Heart Health Warning

Heart Health Warning

I thought it was especially important to bring to light a health warning which should be highlighted because it affects so many of us and can be especially important to our longevity because it is about our heart.

A recent study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise brought to attention the fact that sitting all day on our asses can really cause damage to our hearts.

In fact, those who were sedentary for most of each day of the week were 35% more likely to die from heart disease than those who were often on their feet.

Heart Health Warning: If your job keeps you sedentary make sure to get up and have a walk every hour even if it is just for a few minutes.

Perhaps it doesn’t really come to as much of a surprise but considering most people these days have desk jobs which has them sitting on their butts for most of the day it does create an alarm.

The problem gets more sophisticated for those of us who are sitting on our asses but then have a sudden spurt of intense exercise for 60 minutes or longer. This places an immense amount of pressure on our heart because we go from zero to 60+ extra beats per minute.

This backs up the warm-up stage even further, and you know who you are out there. You need to give your heart a good 5-7 minutes to warm up by doing some light cardio before you begin whatever workout routine you have ahead of you. It doesn’t matter whether it is the elliptical, running, biking or any other cardio activity as long as you do it before jumping into the intensity.

Another part to this equation is the fact that sitting for most of the day creates weakness in the largest part of our musculature system – our legs. We need to make sure that when we’re in the gym we take the time to do weight bearing exercises for our legs because of this and this is especially important for women who are more prone to osteoporosis.

Heart Health Bonus Points

But let’s take it just a few steps further. Let’s keep conscious awareness of our sitting times and make sure that every hour we get up and walk around even if it’s to the kitchen to get some water. Actually I’m going to emphasize this part since getting water every hour is also a great idea to keep us hydrated and have our heart be able to pump our blood in an efficient manner and help us get rid of waste products in our systems.

This article wouldn’t be complete without bringing to attention one of the most important supplements when it comes to heart health – Omega 3 fatty acids or fish oil which is known to reduce inflammation and increase HDL levels. You can take a look at my article on Omega 3 Health Benefits to get the complete picture but as you’re probably aware you want to make sure you get omega 3’s form wild fish which are not exposed to toxins like that of Norway and hence why Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega is one of the top brands in the market.

Has this article brought to your attention any changes that you will now make? Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts…