Heart Healthy Exercise

Walking for a Healthy Heart
Feeling sluggish? Are you drained? Then try walking.
It's more than just a way to keep your heart healthy. It's a whole new way of life. It helps you meet people. It boosts your energy. And it's fun!
That's why we hope this brochure will help you take control of your life and health. It encourages you to make walking a way of life. And we mean life. We've included information about:

• The benefits of exercise;
  
• Starting a walking program; and
  
• Monitoring your progress once you start.

The Benefits of Walking
Walking can be an aerobic exercise that conditions your heart and lungs. It's best to walk at vigorous intensity for 30-60 minutes three or four times a week. But even low—to moderate—intensity walking can have both short-and long term benefits IF done daily, you can help lower your risk of heart disease.

To lose weight, you can eat your usual amount of calories, but exercise more. For example, a 200-pound person who eats the same amount of calories but walks briskly each day for 1½ miles could lose about 14 pounds in one year. Besides helping you control your weight, walking may:

• Help avoid cigarette smoking;
  
• Help control blood pressure; and
  
• Raise your HDL, or "good cholesterol, " level.

Aerobic exercise may not prevent or cure heart disease. But it's a positive step toward a healthier life. Beside cardiovascular benefits, regular physical activity such as walking can help you:

Feel Better
Regular physical activity:

• Gives you more energy
  
• Improves your self-image
  
• Increases resistance to fatigue
  
• Helps you to relax and feel less tense
  
• Improves the ability to fall asleep quickly and sleep well

Look Better
Regular physical activity:

• Tones your muscles
  
• Burns off calories to help lose extra pounds or helps you at your desirable weight
  
• Helps control your appetite

How To Get Started
When you're ready to start a regular, vigorous walking program, you may want to see your doctor first. You definitely should seek medical advice if:

• Your doctor said you have a heart condition and recommended only medically supervised physical activity.
  
• During or right after you exercise, you frequently have pains or pressure in the left or mid-chest area, left neck, shoulder or arm.
  
• You have developed cheat pain within the last month.
  
• You tend to lose consciousness or fall over due to dizziness.
  
• You feel extremely breathless after mild exertion.
  
• Your doctor recommended you take medicine for your blood pressure or a heart condition.
  
• Your doctor said you have bone or joint problems that could be made worse by the proposed physical activity.
  
• You have a medical condition or other physical reason not mentioned here that might need special attention in an exercise program (for example, insulin-dependent diabetes).
  
• You are middle-aged or older, have not been physically active, and plan a relatively vigorous exercise program.

In none of these conditions apply to you, you can start gradually on a program tailored to your needs. If you feel any of these physical symptoms when you start your walking program, contact your doctor right away.

Choose a Time of Day
To ensure a successful walking program, choose the best time for you. Then stick with a specific time. When do you have the most energy? Some people walk in the morning to get ready for the day. Some walk during lunch hour.
Others walk toward the end of the day to relieve tension and relax.
Some people don't have a full 30-60 minutes to walk. That's okay. Recent research suggests that three 10-minute or two 15-minute periods provide about the same benefit as one 30-minute period. So try to accumulate a full 30-60 minutes by doing some combination of the following:

• 10-15 minute walk during your breaks
  
• 10-15 minute walk after meals

Find a Place to Walk
You should maintain your exercise program year-round. So it's best to choose a place where you can walk all the time. For outdoor walking, find a course with a smooth, soft surface that does not intersect with traffic. When weather prevents outdoor walking, walk around an indoor track at a school or recreation center. Many people are putting on their walking shoes and walking around shopping malls. Regardless of where you walk, be sure it is well lighted.

Choose a Walking Partner
It's okay to walk alone. But if a companion will make walking more enjoyable and help you stick to your program, find someone else to walk with you. Your walking partner should be able to keep the same schedule and walk the same pace as you.

Choose Walking Attire
It's important to walk in the right kind of shoes. Choose shoes with thick, flexible soles that cushion the sole of the foot and absorb shock for the rest of the body.

If you walk outside, during the winter layer your clothing to keep out the cold and wind. The best materials allow sweat to evaporate and keep you warm and dry. Be sure to wear warm socks, a sweatshirt with a hood or a hat, gloves and a turtleneck to keep all areas of your body covered.
In the summer, wear cotton or other porous materials that will allow sweat to evaporate. Be sure to drink plenty of water during your walk when it is hot.

The Warm Up
Warm up by walking slowly for about five minutes. After that, you can do stretching exercises. This will limber up your body and prepare it for more strenuous exercise. You can also do moderate exercises such as jumping rope.

Stretching exercises include:

Wall Push
Stand 1-½ feet away from a wall. Lean forward pushing against the wall with your hands, keeping your heels flat on the ground. Hold it for 10 seconds, than relax. Repeat 1-2 times.

Palm Touch
Bend your knees slightly. Try to touch the floor by bending from the waist. Don't bounce. Hold the position for 10 seconds, and then repeat 1-2 times. If you have lower back problems, do the same thing, but with your legs crossed.

Toe Touch
Place your right leg on a chair or railing, making a 90-degree angle with the other leg. Keep the left leg strait and lean forward, touching the toes of the

The Walking Program
Set a pace for your program and don't push yourself too hard when you start. Reduce your pace if:

• You are unable to speak easily in a conversational tone;
  
• It takes longer than five minutes for your pulse to slow down after you exercise; and
  
• You feel faint, have hard time breathing or have prolonged weakness.

Try to do at least three exercise sessions a week. Each session should consist of a warm up for about five minutes, an exercise period 30 to 60 minutes depending on where you are in your program, and a five-minute cool down.
If you're ready to start walking, you may want to begin with the program suggested below.