This is the month of love and although many will only celebrate it on one day it’s important to love yourself each and every day. Yes, you read that correctly, you must love yourself. In order to be truly happy and healthy, you must love yourself. Notice how I don’t use the words, ‘suggest’ or ‘it would be nice if’ instead I am using the word – ‘must‘ because there truly is no other option.
This entire month I am devoting it to Loving You. My radio show Family Talk Radio has shows dedicated to this very topic. The topic of Loving You is divided into body, mind and spirit along with a special guest who is a Relationships Expert. Be sure to join us each Wednesday at 1pm EST for 30 minutes and as always the show is recorded and replays are available.
Today we will focus on heart healthy exercises. The type of exercises needed to keep your heart healthy and strong are referred to as cardio exercises. But what exactly does that mean? Aerobic exercises which involve increasing the heart rate are what many refer to as cardio exercises.
When doing aerobic exercises, you’re using oxygen to replenish energy stores, which means the heart and lungs are working harder and getting stronger during this process. This type of exercise gets the entire body involved as opposed to anaerobic exercises which focus on isolated muscle groups. Aerobic exercises may include biking, running, and swimming where anaerobic exercises require your body to create energy without using oxygen such as weight training. Although both types of exercises are ideal for your body, aerobic exercise are the best for your heart because it improves cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory function. According to the Mayo Clinic aerobic exercises also:
- Increases the amount of blood pumped (per beat and per minute)
- Increases blood supply to the muscles
- Increases HDL (the good type) cholesterol and lowers triglycerides
- Reduces resting systolic/diastolic blood pressure
- Reduces high cholesterol and the risk of developing it
As you can see incorporating aerobic exercises into your daily routine are imperative to your heart health. However, this does not mean that you must go to the extreme. Instead you should exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at a time in order to build up your ‘target heart rate‘. The target heart rate is a range of beats per minute that represents approximately 60-85% of your maximum heart rate. What does this all mean? It means that as long as you remain active daily, your heart health will increase.
Now, this does not necessarily mean you must run and purchase a gym membership unless you need the discipline to do so, but even that can be a questionable reason. You must however, (yes I’m using that word again) take control of your health. You’ve heard me say it time and time again, that you have one and only one body. You must take care of it and that includes the inside that you don’t usually see on a daily basis. Sure, it’s easy enough to take care of your skin, hair and even your muscles but you must never neglect the vital organs. Your heart is not an organ you must neglect along with your spine. These internal organs are at times the hardest to keep healthy but the most necessary ones.
Loving yourself begins with loving your body and that includes the inside and outside parts of your body. Of course you can not neglect the connection of body, mind and spirit and how they all work together. Take control of your health today, please don’t wait until you experience symptoms. Many times the symptoms are the last to appear and sometimes it is too late by then, so don’t wait!
Start implementing some aerobic exercise into your daily routine. Include walking, jumping, climbing stairs, running with your children or grandchildren and of course, we can’t forget to add a little dance into your routine. Yes, aerobic exercise, does a body good! What are you waiting for?
About Dr. Mommy ( 637 Posts )Dr. Daisy Sutherland is the Founder/CEO of Dr. Mommy Online . She is a doctor, author, radio personality, speaker, wife & mom to 5 children. Dr. Mommy's mission is to ~ Inspire, Motivate & Encourage you to be the best you can be by sharing her 'Get Real' approach to health and wellness.
This is the month of love and although many will only celebrate it on one day it’s important to love yourself each and every day. Yes, you read that correctly, you must love yourself. In order to be truly happy and healthy, you must love yourself. Notice how I don’t use the words, ‘suggest’ or ‘it would be nice if’ instead I am using the word – ‘must‘ because there truly is no other option.
This entire month I am devoting it to Loving You. My radio show Family Talk Radio has shows dedicated to this very topic. The topic of Loving You is divided into body, mind and spirit along with a special guest who is a Relationships Expert. Be sure to join us each Wednesday at 1pm EST for 30 minutes and as always the show is recorded and replays are available.
Today we will focus on heart healthy exercises. The type of exercises needed to keep your heart healthy and strong are referred to as cardio exercises. But what exactly does that mean? Aerobic exercises which involve increasing the heart rate are what many refer to as cardio exercises.
When doing aerobic exercises, you’re using oxygen to replenish energy stores, which means the heart and lungs are working harder and getting stronger during this process. This type of exercise gets the entire body involved as opposed to anaerobic exercises which focus on isolated muscle groups. Aerobic exercises may include biking, running, and swimming where anaerobic exercises require your body to create energy without using oxygen such as weight training. Although both types of exercises are ideal for your body, aerobic exercise are the best for your heart because it improves cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory function. According to the Mayo Clinic aerobic exercises also:
As you can see incorporating aerobic exercises into your daily routine are imperative to your heart health. However, this does not mean that you must go to the extreme. Instead you should exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at a time in order to build up your ‘target heart rate‘. The target heart rate is a range of beats per minute that represents approximately 60-85% of your maximum heart rate. What does this all mean? It means that as long as you remain active daily, your heart health will increase.
Now, this does not necessarily mean you must run and purchase a gym membership unless you need the discipline to do so, but even that can be a questionable reason. You must however, (yes I’m using that word again) take control of your health. You’ve heard me say it time and time again, that you have one and only one body. You must take care of it and that includes the inside that you don’t usually see on a daily basis. Sure, it’s easy enough to take care of your skin, hair and even your muscles but you must never neglect the vital organs. Your heart is not an organ you must neglect along with your spine. These internal organs are at times the hardest to keep healthy but the most necessary ones.
Loving yourself begins with loving your body and that includes the inside and outside parts of your body. Of course you can not neglect the connection of body, mind and spirit and how they all work together. Take control of your health today, please don’t wait until you experience symptoms. Many times the symptoms are the last to appear and sometimes it is too late by then, so don’t wait!
Start implementing some aerobic exercise into your daily routine. Include walking, jumping, climbing stairs, running with your children or grandchildren and of course, we can’t forget to add a little dance into your routine. Yes, aerobic exercise, does a body good! What are you waiting for?
Dr. Daisy Sutherland is the Founder/CEO of Dr. Mommy Online . She is a doctor, author, radio personality, speaker, wife & mom to 5 children. Dr. Mommy's mission is to ~ Inspire, Motivate & Encourage you to be the best you can be by sharing her 'Get Real' approach to health and wellness.