Are You Challenging Your Cardiovascular System?
You should be! Your heart is a muscle. By doing
exercise regularly you are giving your heart a work-out. This helps
your whole cardiovascular system as well as many other parts of your
body, including your spine. So, by exercising you are more likely to
have a healthy spine in the future, and also less likely to have
conditions such as asthma.
Some good rules for exercise are:
- Start slow: warm up your muscles slowly rather than
launching straight into heavy exercise, this helps prevent muscle
strains. When beginning a new type of exercise you will often be using
muscles you haven't used properly for a while, so ease into it, day by
day.
- Stretch before and after: stretch before any exercise to
prepare your joints for the movements they are about to undertake.
Stretch after exercise to help you muscles to release the by-products
of muscle work (e.g. lactic acid).
- Choose your exercise wisely: Choose an exercise that is
practical for your lifestyle and something you are likely to enjoy, so
that you are much more likely to continue it. Try to participate in
more than one sport or activity so that you can develop different
muscle groups and challenge the heart in different ways. If you're
going to play contact sports (such as rugby) or extreme sports (such as
snow-boarding) ensure you use the right technique and prepare yourself
fully for the activity.
- Half-hour per day: international recommendations encourage everyone to do at least 30-minutes of at-least moderate exercise each day.
The benefits of exercise are more than just weight loss.
Significantly challenging your cardiovascular system leads to a
decrease likelihood of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Depending
on the type of exercise, you will provide health benefits to your
bones, muscles and joints of your body. Also there is an inverse
relationship with cancers and mental health problems.
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