We all know that exercise can promote health, slow down the aging of the body and improve disease. However, it does not mean that if you are exercising, you can improve the disease. In fact, for different diseases, there is an appropriate “exercise prescription”. For people who have poor heart function and who get short of breath even when they move, should they exercise? How to exercise? When to exercise? And what should I pay attention to?
The principle of using exercise to improve the function of the heart is that, in addition to improving the function of the heart itself through proper exercise, the muscle activity of the trunk and limbs can be used to strengthen the quality of the muscles and increase the ability to use oxygen, so that the resistance and load on the heart can be indirectly reduced.In addition, since exercise increases the flow of blood and takes away inflammatory substances in the blood vessels, blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol will follow, making the heart easier and the person younger.
Exercise can improve heart health, how to do it more effectively?
For the elderly, the determinants of cardiorespiratory fitness training arrangements include frequency of exercise, intensity of exercise, type and mode of exercise, and duration of exercise.
1.Exercise frequency
People with better physical function, engage in moderate intensity exercise, the frequency of exercise is at least 3 to 5 days per week; people with poor physical function or illness, engage in lighter intensity exercise, the frequency of exercise needs to be more frequent, at least 5 to 7 days per week.
2.Exercise intensity
How is exercise intensity measured? When setting exercise intensity on the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale of 0 to 10, 5 to 6 is considered moderate intensity, 7 to 8 is high intensity, and the starting intensity for moderate exercise is “5”, while intense intensity cannot exceed “9”. However, for senior citizens with poor physical fitness or illness, it is recommended to start with a lighter exercise intensity of RPE 2 to 3 at the beginning of the exercise training, and gradually increase the exercise intensity as physical fitness improves after the exercise training.
3.Types and modes of exercise
The recommended forms of exercise have the following characteristics: aerobic system, rhythmic and symmetrical movements, repetitive and continuous movements, and exercises that use the large muscle groups of the body (such as the leg and foot muscle groups of the lower limbs) and can be maintained for a long period of time. Exercises such as brisk walking (brisk walking), jogging, stationary bicycling, swimming, aerobic dance, etc.
4.Duration of exercise
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends the following for exercise and physical activity in the elderly: In order to promote health, disease prevention and physical fitness improvement, the cumulative time spent in moderate intensity exercise should be 30-60 minutes per day, or more than 10 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, such as brisk walking 3 times for 10 minutes each time, the cumulative time spent in exercise should be 30 minutes, and the cumulative time spent in exercise should be 150-300 minutes per week. 150 to 300 minutes of exercise per week. When engaging in high-intensity exercise (or alternating between moderate-intensity and high-intensity exercise), the accumulated exercise time should be 20 to 30 minutes per day, and the accumulated exercise time should be 75 to 150 minutes per week.
The above exercise training, remember to follow three stages: the warm-up phase, training phase, and relaxation phase. The warm-up exercise and relaxation exercise time is 5 to 10 minutes.
5 health exercises for the heart
The lower limbs are the “second heart” of the human body, so doing more exercises for the lower limbs is helpful to the heart. In addition, according to my clinical observation, many people with poor heart, lung and stomach function have the phenomenon of hunchback. When the back is hunched, the nerves from the upper thoracic vertebrae to the heart, lungs and stomach are compressed, which indirectly affects the functions of the heart, lungs and stomach, so more back stretching exercises are helpful to improve the functions of the heart, lungs and stomach.
The following are five simple exercises to protect the heart:
1.The tiptoe jogging exercise invented by Toshiro Iketani, a famous Japanese doctor
Narrow your abdomen, relax your shoulders and arms completely, and sway back and forth naturally while standing on your tiptoes and jogging in place for 1 minute at a time.
Afterwards, swing your arms normally and walk in place for 30 seconds.
Repeat the above steps 3 times, once in the morning, once in the afternoon and once in the evening, keeping in mind that the exercise should be done 1 hour after meals.
2.Deep Squat
Both heels are shoulder-width apart (or slightly wider), both toes are spread 30 degrees outward, and the knees are squatting in the direction of both feet. Squat like a chair, buttocks back, back straight, try to squat until the thighs are parallel to the ground, and then slowly stand up straight.
With the correct squatting motion, the knees and lower back will not be sore. When you do a deep squat, your knees will be slightly above your toes when your body is naturally squatting. Do not deliberately require “knees must not exceed the toes”, because the pressure and tightness of the knees will be very large, but will hurt the knees.
For people with a bad heart, the number of squats should be measured, a squat 5 to 10, multiple times a day. People who are unstable can do squats with both hands holding a fixed object.
Doing squats can increase the lymphatic and blood circulation of the lower limbs, improve the strength of the leg muscles, which is very effective for lower limb edema and varicose veins.
3.Walking
Head up, eyes level, back straight, walk a straight line. Swing your arms when you move forward, the range of the arms swing is “three in front and four at the back”.
The arms should be pressed hard, the inner legs also pressed hard, while narrowing the abdomen and tightening the anus.
4.Back Stretching Exercise
Extend both arms straight forward, palms facing each other, step forward with your right foot, lift your left heel and land on your toes.
Raise both arms up, turn both palms outward, and tilt your head up slightly.
Return to the upright position and repeat the previous action with the left foot. Do this repeatedly 10 times.
When doing this movement, you can feel the muscles and bones of the back being stretched and stretched, improving the condition of the hunchback, and increasing the oxygen intake to the lungs, improving the function of the heart, lungs and stomach.
5.Spine swaying from side to side
Feet shoulder-width apart, both arms raised up to the sides of the body, arms bent, elbows slightly lower than the height of the shoulders. The upper body sways from side to side, back and forth 20 times.
This exercise can adjust the upper thoracic vertebrae scoliosis, so that the muscle ligaments on both sides of the spine relax, and improve the upper thoracic vertebrae heart, lung and stomach nerve compression problems.