Cardiovascular Exercises
The Best Formula to Prevent Heart Disease

Cardiovascular Exercises

What would you say if there was a proven formula to reduce the risk of heart disease, relieve stress, lower blood pressure, improve your immune system, lose weight, improve stamina, and helps prevent diabetes and osteoporosis?

If this sounds good to you, you probably already know the answer. It is called cardiovascular exercises.

Cardiovascular exercises play such a vital role in maintaining a healthy heart that according to the American Heart Association, "Most beneficial effects of physical activity on cardiovascular disease mortality can be attained through moderate-intensity activity (40% to 60% of maximal oxygen uptake, depending on age). The activity can be accrued through formal training programs or leisure-time physical activities." Need more proof?

Harvard University conducted a study of 17,000 of their male alumni between the ages of 35 and 74. The results clearly showed that as the physical activity of their former students increased the death rate decreased. More exactly, the men who burned 2,000 kilocalories per week performing cardiovascular exercises had a reduced death rate between 25-33%!

Cardiovascular exercises that burn 2,000 kilocalories sound intense, but the reality of it was that these men participated in moderate to low impact cardiovascular exercises such swimming, playing tennis, brisk walking, and jogging. After all, these were Harvard grads.

Most notable, was the reduction in Coronary Artery Disease by 41% as compared to those who did not participate in cardiovascular exercises.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans, with 23 million people diagnosed and nearly 1 million deaths annually. Hypertension, high cholesterol levels, and obesity are leading contributors to heart disease, and all three can be reduced or illuminated by participating in cardiovascular exercises on a regular basis.

Despite this information, the National Institute on Aging reports that only 58% of the American population engages in cardiovascular exercises as leisure time activity and of those people, only 26 % do so three or more times a week as part of their lifetime fitness program.

Are you one of the 42% of the population who does not exercise regularly? Is watching sports on television on your list of cardiovascular exercises? If your only exercise is running to the refrigerator during commercial breaks and time outs, your time may be running out.

To realize the health benefits from cardiovascular exercises, you must participate in moderate exercise two to three times per week. Moderate exercise is any activity that helps you realize and maintain your target heart rate for a sustained level of twenty minutes or more. This includes jogging, brisk walking, aerobic workouts, circuit training, cycling, swimming, tennis, racket ball, rollerblading, etc. What is your target heart rate when performing cardiovascular exercises?

One of the simplest ways to determine your target heart rate is to subtract your age from 220 and multiply that by 70%. An example of the target heart rate for a 35 year old would be (220 - 35) * .70 = 129 beats per minute. Checking your pulse for ten seconds and multiplying by 6 will determine your heart rate during vigorous activity. By maintaining a heart rate of 129 beats per minute for a minimum of 20 minutes, a 35 year old person would be improving their cardiovascular conditioning.

Twenty minutes a day - less than the time it takes to watch one half hour television program.

Isn't your life worth it? Just Do it! Do Cardiovascular Exercises and Avoid Heart Disease

By doing Cardio exercises you will be avoiding heart disease, and reducing your heart disease risk factors. Make sure to lose weight, quit smoking, reduce your high blood pressure and lower your cholesterol levels. Why wait till it's too late, begin living a healthy active lifestyle now, and begin doing Cardioascular Exercises .