Exercise after Heart Attack

Survivors of heart attacks are recommended, and encouraged to get on a regular exercise regimen as soon as possible. The exercise most frequently recommended by cardiologist is walking. The benefits of that exercise is that the heart muscle will gain in strength and the person will regain their endurance abilities.

In order for people to benefit from the exercise they need to do exercises that will increase their heart rate and get the blood pumping throughout their systems. Low impact aerobic activity like walking, swimming, and even dancing, are excellent ways to get your heart rate up, and lower your risks of future heart attacks.

When patients engage in physical exercise after a heart attack, they are less likely to suffer another cardiovascular event because their heart muscle will be strengthened by the exercise regimen.

The fear of exercise after a heart attack

People who have suffered a heart attack are afraid of another heart attack. As many as sixty three percent of the people who survive a heart attack are so afraid of another episode that they do not engage in physical activity that would cause their heart rate to be increased.

Many patients do not realize that by becoming more sedentary they increase their risks of having another heart attack. In order to prevent another heart attack they need to get up and improve their heart muscle through physical exercise and proper nutrition.

What can be done?

When a person has a heart attack the doctors and medical staff of the hospital recommend that they start to do daily exercise, but they do not address the fears of the patient. The patient should be started on a physical exercise routine before they leave the hospital so that they can feel more confident about doing exercise when they return home.

After exercise, routines are begun in the hospital setting a patient will know what things they can do without fearing another cardiovascular episode. Most patients are very afraid the first time their heart beat increases after a heart attack. This initial increase of the heart rate through exercise should be done in the hospital before the patient leaves, so they know that they can exercise safely.

What this could mean for the future

If hospital treatment of heart attack victims were to begin to include physical exercise as part of the rehabilitation before the patient is released to go home the number of recurrent heart attacks could be reduced by more than thirty percent.

Stress is a larger reason for a recurring heart attack than physical activity is, and when patients who have survived a heart attack, are afraid of exercising they are stressed. They also isolate themselves from life, and this increases their risks of another heart attack.

We could create a better cardiovascular health in everyone if we were to implement physical exercise as a requirement before a person could be discharged from the hospital after a heart attack.