What Diet and Exercise Can Do for the Heart

The heart and exercise have a symbiotic and supplementary relationship.   This means the heart is healthy when exercise is there; the heart is the center of the circulatory system and pumps healthily when the person exercises 

To be able to understand this, we must first know what the heart is composed of.

Very simply put, the heart is made up of cardiac striated muscles which have the capacity to be voluntary and involuntary at the same time.

It is also composed of the left and right auricle and the left and right ventricle.  When blood circulates it needs to go to the heart to be oxygenated.  The pulmonary artery is responsible for blood entering the lungs where it is oxygenated.  In the lungs it releases carbon dioxide through exhalation from the lungs. It then goes back to the heart to the aorta where it goes back to the circulation loaded with oxygen which is vital in all the biochemical reactions in the body.

Arteries carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the different parts of the body while veins carry deoxygenated blood from the different parts of the body back to the heart.

When a person has a sedentary lifestyle and exercise or physical exertion is absent, metabolism of ingested substances like lipids (fats) slow down and these excess lipids will be deposited in the walls of the arteries or in the arterioles. 

This deposition would cause constriction of the blood vessel and making it difficult for the blood to pass through so the blood has to increase its pressure, resulting to hypertension. 

Deposition of lipids in the arteries would also lead to atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, hypertriglycedemia, hypercholesterolenemia, and formation of lipid emboli or clot which would block the flow of blood from one vessel to another. 

This may further lead to myocardial infarction (heart attack) or CVA –cerebrovascular accidents (stroke). 

The most common and most dependable prevention is to exercise daily and to eat the correct foods.

Exercise should be done daily for at least 30 minutes, this need not be strenuous; brisk walking could do.

Meat fat, dairy products and too many sweets should be avoided; instead, fruits and vegetables should be taken in.  Fish oil and legume oil are good lipids (High Density Lipoprotein –HDL) and are considered as good lipid, so they should be part of a person’s healthy diet.

Diet and exercise are vital to the heart’s good function, so eat right and exercise everyday for a healthy heart.