Written By: Anusha Iyengar | Updated : September 27, 2015 11:41 AM IST
Regular exercise helps to keep heart diseases at bay and also maintain a healthy lifestyle. Not only for people who suffer from heart diseases even fit and healthy people should exercise to keep risk factors at its minimal. However, if you are currently suffering from a heart condition, check with your doctor about the type and duration of exercises you are allowed to do. In general, spending around 30 to 40 minutes a day doing activities like sprinting or brisk walking can save your heart from a crisis, even if you have no time to hit the gym.
Are you at risk of suffering from heart disease?
If you are at a high risk of suffering from heart disease, it's high time you started exercising. According to Paul Vodak, author of Exercising for a healthy heart[1], exercising reduces stress. Stress increases you anxiety levels and muscular tension which in turn has an effect on blood circulation and functions of the heart. Due to stress, the body releases certain hormones like cortisol and adrenaline which can induce cholesterol deposition in the arteries and damage the heart vessels.
While a lot of people take medications, exercising helps reduce stress in a better manner. Apart from stress, there are a lot of other reasons too, that can trigger heart diseases like family history, age, diabetes, etc., which can also be taken care of with exercise. Read: Which of these 12 risk factors of heart disease do you have?
Fit enough
Here are a few things you can do get fit without hitting the gym:
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References:
1. Vodak, P. (2005). Exercising for a Healthy Heart. Orient Paperbacks.
