How Does Exercise Help Prevent Heart Disease?

How does exercise help prevent heart disease? In conjunction with a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle choices, exercise will not only help prevent heart disease, but it will allow the heart muscle, as well as the entire cardiovascular system, to thrive. Even for people who have already experienced a heart attack, regular physical activity will reduce the risk of future problems.

Exercise helps prevent heart disease and improves heart health by lowering blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. Physical activity, even something as simple as walking or swimming, stimulates circulation and strengthens the heart. This encourages a healthy flow of oxygenated blood through the body. It also promotes the transfer of LDL cholesterol to the liver, to be converted into bile and eventually eliminated from the body. This helps minimize the build-up of cholesterol on artery walls, preventing hardened, narrow pathways which are difficult for blood to flow through. Through encouraging a fluid movement of oxygen-rich blood, exercise is one of the most powerful methods of preventing heart disease.

Both high blood pressure and high cholesterol are major risk factors for heart disease. Regular physical activity also helps reduce other risk factors, such as high triglyceride levels and obesity. High levels of triglycerides in the blood, which are the result of eating too many hydrogenated oils found in processed foods, make it difficult to prevent heart disease. Being overweight is directly linked to coronary artery disease.

Along with the physical benefits of exercising to help to prevent heart disease, working out regularly also improves mental well-being. It reduces stress, improves sleep patterns and encourages a positive outlook on life. This will in turn lower blood pressure levels, and have an indirect, yet powerful, impact on overall well-being.

Heart disease is not inevitable, not even for people with a history of the condition. Using exercise to help prevent heart disease is a way to take control of your health and your life. 

Resources:

Web MD

 The American Heart Association