Exercise and Your Heart

In addition to the benefits for your heart health, exercise:

• Improves mood and reduces depression by boosting “feel-good” hormones called endorphins.
• Promotes sleep.
• Improves sex drive.
• Keeps stress levels in check.
• Builds lean muscle mass, which helps you burn calories even when you’re not exercising.
• Improves balance and prevents falls, especially among older people.
• Lowers blood sugar levels, which helps reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Helps prevent osteoporosis and arthritis.
• Helps prevent some types of cancer, and may improve the body’s response to cancer treatments.
• May ward off dementia, or at least delay its onset.
• Can help you build a healthier lifestyle overall. Research shows that people who exercise regularly are less likely to smoke and tend to choose healthier food options.

Optimally, you should aim for at least 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity activity plus two sessions of muscle strength training per week, according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. For example, you could take a brisk 30-minute walk at least five times a week and do two sessions of weight lifting or Pilates. What’s moderate intensity? Use the talking—or breath—test: If you can easily carry on a conversation with full sentences, you’re not exerting enough effort.

Try increasing the intensity of your activity. If you’re walking, quicken your pace. If you’re doing a cardio workout, add some jumps. For strengthening, push yourself by adding more weight or more repetitions. Alternatively, you can aim for 75 minutes of high-intensity activity per week, plus two sessions of muscle strength training. Examples are running, high-impact aerobics and high-intensity interval training, called HIIT. When doing high-intensity exercise, you should be breathing hard such that you can only say a few words at a time.

If you’re new to exercise, it’s OK to start slowly with smaller amounts of time. Begin with shorter—but regular—sessions and work your way up. Remember, any amount of physical activity is better than none at all. If you have heart disease or another heart condition, check with your health care team before starting or intensifying your activities.