How to Use Exercise to Treat Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number-one health problem in America. A staggering number of Americans are overweight and suffer from heart disease. It is important to eat well and get plenty of exercise to treat and prevent this serious condition.

Things You'll Need

• Workout clothes

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Instructions

Exercise Regularly to Treat Heart Disease

• 1

  Combine an exercise program with a healthy diet of heart smart foods to treat and manage heart disease.

• 2

  Get plenty of cardiovascular exercise. A cardio workout is one of the best things you can do for your heart.

• 3

  Understand that the heart is a muscle, and like any muscle it needs regular exercise in order to be strong and healthy.

• 4

  Start out easy. If you have heart disease or haven't worked out in years, don't jump right into an intense cardio workout program. You can actually hurt your heart like this. Start out getting in shape by taking long, moderate to brisk walks several times a week. After a few weeks of low intensity workout, you can increase duration and intensity.

• 5

  Move on to a regimented cardio program. You can jog, swim, bike, row or use any of the cardio equipment at your local gym. Work into it gradually. Three to four times per week for 30 to 45 minutes each is a good beginner's exercise program for use in treating heart disease.

• 6

  Raise your heart rate to its target zone and keep it there for fat burning and heart training. LIVESTRONG.COM provides a free online target heart rate calculator you can use (see Resources below).

• 7

  Increase the intensity, duration and frequency of your cardio workouts as you get in better shape. As you progress and strengthen your heart, you can increase workouts to 60 minutes as many as five times per week.

• 8

  Lose weight. This is diet, exercise and heart health wisdom put most simply. The reason exercise and diet is so important in heart health is that it keeps off weight. Excess body weight is culprit behind diabetes, hypertension, stroke and heart disease. Lose weight and keep it off for a longer, healthier life.