Matters of the heart
FEBRUARY IS HEART MONTH. HERE MICHELLE CHILDS TELLS US HOW TO KEEP OUR TICKERS ON TOP FORM
OUR hearts are the engines that keep the blood pumping round our body. We all know that we need to keep our hearts healthy, but do we know why? Or how?
Exercising and diet are vital for keeping our tickers on top form. Keeping active can help reduce the risk of heart disease by reducing your blood pressure, controlling your cholesterol and helping you to keep your weight in check.
Diets low in saturated fats and salt, and high in fruits, vegetables and fibre will help us control our weight and cholesterol, which are also major factors in keeping our hearts healthy.
Combined with a healthy diet, physical activity is one of the best ways to boost heart health.
The government recommends doing 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week and children should be doing an hour a day.
As it’s Heart Health month this February, here are our top ten tips to help get your family’s hearts beating faster:
THIS is especially useful if you’re a busy family with not much time to spare. Walk, run or cycle to school/the office. If it’s too far, why not park the car a few streets away or get off the bus/ train a stop early?
Look for opportunities to be active during the day – take the stairs not the lift, walk when you’re on an escalator or do some stretches when watching the TV.
2 BREAK IT UP
150 MINUTES a week seems like a long time exercising. But this doesn’t have to all be done at once. A good way to get your recommended minutes is to break it down into ten minutes at a time, three times a day, five days a week (10,3,5 – is a useful way to remember it). Why not try a quick run to the shop, a mad ten minutes dancing round the lounge with the kids, or going for a quick walk during lunch?
TO help your heart become healthier, select exercises that raise your pulse rate. These are actives that we call ‘cardiovascular’ or ‘aerobic’ and involve moving faster than usual. This could be brisk walking, football, running, swimming, cycling, dancing, aerobics – whatever you get the blood pumping.
WITH school, work, family, shopping, cleaning… we get very busy and exercise can easily be forgotten.
Write yourself reminders and place them where you can see them – alarms on your phone, post-its by the front door, lists on the fridge – whatever works for you and your family.
5 KEEP TRACK
GETTING fitness trackers for the family or putting fitness apps on your phone is an excellent way to remember to exercise, keep track of what you’ve done, and incentivise you to keep going. You can even link trackers with friends and family, to add a little ‘healthy’ competition into keeping active.
6 STEP UP
MOVING more is an essential part of getting fitter – and nothing is simpler than walking. You don’t need anything fancy, just a flat, supportive pair of shoes and off you go!
Try to walk at a moderate speed that you feel comfortable with. You can do long walks, or lots of smaller ones – whatever suits you and your fitness levels. And if you don’t feel walking is enough – give Nordic walking, running, fell running or hill walking a go.
7 ON THE BALL
ANOTHER great way to get yourself moving, and to socialise at the same time, is to play a racquet or ball sport. There are plenty of clubs for any age with many offering trial sessions; for beginners to more experienced. Linking exercise with socialising is a great way to motivate yourself to keep at it.
8 TEAM UP
ON wet, miserable days, when you’re tired and stressed, keeping physically active can seem like the last thing you want to do. However, scientific studies have shown that if you exercise with other people, you’re more likely to keep it up. Find a gym buddy, sign up to a programme of classes, join a team or exercise with the family.
9 HIIT IT UP
THE number one reason people say they don’t exercise is because they don’t have time. This is where high-intensity interval training (or HIIT) comes in. HIIT workouts are usually less than 30 minutes long and involve short bursts of intense exercises, followed by longer periods of slower activity.
Research shows HIIT can get your heart and lungs healthy in less time. You can join HIIT classes, like spinning, at your local gym – or find HIIT workouts online that you can do at home.
10 HAVE FUN
REPETITIVE exercises can feel like a chore but keeping active shouldn’t feel like something you HAVE to do. Find a variety of exercises and activities that you and your family enjoy – swim together, walk up a hill, make an obstacle course together, run, cycle, football or go to the gym together. Finding what you like will mean you’re more likely to stick at it and will give your kids positive experiences of exercising – which will encourage them to keep their hearts healthy.