Cardio Exercise: good for more than your heart
Want to lose weight, improve your mood, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, enjoy a better night’s sleep, and keep your mind sharp as you get older? Then lace on your sneakers and get active, because the cardiovascular activity is essential for both physical and mental well-being. Cardiovascular exercise is described as any physical activity that increases the heart rate and improves the function of your heart, lungs, and circulatory system, whether that is assimilated into a weight-lifting sesh as short spurts between workouts or as a stand-alone exercising on the treadmill, elliptical, or stair climber.

For a cardio session to be effective, your chosen exercise must maintain your heart rate high for a set amount of time, usually 30 to 60 minutes. Cardiovascular workouts that target the big muscles of your body whilst raising your heart rate include running, rowing, cycling, and boot-camp-style sessions.
When it comes to cardio, we have a couple of options: As per the American College of Sports Medicine, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) combines short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by intervals of lower-intensity exercise.

Low-intensity steady-state (LISS) cardio, on the other hand, focuses on conducting aerobic workouts at a low-to-moderate intensity (50 to 65 % of maximum heart rate) over an extended length of time.

How much Cardio should one do?

The quantity of cardio you perform will be determined by a number of things, like your goals, current health, and the amount of time you have to exercise.

Grown-ups should be doing at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity (30 to 60 minutes, five days a week) or 75 minutes to 150 minutes of high-intensity aerobic physical activity (15 to 30 minutes, five days a week) or an equivalent combination of both, according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

If weight loss is your primary goal, it is recommended that you go over and beyond these minimum standards, looking for 45 to 60 minutes of exercise five days a week, in addition to a nutritious, low-calorie diet.

To avoid fatigue or injury, beginners should start carefully with 2 to 3 aerobic workouts per week. Alternatively, you may try including 10-minute bursts of exercise (such as walking) into your regular routine and see how quickly the minutes mount up.

 

Take precautions.

Before beginning an exercise regimen, it is suggested that you consult with your doctor. Check to see if you have any limits. Diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, arthritis, lung diseases, and other medical disorders may necessitate additional exercise safety precautions.

Note: If you have symptoms such as unusual shortness of breath, chest tightness, chest, shoulder, or jaw discomfort, lightheadedness, dizziness, confusion, or joint pain while exercising, you should stop immediately and consult your physician.

Exercise and heart rate

Your heart rate rises in direct proportion to the intensity of your workout. Based on fitness level, heredity, environment, and exercise tolerance, heart rate levels might differ dramatically from one person to the next. If you want to workout based on your heart rate, talk to your doctor to find out what the right limit is for you. Heart rate is controlled by some medications, most commonly blood pressure medications, making it hard to measure training intensity in this way. Check with your doctor to see whether you’re taking any of these meds.

Warm-ups and cool-downs

A warm-up and cool-down should be included in every aerobic exercise session. Warming up should not consist of static stretching, but rather a steady increase in the tempo and intensity of the exercise. This helps the body to improve blood flow to muscles, reducing the risk of injury to the muscles or joints. Warm-up for 5 to 10 minutes is recommended. The cool-down session should take about the same length of time as the warm-up, but at a slower pace. After an aerobic workout, stretching exercises are recommended.

Aerobic exercise progression

Individual exercise tolerance should be used to guide progress to the maximum intensity of exercise. There are three ways to increase your aerobic fitness:

?Accelerate the process.
?Intensify your resistance.
?Increase the time limit.

Aerobic fitness can be improved by any of these approaches, or a combination of them. Gradually increasing intensity is recommended. You should only put yourself to the test for a few minutes at a time.

 

What are some aerobic workout examples?

Aerobic exercise with a lower impact includes:

?Swimming.
?Cycling.
?Using an elliptical machine as a kind of exercise.
?Walking.
?Rowing.

Aerobic exercise with a higher impact includes:

?Running.
?Jumping rope is a fun activity.
?High-intensity workouts or step aerobics.

 

BENEFITS FOR THE BODY

1.Preventing Cardio-vascular disease

Aerobic exercise is necessary for maintaining the health of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Aerobic activity can aid in the prevention of heart disease and lower the risk of mortality from it.

2. Keeping a Healthy Weight

If someone wants to lose weight, they must expend more calories that they ingest, leading to a calorie deficit diet.

When you work out aerobically, your body burns calories for energy. It’s a terrific technique to get your body into a calorie deficit and lose weight. Most people, however, will need to lower their calorie intake in order to achieve a caloric deficit.

3. Keeping blood sugar levels in check

Controlling blood sugar levels is crucial for minimising the risk of developing diabetes. Keeping blood sugar levels within a reasonable range is critical for people with diabetes. Blood arteries can be damaged by high blood sugar, which can contribute to heart disease.
Glucose from the blood is also used by the muscles during exercise. Exercise helps to maintain blood sugar levels from rising excessively high in this way.

4. Blood pressure reduction

Blood arteries and the heart are both stressed by high blood pressure. This can have major effects over time, such as an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

5. Prolonging life expectancy

Aerobic exercise provides a wide range of health benefits, allowing people to live longer. Irrespective of the intensity of the activity, higher levels of cardiovascular exercise lessen the chance of death.

6. Improving physical performance

The ability to carry out daily duties is critical for sustaining independence and well-being. Aerobic exercise increases a person’s physical capacities, which are important for daily functioning. Physical fitness also aids in the prevention of falls and the injuries that follow from them.

BENEFITS FOR THE MIND

1. Lowering the chance of dementia

One of the most effective ways of preventing Alzheimer’s disease, the most frequent form of dementia, is to engage in regular aerobic exercise.

People who engage in more physical activity had a lower chance of cognitive dysfunction, according to research.

 

2. Assisting with sadness and anxiety symptoms

Aerobic exercise has been shown to improve symptoms in persons with anxiety and depression in several clinical investigations. Aerobic exercise promotes physical fitness, which may assist to prevent anxiety and depression disorders from developing.

3. Improving the health of the brain

Many biochemical mechanisms that aid brain function are triggered by aerobic exercise.
?Help the brain modulate stress responses by increasing the size and function of important brain regions including the hippocampus
?Reduce inflammation and boost resilience to oxidative damage

These changes are expected to contribute to the psychological health and cognition benefits of exercise.