Cardio Interval Training - Steps To A Healthy Heart

The U.S. Public Health Service documented the chances of developing heart disease among various groups in a long-term study of the health of Americans. A long time before symptoms were found, epidemiological research identified high-risk groups. One of the highest risk factors are male, age over 35, cigarette smoker, high blood pressure, high levels of certain blood fats and family history for cardiovascular disorders. Other studies have shown that the compulsive, hard-driving, highly anxious personality can be added to the above list. The more items from the list someone has the greater the risk of heart disease.

The treats listed above can be categorized into items that cannot be controlled such as age, sex and heredity and items that can be controlled or avoided. Having high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking cigarettes is considered a triple threat. If you smoke a pack a day then your risk of having a heart attack if doubled than a non-smoker. If you smoke, have high blood pressure and eat a diet high in fats then your risk is 5 times greater than a non-smoker.

The Healthy Heart

If these risk factors endanger the heart's health, what increase its well-being and improves its odds of working long and well?

Obviously, quitting smoking and eating a low-fat diet will help. Next you will need to start some cardio interval training or a regular exercise routine. Your heart is a muscle or group of muscles so just as exercise strengthens your body cardio strengthens your heart.

Since World War II, several large-scale statistical studies have Looked into the relationship between physical activity and heart disease. One well-known survey compared 31,000 drivers and conductors of some bus companies. The sedentary drivers had a significantly higher rate of heart disease than the conductors, who walked around the buses and climbed stairs to the upper level.

The reasons for these statistics are best proven by the classic experiments with dogs. Their coronary arteries were surgically narrowed to resemble of humans with arteriosclerosis. The dogs that were exercised had much better blood flow than those that were inactive. The exercise seemed to stimulate the development of new connections between the altered and normal blood vessels.

Dogs that were exercised had a better supply of blood to all the muscle tissue of the heart. The human heart reacts in the same way to provide blood to the portion of the heart that was damaged by the heart attack. For the damaged heart muscle to heal, the heart relies on new small blood vessels for what is called collateral circulation. These new branches on the arterial tress can develop long before a heart attack -- and can prevent a heart attack if the new network takes on enough of the function of the narrowed vessels.

What should be done in order to prevent such dilemmas? Some studies show that moderate exercise several times a week is more effective in building auxiliary pathways than vigorous exercise done twice as often.

The general rule is that exercise helps reduce the risk of heart disease. Some researches proved the link between exercise and a healthy heart based from the findings that the people that did not exercise had a 49% greater risk of heart attack than the other people included in the study. The study attributed a third of that risk to sedentary lifestyle alone.

When doing cardio interval training, you can absolutely expect positive results not only on areas that concerns your cardiovascular system but also on your overall health as well.

Accordingly, the benefits of participating in this kind of activity on a regular basis can bring you more results that you have ever expected. These are:

1. The threats of heart attack are lessened, if not eliminated
2. Enhanced heart task
3. Increase metabolism, increase the chance of burning calories, therefore, assist you in losing weight
4. Improves lung capacity
5. Helps lessen or eliminate the cases of stress