All forms of physical activity and exercise help to keep your heart and you healthy. This doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym. It is more about choosing something that you enjoy which also makes your heart beat a bit faster and makes you breathe a bit harder.
Carrying heavy shopping, housework and gardening all count as physical activity. If your mobility is limited, there are bed and chair-based activities that you can do.
Many people with heart conditions worry about whether increasing physical activity is safe. They are also often concerned that physical activity might set off their heart condition or make it worse. For most people with heart conditions, getting the heart and lungs working a bit harder actually improves health and leads to a reduced strain on the heart. Your healthcare team can advise you on what sorts of activity would be best for you.
Before you start increasing your physical activity, you should speak to your healthcare team if:
- You have recently been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure. coronary heart disease, stroke, atrial fibrillation or peripheral arterial disease)
- You are thinking of taking up exercise that is new to you or more strenuous than you are used to.
To undertake physical activity safely, there are a few things to consider:
What physical activity or exercise are you going to do?
You should think about how hard the activity is going to be and whether you will be doing muscle strengthening activity. The general principle is to “start low and go slow”; start with activities that are achievable and over time gradually increase how much you are exerting yourself. If you have just had an event such as a heart attack or stroke or have a new diagnosis of heart failure, it is best to increase your activity within a supervised rehabilitation programme. This is important even if you were very physically active or doing a good amount of exercise before the event. Your healthcare team can guide and support you.
Do you take medication?
Some medications can make doing physical activity more challenging, for example medication used to control the heart rate such as beta-blockers can make you feel more tired. If your medication is making physical activity difficult, it is worth discussing this with your healthcare team as there may be alternatives.
If you use GTN spray, you should always keep it close at hand and use it as advised by your healthcare team.
Do you have a cardiac device (pacemaker or implantable cardiac defibrillator) fitted?
For most people, having a cardiac device should not be a barrier to sport. You may need to limit what you do to moderately intensive activity and avoid contact sports such as rugby. Your doctor will be able to advise you depending on what sort of device you have.
Listen to your body
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You may need to re-think your activity if you do find that you are having symptoms during exercise. You will not need to stop altogether, but may need to scale back a bit. It is always worth discussing this with your healthcare team. |
You should not exercise if you are feeling unwell. If you get symptoms of angina, undue breathlessness, palpitations (feeling your heart pounding or missing beats) or you feel light-headed when exercising. You should:
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Practical tips for exercising safely
Don’t go straight from rest to working as hard as you can. Stretching and doing warm-up activities to get the body warm and heart rate up a little will prepare your body for exercise.
Generally, you should aim for moderate physical activity. This means that you should be breathing a little harder but not exhausting yourself. You should be able to talk but not sing whilst doing your activity.
A sensible cool down will help you recover from the activity and allows your heart rate and breathing to come gently back down to normal.
If the weather is very hot or very cold, do your physical activity indoors rather than outside.
Over the day: doing 5-10 minutes periods of activity several times over a day is just as good as a single 30 minute session of exercise. Find a time of day that suits you best; some people prefer to be active first thing in the morning, whilst other are better in the afternoons.
Over the week – on days when you feel good, do your activity but don’t over-exert yourself. If your body says you need a rest, take a day off.
Have a think about what level of fitness or activity you would like to achieve and then be honest about how you will get there. Gradually increasing your activity is far more likely to be successful and far less likely to cause symptoms. Setting unrealistic goals can be very demoralising if you don’t get there. See the SMART goals resource in the free downloads section.
