• 1Atherosclerosis (VIDEO)
  • 2The Plaque Thickens: Cholesterol and Atherosclerosis
  • 3What Is Atherosclerosis?
  • 4Recipe for Arterial Plaque
  • 5Plaque Attack
  • 6Lipids and Lipoproteins
  • 7Sources of Cholesterol
  • 8Cholesterol Is Crucial
  • 9Managing Risk
  • 10Start with an Exam
  • 11Controlling Cholesterol: Medications
  • 12Going In
  • 13Food for Flow
  • 14Fitness Movement
  • 15Keeping Arteries Healthy
CHAPTER 14

Fitness Movement

PART 1

Exercise and Your Arteries

Exercise is your best medicine for preventing and treating atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Exercise reduces inflammation, a major cause of arterial plaque, and keeps your arteries resilient and flexible. It also helps keep your blood pressure at a healthy level. This is important, because high blood pressure is a major factor in causing arteries to thicken and stiffen. Being physically active helps you to lose weight if you need to do so and improves your cholesterol and triglyceride profile. It helps to reduce stress, another known risk factor for atherosclerosis, and reduces your chances of developing heart disease. READ MORE

Any amount of exercise is beneficial for your cardiovascular system (your heart and blood vessels)—it doesn’t have to last a long time to produce benefits. Studies have shown that moderate exercise, like taking a brisk half-hour walk, 5 days a week, lowers levels of LDL-cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol. More intensive exercise, such as jogging 20 miles a week, can increase levels of HDL-cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol. LESS
.

PART 2

Aerobic vs Anerobic Exercise

Top Ten
Get Active Without Exercising
You’ll feel best and get the most health benefits if you do both aerobic and anerobic exercise.

Aerobic exercise is lower-intensity, endurance-type activity, such as running, long-distance cycling, and swimming, that maintains an increased heart rate over an extended period of time. During aerobic activity, you repeatedly move large muscles in your arms, legs and hips. READ MORE

Anerobic exercise is brief (from a few seconds up to 2 minutes), strength-based activity. Examples are sprinting, jumping, and lifting weights. Any physical exercise or activity that lasts longer than 2 minutes develops a large aerobic component and is no longer strictly anerobic.

Which Is Better for You?

For the best results, you need to do both anerobic and aerobic exercise.

Aerobic exercise:

  • Helps you to lose weight by expending calories

  • Lowers blood pressure and improves your cholesterol and triglyceride levels

  • Improves your insulin sensitivity and reduces risk of diabetes and atherosclerosis

  • Strengthens your heart and reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke

  • Lowers your stress level and helps you to relax

Anerobic exercise:

  • Keeps your muscles strong and helps maintain muscle mass

  • Helps you to better perform both everyday activities and aerobic exercise

  • Lets you burn more calories when you are resting (about 75% of the calories you burn each day are used when you are rest, not when you are exercising)

  • Keeps your bones strong

LESS
.
Related links