Beginner's Guide to Exercise

Proceed with caution. Anyone beginning an exercise regimen should begin slowly. Allow yourself to get used to the strain of physical activity. As your body adjusts, you'll be able to increase the duration and intensity of your program. If you feel any discomfort, stop exercising and consult your doctor.

Dress comfortably in loose-fitting clothing. Wear the appropriate footwear. Consider the weather. If the temperature and humidity are extreme, either too high or too low, physical exertion may be dangerous.

Begin with a "warm-up" session. Stretch muscles slowly to avoid injury during the actual exercise. Get your respiration, circulation, and body temperature to increase by beginning with some low-impact exercises. Your warm-up should last about three to five minutes.

Begin the actual exercise phase at a moderate intensity. The duration will build cardiovascular fitness. Don't overexert yourself. If you exercise regularly, you'll be able to lengthen the time and increase the intensity. While you're exercising, you should feel your heart beating faster. You should be breathing more rapidly and deeply, yet still be able to carry on a conversation. You should begin to sweat. These are ways that your system responds to the challenges of exercise.

End with a "cool down" session. Spend a few minutes walking slowly to let your body gradually decrease itself. Just as you needed to gradually begin to exercise, you need to gradually begin to rest.

Plan for your next exercise session. Commit to it. In order for exercise to be truly effective, it must become a regular part of your routine. Cardiovascular fitness needs to be maintained.

Top 10 tips for a healthy heart

There are many steps people can take to try to prevent heart disease. You can start by concentrating on key lifestyle areas such as eating, exercise, smoking and drinking, and considering other factors like family history, diabetes and stress. Here are 10 top tips for a healthy heart
1. Stop smoking. Quitting smoking is the single most important thing a person can do to live longer. If you are a smoker, you are twice as likely to have a heart attack as a non-smoker. But from the moment you stop smoking, the risk of heart attack starts to reduce. With public smoking bans recently introduced, there has never been a better time to give up.
2. Cut down on salt. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Avoid foods like crisps, salted nuts, canned and packet soups and sauces, baked beans and canned vegetables, pork pies, pizzas and ready meals. Many breakfast cereals and breads that appear healthy also contain high levels of salt, so keep your eye on these too.
3. Watch your diet. A healthy diet can help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease, and can also help increase the chances of survival after a heart attack. You should try to have a balanced diet, containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, oily fish, starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta and rice. Avoid foods like biscuits, cakes, pastries and dairy products that are high in saturated fats and sugar.
4. Monitor your alcohol. Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. Binge drinking will increase your risk of having a heart attack, so you should aim to limit your intake to one to two units a day.
5. Get active.The heart is a muscle and it needs exercise to keep fit so that it can pump blood efficiently round your body with each heart beat. You should aim for 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day. If this seems too daunting, start off gently and build up gradually. Keeping fit not only benefits your physical health - it improves your mental health and wellbeing too.
6. Manage your weight. The number of people who are overweight in Britain is rising fast - already more than half of the adult population is overweight or obese. Carrying a lot of extra weight as fat can greatly affect your health and increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. If you are overweight or obese, start by making small, but healthy changes to what you eat, and try to become more active.
7. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your GP. The higher your blood pressure, the shorter your life expectancy. People with high blood pressure run a higher risk of having a stroke or a heart attack. High levels of cholesterol in the blood - produced by the liver from saturated fats - can lead to fatty deposits in your coronary arteries that increase your risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and diseases that affect the circulation. You can help lower your cholesterol level by exercising and eating high-fibre foods such as porridge, beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
8. Learn to manage your stress levels. If you find things are getting on top of you, you may fail to eat properly, smoke and drink too much and this may increase your risk of a heart attack.
9. Check your family history . If a close relative is at risk of developing coronary heart disease from smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes, then you could be at risk too.
10. Make sure you can recognise the early signs of coronary heart disease . Tightness or discomfort in the chest, neck, arm or stomach which comes on when you exert yourself but goes away with rest may be the first sign of angina, which can lead to a heart attack if left untreated.