Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Exercise For A Healthy Heart

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We all know that exercise improves the heart’s functions but did you know that not exercising could be worse on your heart than just about anything? According to a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, inactivity is the largest risk factor for heart disease in women over the age of 30. The largest factor! That means it is crucial to your health and your longevity that you get moving. Walk, run, swim anything you like to do to be active, but get up and get going.

Thirty minutes is all it takes of vigorous exercise each day. Of course, once you begin exercising regularly, you will probably find you want to exercise longer, too. Challenge yourself each session or each week by changing your routine and adding weights or resistance to your cardio exercises. The idea is to train your heart to work harder and become stronger.

If you have been walking for exercise and find it becoming almost too easy. Try wearing a backpack with weights inside. This will make your walk a bit more difficult as you work your entire body to accommodate the added weight. To work your arm muscles, you can carry little hand weights to build arm muscles and add some resistance to your stride. The same idea can be carried over to cardio activities at the gym, if the exercise becomes mundane, change it up and add something different.

The important thing is to keep moving. No matter what your age, it is never too late to benefit from exercise. Medical News Today reported that starting exercise at the age of 40 has the same heart benefits as earlier training. A reassuring fact that exercise improves health and is essential to our well being.

As healthy as exercise is for the heart, it is also beneficial to other organs in the body as well. Thirty minutes of vigorous exercise will increase your lung capacity, aid in circulation, reduce inflammation, and help you to control your weight. When you exert your body, it uses the calories that you consume for energy. Regular exercise will help you to burn those calories rather than store them.

In addition to cardio exercises to improve heart health, resistance exercises also benefit the heart by making it work harder. That is why an exercise program that alternates cardio and strength is the best combination to keep your heart healthy, while losing weight and staying in shape.

Why I Love To Exercise

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I asked ten ladies about their relationship with exercise and got some interesting and motivating responses. The ladies I chose to interview all participated in exercise to some degree. Most of them exercised every day or every other day, while a couple of them only exercised a few of times a month.

Exercise gave many of these women a sense of satisfaction in every aspect of their lives. Not only did they gain confidence as they accomplished difficult exercise moves, they felt confident in relationships in both their personal lives as well as their careers.

Some reported a spiritual awakening from exercise. As if becoming one with the universe, these women confessed that exercise felt like the right thing to do. They said that they owed it to their body to give it what it so desperately needed and as they fulfilled that obligation they felt at peace with themselves.

Weight loss or weight management was high on the list of why many of the women exercised. For many of them, exercise was combined with their diets for optimum weight loss, while others revealed that exercise allowed them to eat some of their favorite foods without the guilt.

One woman said that regular exercise helped her rest better at night. She has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. When she started exercising, she began to fall asleep earlier and rest better throughout the night. A word of caution here, exercise a few hours before bedtime, exercising too close to bedtime may make it more difficult to fall asleep.

The women who only exercised a few times a month, said they enjoyed exercise, were aware of the benefits, but unfortunately lacked the time. When they did find the time to exercise, they felt elated afterwards and had a strong desire to make exercise a regular part of their lives. However, they were still trapped by the elusion that they didn’t have enough time to exercise.

With all the benefits that exercise has to offer, I cannot understand how women can still say they don’t have time to exercise. And it’s not just the benefits that are important. Not exercising and leading a sedentary life is extremely bad for your heart. Studies are showing that inactivity is one of the worse things you can do for your heart.

Exercise is good for the body, mind and spirit. As I listened to these women talk about their relationship with exercise I felt inspired and motivated to share their stories with all of you. I want you to love your body, get excited about exercise and share your accomplishments.

Early To Bed And Plenty Of Rest

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Rest is essential for women who want to be healthy and fit. Most people require 7 to 10 hours of sleep each day to reach their full potential. Not only is the amount of sleep important for optimum health, research has shown the time of day that we retire is also very important. Sleep experts say that if you go to bed early and wake up early, you will experience better restorative sleep, allowing you to be more productive during the day.

For me, rising early means quiet time at my house. I use this time for my affirmations, journaling, goal-setting and planning my day. It’s a great time to exercise, go for a morning jog or do some resistance exercises in my living room. What I enjoy most about rising early is that it gives me time to focus on my goals and take control over my life. Planning healthy meals is also easy when I inventory my supplies first thing in the morning. This way I ensure that I have all the ingredients I need for healthy, satisfying meals. I have found this to be a good way to avoid the temptations of fast foods when I am hungry for a quick meal.

If you have trouble going to bed early, try going to bed each night just 5 minutes earlier. Continue this for a full week, and you will soon be retiring 35 minutes earlier. Try reading something enjoyable to help you get ready for rest. Studies have found that reading is a much more relaxing prior to bedtime than television watching. However, if you enjoy watching a little television before retiring that works too. Just try to stay away from viewing shows that tend to excite or aggravate you, as this may interfere with your sleep.

Another great pastime before going to bed is making love. Sex is the perfect way to relax and exhaust your body physically and mentally. It has been attributed to deep and restful sleep and will benefit both you and your partner.

Your bed and bedroom are also important for restful sleep. A comfortable bed and a cool and relaxing bedroom, free of distractions will help you sleep like a baby. Get to bed early and arise each day with enough time to exercise, write in your journal and eat a healthy breakfast.