heart health and exercise.

• Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.
• Your heart pumps about 1.5 gallons of blood every minute.
• There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body
• Most heart attacks happen on Monday (eek!) 

A combination of aerobic and resistance training has been long known to help maintain and normalize blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels. But did you know that exercise can help reduce inflammation throughout the body which can be a contributor to heart disease? Exercise also lowers your risk of obesity and diabetes which science shows is tied closely to heart disease! According to John Hopkins Medicine as published at Hopkinsmedicine.org here are some additional benefits of exercise:

• Improves the muscles’ ability to pull oxygen out of the blood, reducing the need for the heart to pump more blood to the muscles.
• Reduces stress hormones that can put an extra burden on the heart.
• Works like a beta blocker to slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure.
• Increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol and helps control triglycerides.​
• One more heart benefit to exercising if you're having fun - laughter. Laughing reduces stress which is bad for your heart.  As a bonus, laughter also gives a boost to your immune system!
  

​If you haven't had your 30 minutes of exercise yet, it's not too late, get out there! You can do it! Come join me at 43 Degrees North Gym for a great workout, or meet a friend at your local gym, park or recreation center!

---