Strengthen your heart with physical activity

Keeping physically active is important for your heart and overall health

Living with a heart condition doesn't mean saying goodbye to an active life. Doing regular physical activity is very beneficial for people living with a heart condition, and can be achieved by slowly building physical activity into your daily routine.

Regular activity strengthens your heart and its ability to pump blood efficiently throughout your body. It can also help manage your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and your weight.

Leading a physically active life also improves your mood, general wellbeing, concentration and alertness. It can help to reduce stress, the risk of depression, and helps to manage depression too.

Tips for being physically active

• Find what you enjoy: take some time to try a few different types of physcial activity until you find what you like. This will make staying active fun. You might try walking, swimming, golf, dancing, or going to the gym.
• Make it a social activity: ask friends or family to join in with you and keep each other accountable. Join a sporting team, contact your local council to find out about free activities, or join a local Heart Foundation Walking group.
• Keep improving: set small realistic goals to help motivate you to gradually improve your strength and fitness. Remember to celebrate your achievements along the way!

How much physical activity should you do?

If you had a heart event or diagnosis recently, follow your doctor’s advice and gradually build up your activity.

Most people should be aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week, like a brisk walk, mowing the lawn or swimming. This means reaching about 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week. Aim to include two days of muscle strengthening exercises such as light weights, resistance bands or yoga.

The Heart Foundation offers a free online Personal Walking Plan that can help you achieve these targets, with supportive instructional videos for strength and flexibility exercises.

Everyone is different. If this doesn’t sound like something you can take on just yet, start by breaking up the time into small 10-minute bouts of movement.

Be aware of your body and take note of how you feel when you are doing any type of physical activity. If you experience discomfort, stop immediately and seek medical attention. Symptoms to look out for include:

• chest pain
• feeling faint
• difficulty breathing
• your heart beating irregularly or too fast.

It is also important to speak to a healthcare professional if you experience pain elsewhere in your body or you get very tired, dizzy or puffed. Read up on the Warning signs of a heart attack action plan to know what to do if this happens.

Start at level that is a comfortable for you. Your doctor or other healthcare professional will be able to give you a guide on how to start safely.