How exercise affects your heart
Getting more exercise not only makes you look and feel better but it can also help to keep your heart healthy. Even a short burst of activity, like shovelling the driveway, mowing your lawn or climbing the stairs can get your heart pumping and help boost circulation. With regular exercise you can start to notice the difference within a matter of weeks.
In addition to helping to control blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol, proper exercise can also help you to lose or maintain weight.
Your heart is a muscle and like other muscles, it will get stronger through physical activity - particularly cardiovascular exercise, like walking, swimming and dancing - which works the heart and lungs. The stronger your heart is, the slower it has to work to pump blood efficiently around your body. This places less stress on your heart, leading to a healthier and more relaxed cardiovascular system.
Physical activity also gives you more energy and can help reduce stress. You don't have to join a gym or a special exercise class, it’s easy to become more active simply by adding more activity into your everyday life.
According to Canada’s Physical Activity Guide, experts say accumulate 60 minutes of physical activity every day to stay healthy or improve your health. As you progress to moderate activities you can cut down to 30 minutes, 4 days a week. Add-up your activities in periods of at least 10 minutes each. Start slowly… and build up.
Source:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/pau-uap/fitness/pdf/guideEng.pdf