Why is sport so important for the heart and circulation?
Humans are not made for sitting still. Regular physical activity optimizes the supply of oxygen to the body, lowers blood pressure, regulates blood sugar and blood lipid levels and counteracts inflammatory processes in the body. Physical activity also helps to reduce stress and maintain a healthy body weight.
Sport as heart therapy
All of these aspects are particularly important for people with cardiovascular disease. In many cases, regular exercise can prevent the disease from progressing and help to improve or maintain performance as much as possible.
With a few exceptions, cardiovascular patients are not only allowed to exercise – they should! For them, physical activity is an important part of therapy.
How sport affects the body
Physical activity challenges and supports the body in many different ways.
Sport as an antihypertensive
High blood pressure puts a direct strain on the heart. It then has to work against greater resistance to force the blood into the body’s circulation. Anything that lowers blood pressure therefore also helps the heart.
Physical activity also lowers blood pressure in the long term. Regular exercise provides a stimulus that encourages the blood vessels to adapt to the challenge. They become more elastic, more relaxed and tend to be wider as a result. This allows the blood to pass through more quickly – blood pressure drops.
Improve heart function
Sport also directly strengthens the heart. The stress stimulus activates the mitochondria in the heart cells, for example. These are the energy powerhouses of the cells. The better these little powerhouses work, the more efficient the organ is. The heart’s basal metabolic rate is improved and the heart has to pump less.
Reduce blood lipids
Exercise reduces blood lipid levels, which otherwise form deposits in and on the walls of blood vessels. This leads to arteriosclerosis – a major cause of heart attacks and strokes. During physical activity, however, more HDL lipoproteins circulate in the blood, which transport cholesterol back to the liver, where it is broken down. As a result, less cholesterol is deposited on the walls of the blood vessels.
Lower blood sugar
The body needs energy for exercise. Accordingly, exercise effectively lowers blood sugar levels. As high sugar levels – like high blood lipid levels – promote arteriosclerosis, exercise also has a positive effect on the condition of the blood vessels in this respect.
Stress is poison for damaged hearts. Sport also helps to combat this. Any physical activity reduces stress hormones and relieves the strain on the heart and circulation.
How often should you exercise?
As a rule, the same guidelines apply for people with cardiovascular disease as for healthy people: They should exercise for a total of at least 150 minutes a week.
If possible, they should do endurance training most days of the week. Ideally, this should be supplemented by two to three units of strength training per week.
However, as a heart patient, it is important to avoid blood pressure spikes during training. A sports medical examination will show what type and intensity of exercise is possible and beneficial for your heart and circulation.
Sports medical examination by a doctor
A sports medical examination offers heart patients peace of mind. Under controlled conditions, the doctor determines the intensity with which the patient can train so that he or she has a training effect without overexerting themselves.
How high can the load be?
This is usually determined using an exercise ECG: the patient pedals on a bicycle ergometer, slowly increasing the load. At the same time, an ECG records the patient’s heart reactions.
Heart rate monitor helps
With the help of a heart rate monitor, he can keep an eye on this stress limit later during training. A good indication that you are not pushing yourself too hard: you may work up a sweat during training, but you can still talk to a sports partner without any problems.
Even if you don’t exceed your physical limits during training: Complaints such as shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, pain or unusually heavy sweating during training are a serious alarm signal. Stop your training and have a cardiologist examine you!
Which sports are suitable?
It is important that heart patients do not overload themselves during exercise. Sports with high peak loads are therefore unsuitable.
Endurance sports
With endurance sports, the load can be dosed very well. These include, for example
- cycling
- walking
- hiking
- jogging
- rowing
- swimming
- Cross-country skiing
Strength training
Strength training is also suitable for heart patients as a supplement to endurance training. Here too, the rule is to avoid excessive exertion.
Lifting heavy weights, for example, can cause a sudden spike in blood pressure. The focus should therefore be on strength endurance – this means training with less weight or resistance, but repeating the exercises more frequently.
Ball sports and contact sports
Anyone who has to take blood-thinning medication should also avoid contact sports due to the increased risk of bleeding.
Cardiac sports groups
In a cardiac sports group, people with heart disease are introduced to sport under medical supervision. The presence of a doctor, especially at the beginning, gives many patients the reassurance that they are not putting themselves at risk. The regular meetings with other people affected can also motivate patients to exercise regularly.
Training tips for the most important heart diseases
Depending on the cardiovascular disease in question, different aspects need to be taken into account when exercising.
Exercise for coronary heart disease (CHD)
Moderate endurance training at a heart rate of 60 to 90 percent is best. Start with short periods of exercise lasting approx. 5 minutes and increase the training slowly. CHD patients should do endurance training 4 to 5 times a week for 30 minutes each time. Fast walking, cycling, walking or swimming are suitable sports for CHD. You can find more information in our article Coronary heart disease.
Sport after a heart attack
Sport for heart failure
Before starting training, the doctor determines the patient’s maximum exercise capacity by means of spiroergometry. The training plan is then adapted to the individual’s needs. Endurance training, HIT and strength endurance exercises are suitable. You can find more information in our article on heart failure.
Sport for atrial fibrillation
Extreme endurance sports are a risk factor for atrial fibrillation. However, these are competitive sports such as marathons or cross-country skiing. For non-competitive athletes, regular moderate endurance training can reduce the risk of recurrent episodes of atrial fibrillation. 60 to 120 minutes of exercise per week is considered a guideline. Suitable sports are walking, jogging, hiking, walking, cycling or dancing. Sports such as swimming and climbing are not suitable. You can find more information in our article on atrial fibrillation.
Sport after bypass surgery
Patients can start early mobilization as early as 24 to 48 hours after bypass surgery. In the first few weeks, patients should avoid pressure, traction and support loads. However, gentle endurance training is possible. Slowly increase the load according to individual well-being, to 30 minutes of endurance training three times a week. You can find more information in our article Bypass.
Sport for aortic valve stenosis
Sport with a heart valve defect
Whether and in what form sport is possible with a heart valve defect always depends on the type and severity of the underlying disease. In the case of an acquired heart valve defect, performance diagnostics are carried out as part of the cardiological examination. This forms the basis for the sports recommendation. There are no general recommendations for congenital heart valve defects. You can find more information in our article Heart valve defects.
Sport for cardiomyopathy
Whether and how much exercise is possible with cardiomyopathy always depends on the underlying disease. Recommendations sometimes vary widely. Talk to your cardiologist before you start exercising. Most heart patients benefit from more exercise in everyday life: Walk more often, cycle to work or motivate yourself with a pedometer. You can find more information in our article on cariomyopathy.
Sport after stent surgery
How long patients have to take it easy after stent surgery depends on the underlying disease. The stent itself does not restrict physical activity. You can find more information in our article on stenting.
