Heart & Lung Care
When asked about cardiovascular health, most people's thought go straight to blood pressure and cholesterol, and forget the bigger picture (which do include the lungs).
Yes, it is vital that the heart itself is in good working order, but there are ways that we can make the hearts job easier. Here are a few ways we might do this:
1. Exercise
We know we go on about exercise in every email and physiotherapy consult - but it really is as good as it gets. Exercise is effective for a few reasons.
- Increase in red blood cells: as you exercise, your body improves its ability to both transport and use oxygen. This is VITAL when you fall ill/ catch a flu (or heaven forbid catch COVID). Improving your ability to use what oxygen your body is able to take in is more valuable than you can imagine.
The heart itself becomes more efficient with exercise training. It learns to be more effective in pumping more blood for each heart beat!
Exercise will also reduce atherosclerosis (hardening of blood vessels) - which will dramatically reduce stress on the heart.
Theres 101 more reasons why its so beneficial but we won't go into all of them today - ask your physio in your next appointment!
2. Water and dietary intake
We won't pretend to be experts on this, but we will go on and point out the obvious. If you are dehydrated, the heart and lungs have to work much harder to push the blood around the body. Water intake will affect both the volume of your blood and its thickness. Remember this next time you leave your drink bottle at home!
What we recommend to our patients:
If you don't do any physical activity - a guided and gradual introduction to exercise is always recommended. Start small is generally the best way to go, and will help form habits that we hope you will maintain long term. There is little point in throwing yourself in the deep end for a week and then needing a fortnight to recover!
For adults aged 18-64, World Health Organisation recommends 300minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise, or 150minutes of vigorous exercise. Furthermore, if you are very sedentary outside of this, you should be aiming to do more than this recommended amount!
It is also recommended that on 2 days of the week, we should all be performing strength exercise.
They have different guidelines for children, the elderly and pregnant women, all of which are available through this link - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
We have helped a number of our patients safely commence exercise programs, and are happy to sit and discuss this with anyone who feels like they could use the extra guidance. If you are unsure if exercise is appropriate for you in regards to general health or injuries - please contact your GP and regular therapist beforehand!
We hope this helps!
Best Wishes.
Written by Alison Jeffery - Physiotherapist, Women’s Health Specialist &
Pilates Instructor.
To see our Physiotherapists or book in for a Pilates consult, book an appointment with us online today or call our team on 07 55 04 7000.
