If you have heart disease, exercise is key; it helps keep blood pressure, cholesterol and weight down, and also prevents diabetes. Watch cardiologist Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, explain the healthy benefits of exercise for those with heart disease.
Exercise benefits you in so many ways from head to toe. Not only does it prevent heart disease if you haven't had it, but if you've had a heart attack, exercising after having a heart attack prevents you from developing another heart attack. It also helps with your brain as you exercise, it increases serotonin in your system and that makes you feel good, and it prevents against osteoporosis, it's also a great way to keep your blood pressure down, your cholesterol down, prevent diabetes and keep your weight in check. So by far whether or not you've had heart disease or you're preventing it, exercise is your best medication.
If you're ready to start an exercise program, please talk to your doctor before doing so. If you've had any risk factors of heart disease or any symptoms, it's so important to know that your heart is safe before beginning an exercise program, and then when your doctor says it's okay, make sure you have the right pair of snickers, can't do it in shoes, and then get to the gym or get outside, but whatever you choose to do, it's all about moving and getting your heart rate up, just go do it.
Suzanne Steinbaum, MD, is an attending cardiologist and the director of Women and Heart Disease of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She is the author of Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum's Heart Book: Every Woman's Guide to a Heart Healthy Life.
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