In a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers associated exercising in the morning to be more beneficial to your heart and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke compared to working out at other times of the day.
If you can fit workouts in earlier in the day, make the switch. However, what's important is that you do exercise and enjoy its many health benefits -- whenever you can. Don't worry about changing the time of day you do physical activity if what you’re currently doing flows well with your daily routine and lifestyle.
Here are some of the best exercises and regular physical activities that provide you with heart health benefits:
Warming-up exercises
Dr. Lee Kaplan, director of the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute, explains that a warming-up exercise gets your body prepared for the activity you are about to engage in.
It gets the heart pumping blood to your muscles, gradually increases your breathing toward the rate you will be exercising and gets your body’s systems ‘ready’ to go. Warm-ups, such as arm lifts, arm circles, bending, leg lifts and marching in place, to name a few, are also recommended before static stretching takes place.
Stretching exercises
Kaplan explains that proper stretching helps elongate your muscles and increase your range of motion. More importantly, stretching can help prevent injury – especially as you age – and you don’t have to spend a lot of time on stretching exercises. Stretching is beneficial, even if you don't have time for a workout.
Try to stretch every day with these exercises for better results:
- Biceps stretch
- Chest and shoulder stretch
- Quad stretch
- Seated side stretch
- Shoulder stretch
- Standing hamstring stretch
- Triceps stretch
- Upper back stretch
Aerobic exercises
Aerobic exercises are activities that make your heart beat faster and increase your breathing rate more than rest – pumping oxygenated blood to your working muscles.
Over time, regular aerobic exercises strengthen your heart and lungs – making them work more efficiently.
Here are examples many enjoy doing:
- Bicycling
- Dancing
- Hiking
- Jumping jacks
- Jumping rope
- Playing sports
- Running
- Stair climbing
- Swimming
- Walking
Strength training
Strength training includes exercises tailored to specifically increase muscle strength through resistance training. Resistance can be in the form of weights, resistance bands, or through your own body weight with movements like:
- Dips
- Lunges
- Pull-ups
- Push-ups
- Squats
- Step-ups
How long should you exercise and how often?
Adults should participate in one of the following physical activity durations each week in order to promote optimal heart health and lower the risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.
- 150 minutes of light-to-moderate intensity physical activity
- 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity
- An equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous physical activity
Here are some examples:
- Light intensity: cooking, light housework and walking slowly
- Moderate intensity: active yoga, bicycling ( 5-9 miles per hour), brisk walking (2.4-4.0 miles per hour), dancing, gardening, raking leaves, recreational swimming and vacuuming
- Vigorous intensity: aerobics, bicycling (more than 10 miles per hour), hiking, jogging, jumping rope, running, shoveling snow, stair climbing, swimming laps and weight lifting
Exercise precautions
Sedentary individuals should always start off slowly and gradually increase exercise intensity, duration and frequency over time. If you quickly get short of breath, have a heart condition, or have high blood pressure, your healthcare provider may give you specific safety guidelines to follow.
For most adults without significant heart, lung, blood vessel, muscle, or joint problems, walking at an average pace of 3 miles per hour is generally a safe and effective way to add moderate-intensity physical activity to your day.
Being active when you have heart disease
When you have a heart condition, your doctor may recommend that you start with lower intensity and shorter duration physical activities to allow your heart time to get stronger and build up the capability to support the cardiovascular demands of exercising.
Your physician may also recommend keeping your heart rate within a target range and discontinuing exercise of your physical activity if your heart rate exceeds a certain limit to protect your heart and prevent damage from cardiac overload.
While doing exercise in the morning may have more health benefits, doing it regularly and CONSISTENTLY is more important. Combining physical activity with a healthy diet and lifestyle will help keep your body at the peak of health.
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