MAINE, USA — From eating healthier to working out without unnecessary strain on your arteries, there are small changes you can make to your daily life to show your heart a little love this Valentine's Day.
As an exercise physiologist at Turning Point Cardiac Rehab in Scarborough, Kim Smith often helps patients work out as they're recovering from heart attacks. But her workout advice goes for anyone.
First, warm up for about five minutes. Whether that's a slower walk to work up to a brisk walk through the neighborhood or a jog on the treadmill, or it's some slower movement to get your blood pumping.
"The goal for the warm-up is to slowly bring up your heart rate, slowly bring up your blood pressure, and get those arteries dilated for adequate blood flow in your body," Smith said.
Something to keep in mind before that jog through the neighborhood this time of year, the cold can actually work against your body.
"That cold-weather exposure actually constricts our arteries, and our hearts have to work harder doing that activity," Smith explained. "So some things to keep in mind, the warmup — keeping your body nice and warm. So, wearing a coat or a scarf around your chest. And also the air you're breathing in, you want to wear a loose scarf around your mouth so that the air you're breathing in is nice and warm and not harsh and cold like the environment."
Once the blood starts flowing, and the full workout begins, keep in mind the acronym, FITT.
Frequency: "How long should you be exercising? As we talked about before, 150 minutes per week. So that could be five days a week," Smith said.
Intensity: Smith recommends testing whether you can still talk through your workout, but can feel that it isn't easy. That's moderate intensity.
Time: "How long should we be exercising?" Smith asked. "About 30 minutes. It could be 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes straight."
Type: Walk on the treadmill, ride a bike, take a walk with your neighbor, lift weights, or find a dance class.
If you are lifting weights, make sure you're breathing through each exercise.
"When we're lifting something really heavy, it's almost automatic for our bodies to Valsalva, so bearing down or holding our breath," Smith said. "With a goal of heart health, we want to be able to breathe through the activity without holding [our] breath."
For those working out at home, just use what you have, whether a jug of milk to lift, cans of soup, or sitting and standing using a chair, without using your arms.
Finally, just as you did in the warm-up, cool down for about five minutes.
"If we don't cool down, our heart rate and blood pressure suddenly drop. That actually can make us susceptible to an irregular heart rhythm. So, we want to keep ourselves safe during exercise, so that cooldown will keep our hearts happy and healthy for the activity that we're doing."