ABOUT YOUR HEART AND EXERCISE

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TweetAbout Your Heart and Exercise
Lack of physical activity is a risk factor for heart disease. That’s why it’s important to realize that not only is exercise fun, it’s good for your health.

Exercise is more than jumping jacks and deep knee bends — it includes any physical activity from roller skating to dancing. And if you’re fit, you can exercise longer and with less effort than a person who is not in good condition. Exercise also may be an effective outlet for tension and stress.

Exercise helps you feel better, look good, and can improve your overall sense of well being. It can increase your physical strength and stamina. Proper exercise also can improve your circulation and the performance of your heart and lungs.


Your Heart and Blood Vessels

Your heart is a very strong muscle that pumps blood through miles and miles of blood vessels to every part of your body. Blood vessels are normally soft, elastic tubes that stretch or expand to make room for the blood to flow through them.

The three main types of blood vessels are arteries, veins and capillaries. Some of your arteries and veins are as big around as your thumb, and some are too small to see. Capillaries, the smallest blood vessels of all, are smaller than a single hair.

These three types of blood vessels form a continuous network of tubes that act together to conduct blood to the body’s tissues and to return that blood to the heart. The arteries carry oxygen and nutrient-rich blood away from the heart to all parts of the body. They branch into smaller and smaller arteries that lead into the capillaries. These very small, one-cell-thick vessels allow oxygen and other nutrients carried by the blood to move out of the bloodstream and into the nearby cells. At the same time, waste products including carbon dioxide enter the capillaries.

From the capillaries, blood flows into the veins, which merge into larger and larger veins as they return the blood to the heart. This blood is partially deoxygenated — that is, much of its original supply of oxygen has moved into the body’s cells. This blood enters the right side of the heart and is then pumped to the lungs where it is reoxygenated, or resupplied with oxygen. After returning to the left side of the heart, the oxygenated blood is again pumped out to the body.

Your heart, together with the arteries, capillaries and veins, make up the cardiovascular system.


Increase Cardiovascular Fitness

Your heart, like any other muscle in your body, gets stronger with regular exercise. The right kind of exercise increases cardiovascular fitness by improving blood circulation throughout your body. Cardiovascular fitness allows you to exercise vigorously for long periods of time with less tiring.

Exercise that promotes cardiovascular fitness improves your body’s circulation to help your heart, lungs and other organs work together more efficiently. Cardiovascular fitness also helps you meet physical and emotional demands more readily.

Cardiovascular fitness may help reduce the risk of heart disease. A strong heart does not have to work as hard to circulate the blood through the body because it can pump more efficiently with each beat. It’s impossible to prove you will live longer or never have a heart attack if you’re in good physical condition. But cardiovascular fitness helps you feel better and can improve the quality of your life.


Types of Exercise

Dynamic or aerobic activity involves large muscle groups engaged in rhythmic, repeated movements. Examples of aerobic activities include jogging, brisk walking, swimming, bicycling and jumping rope. Such endurance type of activities depend mainly on energy derived from the consumption of oxygen (aerobic). Thus they increase the body’s need for oxygen. Because blood delivers oxygen to the body, aerobic activity challenges the heart and circulatory system to meet this increased need.

One way to demonstrate changes in cardiovascular activity and oxygen consumption is to measure your pulse rate (number of times your heart beats per minute) before, during and after an activity. Aerobic exercise will increase your pulse, and the more intense the activity — that is, the more energy-demanding — the greater the increase in your pulse. When you stop exercising, your pulse does not immediately return to normal. Instead it gradually returns to its resting level. The greater your level of fitness, the more rapidly your pulse rate will fall.

A few sports such as racquetball, basketball and soccer can be considered aerobic exercises if you move continuously. Static exercise like weight lifting is important for overall fitness. Static exercise may help build muscle strength, but to help improve your cardiovascular system supplement it with a form of dynamic exercise.


Choose an Exercise Program

Once you decide to exercise regularly, consider a few factors to choose an exercise program.

Your health and physical capability are among the most important considerations. Choose activities in which you enjoy, you either have some skill and ability or you’re interested in learning. By concentrating on one activity, you will improve your skill and endurance more rapidly, and it will be easier for you to chart your progress.

Choose an exercise activity that is convenient for you. Your exercise program won’t continue long if it is a hassle to achieve. Individual sports such as jogging and bicycling are more convenient than sports that require other players, or special courts or facilities.

One of the most important factors in beginning an exercise program is to select the most convenient time for you to exercise. It is also important to follow a regular schedule so exercise becomes a habit.


Begin an Exercise Program

When you begin your exercise program, try to make a serious commitment to exercise a minimum of 30 minutes most days of the week.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting an exercise program is doing too much too soon. Too much exercise may later result in injury or painful muscle ache.

Each exercise session should include a warm-up, the dynamic exercise, and a cool-down period.

The warm-up of five minutes should consist of moderate activity that will gradually increase your heart and breathing rate. These prepare the body for vigorous activity by increasing respiration, circulation and body temperature. A warm-up will reduce the risk of injury during the exercise period.

After the warm-up, begin the dynamic exercise. Initially a period of 15-20 minutes is enough. Gradually increase the amount of exercise time as your physical stamina increases. You should exercise at a moderate, not exhaustive, intensity. Don’t push yourself until you are about to collapse. If you exercise regularly, you’ll be able to increase the intensity and duration of the exercise activity without becoming totally fatigued.

After the exercise period, allow your body about five minutes to cool down. Walk around and give your body time to readjust gradually. Don’t stand still or lie down immediately after exercising. Stretch at the end of your cool down to increase your flexibility and reduce soreness.

To help you establish a regular schedule for exercise, choose a realistic starting date, such as a Saturday, when you know you’ll have time to begin your program. Also, try to exercise at the same time each day so it becomes a regular part of your schedule. You might want to ask a friend to start the program with you.

Keep track of the days you exercise and record the distance and/or duration of each exercise session. You also may want to make a notation about how you feel after each exercise session -- invigorated, fatigued, or uncomfortable. By keeping such an exercise diary, you can measure your progress.

If you miss a day because you are ill, the weather is bad, or you have to do something else, all you need to do is schedule a make-up workout on a day you are not already scheduled. Don’t try to double your exercise time during your next session.


Once You’ve Started —
Don’t Stop

Cardiovascular fitness is an ongoing process. It requires a lifetime commitment. So don’t stop. If you do, the benefits are rapidly lost. Exercise habits should be maintained year around, year after year.

Try different activities and schedules until you find the one that’s right for you. When you begin your exercise program, don’t expect dramatic overnight changes. Look for changes gradually over the next weeks and months. You’ll find that you have more energy and you’ll look and feel better. Plus, you’ll have the confidence to know you’re helping yourself become healthier.

The best time to start your fitness habit is now. If you begin exercising regularly while you’re younger, then it’s likely you will continue exercising as you get older.

Make cardiovascular fitness a lifetime commitment. Exercise, have good health and great fun.


Exercise and Weight Control

Exercise also can help control your weight. Your normal daily activities burn up a large number of calories. Exercise burns up calories, so, if you do not increase your dietary intake of calories and you participate in a regular exercise program, you can lose extra pounds or stay at your ideal weight.

The calorie use chart below will help you calculate the number of extra calories you burn off by engaging in a particular aerobic activity.


Calorie Use Chart

The figures below show the approximate calories spent by a 75-pound, 100-pound or 150-pound person doing a particular activity.

Calories used per hour for a person weighing: 75 lbs. 100 lbs. 150 lbs.
Bicycling, 6 mph 135 160 240
Bicycling, 12 mph 225 270 410
Jogging, 51/2 mph 365 440 660
Jogging, 7 mph 510 610 920
Jumping rope 415 500 750
Running in place 360 430 650
Running, 10 mph 710 850 1,280
Swimming, 25 yds./min. 155 185 275
Swimming, 50 yds./min. 270 325 500
Tennis singles 220 265 400
Walking, 2 mph 125 160 240
Walking, 3 mph 175 210 320
Walking, 41/2 mph 245 295 440


Determining Calorie Use

Referring to the Calorie Use Chart, determine how many calories you burn during exercise activity:


A. Activity:
Number of calories per hour x number of hours = calories

B. Activity:
Number of calories per hour x number of hours = calories

C. Activity:
Number of calories per hour x number of hours = calories

D. Activity:
Number of calories per hour x number of hours = calories

E. Activity:
Number of calories per hour x number of hours = calories



Exercise and Your Pulse Rate

Purpose:
To show how exercise affects your pulse rate.

Equipment:
Stopwatch

How To Take Your Pulse:
Place your first two fingers on the inside of your wrist just below your thumb. Count the number of beats for 10 seconds and multiply by six to determine your pulse rate (beats per minute).

Procedure:


Take the resting pulse rate of a student volunteer by counting the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds. Multiply that number by six and record it.


Have the student run in place for one minute.


When the student stops, immediately take the pulse rate again by counting heartbeats for 10 seconds. Multiply the number by six and record it.


Continue to take the pulse rate at two-minute intervals for 10 minutes. Record each rate. The rate will slowly decrease and reach the resting rate (the first pulse rate recorded) in approximately 10 minutes.


Activity:
Students can determine the effect of exercise on their pulse rates by performing the same procedure themselves.


My pulse rate before exercise was beats per minute.
My pulse rate immediately after exercise was beats per minute.
My pulse rate 10 minutes after exercise was beats per minute.



Exercise and Weight

Purpose:
To determine how extra weight affects your pulse rate.

Equipment:
One 15-lb. weight or two 7 1/2-16 lb. weights

Stopwatch Procedure:


Select two students of equal size and weight. Take each student’s pulse and records the rate.


Have one student walk back and forth across the room 10 times carrying 15 lbs. Then take the student’s pulse and record the rate.


Have the other student do the same amount of walking without the weight. Then take that student’s pulse and record the rate.


Compare the pulse rates to show how pulse is affected by extra weight.


Activity:


The pulse rate of the student carrying the extra weight was beats per minute before walking and beats per minute after walking.

The pulse rate of the student without the extra weight was beats per minute before walking and beats per minute after walking.

[mick-G]

TweetNice read!

[mick-G]

TweetNice read!