Pumping Up Your Heart Health: Benefits of Exercise
Like every other muscle in your body, your heart becomes stronger and more efficient with exercise. As you work out, your heart contracts faster and more forcefully to increase circulation and send oxygenated blood to your muscles. Meanwhile, your muscles get better at extracting oxygen, taking some of the effort off your heart. The harder your muscles work, the more oxygen they need, and the more of a workout you give your heart. Over time, as your body and heart become stronger and more efficient, your heart won’t have to work as hard to pump blood.
There’s a reason doctors refer to a sedentary lifestyle as “the new smoking.” Lack of exercise is a strong risk factor for heart disease and other chronic, often life-threatening conditions. The good news is, starting a regular exercise regimen can turn that around, reducing your risk of developing these common conditions:
- Heart Attack. Inactive people are nearly twice as likely to develop heart disease as those who are physically active. Studies show regular exercise helps reduce the risk of coronary heart disease as much as 21 percent for men and 29 percent for women.
- Stroke. Exercise helps reduce the risk of AFib and lower high blood pressure, both risk factors for stroke. Active people have a 20 percent less chance of stroke than those with a sedentary lifestyle.
- AFib. A study cited by the American Heart Association demonstrated that the incidence of AFib was cut in half in people who exercised regularly with a short-term, high-intensity interval training regimen.
- Diabetes. Exercise can help stop or slow the progression of type 2 diabetes, a major risk factor for heart disease. Combined with dietary changes, exercise can even reverse the progression of prediabetes. Physical activity allows the mitochondria in your muscles to better process fuels to increase your body’s sensitivity to insulin, helping to keep blood sugar down.
Physiological Effects of Exercise on Your Heart
Your heart loves exercise. Regular physical activity has positive effects that build on each other and add up to better cardiovascular health, now and in the future. Here are seven ways in which exercise helps boost your cardiovascular health:
- Lower Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease. Regular exercise can help lower blood pressure or, better yet, keep you from developing high blood pressure in the first place. The more you strengthen your heart muscle, the more blood it can push out with each beat, enhancing circulation efficiency and reducing stress on the heart and surrounding arteries. - Improve Blood Flow
Regular exercise enhances blood flow in smaller blood vessels where dangerous deposits of plaque can accumulate. There is evidence that exercise can even lead to the creation of more physical connections between blood vessels so that blood can travel more efficiently. - Control Your Weight
Being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke and puts extra strain on your heart. Regular exercise helps you lose weight and then maintain a healthy weight. The lean muscle mass that replaces the fat you lose also burns calories more efficiently. - Reduce Inflammation
A marker for inflammation, high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood, may raise your risk for heart disease. Regular exercise helps reduce chronic inflammation, including in the arterial walls where plaque buildup occurs. - Improve Blood Lipid Balance
Many studies have linked regular exercise to improved lipid panel test results, with an increase in healthy HDL cholesterol and a decrease in levels of the “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. - Reduce Levels of the Stress Hormone Cortisol
A six-year study linked excess levels of cortisol with the risk of death from heart disease. Participants with the highest levels of cortisol at the beginning of the study were five times more likely to have died of heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular conditions at the end of the study. Exercise reduces cortisol levels, helping to ease stress even when you are at rest. - Improve Your Muscles’ Ability to Take in Oxygen
In addition to strengthening your muscles, exercise boosts their ability to draw oxygen from your blood. As a result, your heart doesn’t have to work as hard. Stronger muscles and a more efficient heart help improve workout efficiency. Over time, your heart performs better under stress, leaving you less winded during your workout and less tired afterward. A combination of aerobic activities and strength training is ideal for maintaining heart health.
How Much and How Often?
How much should you be working out? Shoot for a minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least five days a week. Do moderate weightlifting to tone muscles and build muscle endurance twice a week, making sure to cover all the major muscle groups.
Give Yourself an Exercise Bonus!
In addition to regular workouts, why not add a little more physical activity to your day? Little extras like these can really add up:
- Park your car at the far end of a parking lot so you can sneak in a few extra steps
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Take a walk during your lunch break
- Get a smart watch or wearable fitness tracker to count your steps. Try to aincrease the number of steps you take daily by 500 each week until you reach 10,000 steps per day
Curious About Your Fitness Level?
Even for those who already exercise regularly, it can be hard to know if you’re doing enough to protect your heart health. Luckily, there’s a newer metric that can tell you just that. Known as VO2 Max ("V̇" for volume, "O₂" for oxygen, and "max" for maximum), this test measures the maximum rate of oxygen consumption attainable during physical exertion. It’s a simple indicator of how well your lungs work, how efficiently your heart pushes blood to your muscles, and how effectively those muscles can extract and use the oxygen in that blood.
A “good” VO2 Max number varies by age, but a higher number typically means you’re in better shape, and studies have shown that a higher score is a strong predictor of longer life span. There’s also a strong correlation between VO2 Max and all-cause mortality, with one study showing that an increase in VO2 Max levels was linked to a 21% lower risk of death over 45 years of follow-up, even after adjusting for other risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and smoking.
Want to Learn Your VO2 Max? Schedule Your Study Today
At MarinHealth’s Cardiovascular Performance Center, our VO2 Max test is overseen by cardiologists, and every assessment is guided by an expert exercise physiologist. You’ll wear a heart rate monitor and a special medical mask, and we’ll take measurements as you exercise on your choice of a treadmill or stationary bike. Following the test, you’ll receive a thorough, personalized report detailing your results and recommendations.
Visit MyMarinHealth.org/VO2MAX or call 415-878-2910 to schedule your test.
