Importance of Exercise for Heart Health
Exercising has many benefits for overall health including physical, emotional and psychological. Staying physically active can also help promote heart health by strengthening the heart muscle. This helps lower cholesterol, blood pressure and decreases the chances of a stroke or heart attack.
If one has suffered from a stroke, McKnights reports a study which states thirty minutes of walking can reduce the mortality risk by more than fifty percent for stroke survivors. Stroke survivors who walked three to four hours each day had a 15 percent death rate compared to 33 percent who did not exercise for this length of time.
Dr. Raed A. Joundi, M.D., Ph.D., stated “our results suggest that getting a minimum amount of physical activity may reduce long-term mortality from any cause in stroke survivors. We should particularly emphasize this to stroke survivors who are younger in age, as they may gain the greatest health benefits from walking just thirty minutes each day.”
Getting back on your feet after a stroke usually requires supervised rehabilitation therapy with the help of physical and occupational therapists. Clinicians of Cornerstone Rehab specialize in providing rehabilitation therapy to older adults in skilled nursing facilities. This includes physical, occupational and speech therapy. Rehab therapy is often needed as patients may experience muscle weakness and limited control of affected limbs and extremities. Rehab therapists help patients regain control of body movement and help promote independence. Here are some examples of exercises your therapist may prescribe to you.
Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that though all types of exercise are important, aerobic exercise and resistance training are crucial for heart health. Aerobic exercise helps lower blood pressure and risk of type 2 diabetes. Thirty minutes of exercise per day for at least five days a week is recommended. Examples include walking, cycling, swimming and running. A combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training can help raise good cholesterol (HDL) and decrease bad cholesterol (LDL). The American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least two nonconsecutive days of training.
Learn about our job openings for physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists. For a complete list of career opportunities at CSR click here.