Activities to promote heart health: Tips & guidelines

Ahmed Raza

Written by Lorraine Anne Liu, RN, a registered nurse and cum laude graduate with experience in OR, ICU, delivery room, and OPD. She specializes in pediatric care and primary health care nursing and is certified in BLS, IV therapy, and cardiac assessment.

A healthy heart is a healthy life, for most cases at least. Keeping a healthy heart should not be difficult for anyone. There are a lot of activities that we can do to reduce our risk of getting any heart related diseases. It goes without saying that doing cardiovascular exercises promote a healthy heart but there are specific activities that not only promote a healthy heart but are also fun to do which can also contribute to your overall heart health.

1. Running

Running is on top of the list because it is the number one recommended activity for anyone who wants to keep a healthy heart. Running is a very easy cardio exercise that anyone of all ages can do. Running not only helps you maintain a healthy weight, it also helps to strengthen your heart muscle. Running also lowers blood pressure and maintains a healthy cholesterol level. These benefits help reduce the risk of heart diseases. The article Heart Health Benefits of Running discusses more on the benefits of running for a healthy heart.

2. Yoga

There is no stretching the truth here, yoga does help your heart! Yoga, as a form of exercise, involves lots of stretching and breathing movements. This promotes good circulation and good breathing. Although it is not an aerobic exercise, yoga can offer so much more than being an exercise. Yoga is a good stress relieving outlet. It promotes relaxation of the body and mind. Stress can cause a lot of negative effects in the body, especially the heart. Many reports show that instances of cardiac events stem from too much worrying and depression. Yoga is a way of breathing out all those negative emotional stresses and keeping your heart happy.

3. Dancing

Dancing is another cardio exercise that promotes a healthy and happy heart. A lot of exercises nowadays incorporate dancing as part of their promoted lifestyle. Some of the common ones are Tae Bo and Zumba. Because dancing is a cardiovascular exercise, it promotes weight loss, increased flexibility and overall improved physical performance. The benefits of dancing are not limited to the physiology of the heart. Dancing is fun! It promotes stress reduction and diminishes the tendencies of depression. On top of that, you get to meet a lot of new friends! The overall impact of dancing to your heart should be enough to convince you to put on those dancing shoes!

4. Laughing

Laughter indeed is the best medicine. The health benefits of laughter is not a myth. Our physiology is all affected by our emotions. Many emotions like stress, depression, loneliness and sadness have an immediate effect on our heart. Stress hormones release chemicals to our body that promote an unhealthy heart. Laughing causes an increase in our heart which makes us take deep and numerous breaths. This promotes healthy circulation and vascular function. So laugh your way to a healthy heart!

5. Gardening

This may come as a surprise but gardening is one of the hobbies that can contribute to a healthy heart. Gardening is a labor intensive hobby. It requires you to get sweaty and dirty. Gardening includes pulling out weeds, planting and mowing. This causes you to increase your heart rate and sweat, thus contributing to your vascular functions. Gardening also relieves stress and keeps your mind and hands occupied. Gardening also encourages healthy eating–garden to table food. And because one sooner or later sees the fruit of their gardening, it also promotes self fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment which boosts your overall mental, emotional and heart health.