December 2008

Health Team 12 and our Heart Matters partners at University Hospital want to tell you how exercise is key after the holidays and year round.

Cardiovascular exercises are a good choice for your muscles and heart, because it pumps blood through the body resulting in less strain on your heart. Strength training also helps with cardiac health lowering the risk of heart disease and making your body leaner.

Finally flexibility gives the body better circulation, stretching the tissue to make more room for blood vessels to expand.

Claude Thompson, Operations Facility Manager at Health Central says, “As far as fitness goes it's something that helps people in managing chronic disease as well as possible, alleviating and reversing those things. There's a lot of heart maladies that can actually be reversed with good cardiovascular or aerobic type exercise."

Of course fitness instructors say it's important for you to consult a physician before any exercise regiment.