According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 in 4 American adults are not getting the recommended amount of physical activity. So, if You Want to Keep Your Heart and Brain Young, you have to become physically active.
Even more serious thing is that there is no physical activity of most of the adults are not at all, apart from what they need to make it through the day. And as time passes, many of us will no longer to move themselves. Almost 23% of adults from age 18 to 44 and 32% of those who are 65 or above become sedentary.
Well, as you know that if you become inactive for longer your bones and muscles will become weak, but do you know that it can affect your heart and brain too? Long-term inactivity raises your odds of dementia and it can also causes heart disease among other conditions which may become the reason for early death.
Research shows that exercise can make your organs. And if you are regularly working up a sweat for about number of years then obviously you are doing the best.
Kevin Bohnsack MD, who is a family medicine physician at Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in Ann Arbor Michigan, says that it is important for you to think about ways of keep moving. Moreover, he also added, your sedentary lifestyle, cardiac and cognitive problems can also be solved depending on everything that increases your overall activity.
How exercise helps you dealing with heart problems?
When you start progressing through middle age, your heart begins to weaken gradually. The walls of your heart get thicker and less flexible. Your arteries become stiffer. This causes the risk of high blood pressure and other heart diseases which may include heart attack and heart failure.
Exercise will help your heart to beat faster, increase blood circulation and your body will get necessary oxygen. Your heart gets stronger if you do more workout rather than your sedentary lifestyle. As you blood vessels become more elastic with physical activities, it will also help you to maintain a lower blood pressure and lessens the chances of many cardiovascular problems.
If You Want to Keep Your Heart and Brain Young, the cardio or aerobic exercise really does the trick. According to research, doing consistent, long-term or vigorous cardio activity promotes good heart health. Anything that builds up the heart rate can save you from many cardiovascular diseases, says Dr. Bohnsack.
Exercise helps with:
- A reduction in bad cholesterol and increase in good cholesterol
- Maintaining your weight
- A reduction in inflammation
- Avoiding obesity
No matter what’s your age is, exercise helps in boosting your heart health. In a small research study, published in March 2018, in the journal Circulation, mentioned a high intensity exercise training that was performed by 28 men of middle age, completed in two years. Scientists have found the reduce of cardiac stiffness in them. Furthermore, the capacity for oxygen use in their bodies have also been increased due to which the risk of heart failure is reduced.
In August 2018, another study has been published in Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers handed over the heart rate and movement sensors to 1600 British volunteers. The ages of those volunteers were between 60 to 64. Right after five days, researchers found that there are less indicators of heart disease in the blood of those volunteers who are more active.
How exercise helps you dealing with your brain problems?
What’s good for your heart is good for your mind too. Research shows that a regular sweat will boost your brain health in several ways.
Exercise will helps you in improving cognition. In this way a person will have a better memory and will more likely to control his/her emotions. It can boost up your brain speed to process the information. Further, the capacity to react or conclude the process from your past knowledge and experiences will also increase.
There is a direct link of physical activities with the age-related brain issues where a person gradually lose his/her focus, thinking and memory skills.
In 2017, a review on The Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences found that physical activity lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
How does exercise do all this?
According to scientists, working out will improve the blood flow. Moreover, it will also deliver oxygen to the brain so that it funtions better. Experts believe that physical activity stimulates chemical activity in the brain that contributes ti better recognition.
When to start?
No matter what’s your age is, we all can gain from exercise. If you do work out, it will benefits you in several ways in addition to its rewards for the heart and brain.
- Exercise will boost your mood and energy
- Physical activites will make you remain independent
- Working out helps in the prevention of injuries
- Other diseases with aging, like arthritis will also be reduced
Remember, it is better to have a short walk than doing nothing. Taking a few steps a day is as beneficial as if you joined a gym. To start, you can do simple moves like squats or park your vehicle away from your office so that you can have a few extra steps.
So, whatever you do, planting yourself with daily exsercise routine is worth for your brain and heart health.