Fit for the year – you need so much exercise for a healthy heart

The heart is the most important organ without which we would not be able to live. Every day it pumps up to 7000 liters of blood and thus oxygen and nutrients through the entire body without a break – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, throughout life.

There are a number of things we can and should do to support the heart in its work. After all, cardiovascular diseases are among the most common diseases worldwide. In Germany, too, they are the number one cause of death. According to the health insurance company AOK, 340,000 people die from it every year. So a good resolution this year could be to move more – simply and solely for the heart. Because: Even a brisk walk of ten minutes a day reduces the personal risk of cardiovascular diseases 20 percent .

Exercise optimizes the cardiovascular system

The positive effect of exercise on the heart is now well established. Even heart patients should integrate regular endurance units into their everyday life to support further therapy measures. However, if you have previous illnesses or are overweight, do the following first:

• one performance diagnostics to determine the maximum heart rate and
• one cardiac ultrasound examination.

Ideally, the first training for high-risk patients also takes place under medical supervision. “Heart patients should discuss their resilience with their doctor beforehand. This also applies to people without illness after a long break without sporting activity,” emphasizes cardiologist Bernhard Schwaab, board member of the German Heart Foundation and chief physician of the Curschmann Clinic on Timmendorfer Strand.

The positive effects of exercise on the cardiovascular system can be seen on several levels. Endurance units …

• dilate the blood vessels and make them elastic,
• blood flow and strengthen the heart muscle,
• make the heart pump more blood per heartbeat
• lower heart rate and blood pressure – at rest as well as under stress and
• blood flow through the organs, which supports them in their functionality.

A trained heart works much more economically, and the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart failure decreases.

How much exercise should there be?

Schwaab recommends an activity level of 150 to 300 minutes per week . Incidentally, this corresponds to recommendations the World Health Organization (WHO). As Schwaab explains, the movements should persistent and moderately strenuous being. The following sports meet the criteria:

• brisk walking or Nordic walking
• To go biking
• To swim
• ergometer training
• To dance

By the way: If you prefer shorter and therefore more intensive training, you can do that too. apply here 75 to 150 minutes per week as a good guide, but the movement should be clear a more strenuous and endurance-oriented being. The following sports meet the criteria:

• Jog
• fast cycling
• fast swim

Alternatively, both variants can be combined. Slowly increase your endurance and get your body and heart used to the movement in small steps. For beginners, a training duration of ten to 30 minutes in the first few weeks can be completely sufficient. Then the length and only later the intensity of the units can be slowly increased.

Integrate strength training

It is also important to do endurance training two days a week with a light weight training combined to strengthen the muscles. These include:

• easy dumbbell workout
• functional gymnastic exercises (e.g. muscle strengthening, stretching or relaxation exercises)

people over 65 years of age should on three days the week additionally Balance and coordination exercises integrate. They are used to prevent falls.

Integrating exercise into everyday life – this is how it works

In addition to the actual training, the activity level can also be increased in everyday life. In this case, it is important to establish and maintain new, positive routines. “That’s usually difficult,” Schwaab knows and recommends: “It’s often helpful to set up fixed anchor points in your living environment and to look for fellow campaigners: regular running, walking or heart groups in a club, cooking together with the family several times or with friends at home and, for smokers, exchanging views with ex-smokers in the self-help group.”

Ideas for more movement in everyday life are:

• cycling to work/shopping
• get off one station earlier
• to use the lunch break for a walk,
• park the car further away
• Stairs always preferable to elevator or
• meet to go for a walk

“It is best to make your everyday life as active as possible by incorporating short walks into the day, riding your bike to the office or to go shopping instead of taking the car or e-scooter, climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, watching the exciting film on watching on the home trainer in the evening or making phone calls while standing,” advises Schwaab.

Regular exercise – not just good for the heart

Regular exercise not only ensures a healthy heart, but also brings numerous other benefits for body and soul. These include:

• stress relief
• reduction of excess weight
• reduced risk of diabetes, cancer (colon or breast) and depression
• Protection against arteriosclerosis (vascular calcification)
• Stimulant of cell renewal
• Stimulating brain activity, increasing concentration
• Optimization of metabolic processes

If those aren’t enough reasons to finally make your resolutions a reality this year.