Heartsavers - Exercise
The human body evolved under conditions that required much greater
physical exertion that we commonly experience today.
Prevention of coronary heart disease.
The role of exercise in heart health
Use it or Lose it! - says the old proverb. It's true, live a sedentary life slumped in front of the television or propping up the bar and you will lose both your will and your power to exercise.
When your muscles don't get much use they will atrophy, in other words they will get smaller and weaker. If you know of anyone who has had their leg in plaster for a prolonged period, for example after a broken bone, then they will notice after the plaster is removed that the leg muscles take some time to regain their former strength; the muscles will have suffered some muscle wastage or atrophy. The same happens to your heart muscle if you don't take much exercise, it will get weaker and less efficient at pumping blood and your risk of a heart attack increases.
Also the longer you go without exercising the harder it is to motivate yourself to any sort of physical activity, it's a form of atrophy of the brain.
Once you have established an exercise programme however it gets easier as you go along, your body produces morphine-like substances as you exercise, these are released into the blood stream and produce a sense of well being (excellent for lifting depression). Your heart will get stronger and you will feel stronger. It's a virtuous cycle, like they used to say in the eighties "Success Breeds Success".