Practical Benefits of Cardio Interval Training for the Health of Your Heart

Heart diseases every kill many people. A lot more die from heart diseases that local wars and gang riots. Bad news is that the U.S. Public Health Service documented the chances of developing heart disease among various groups in the population. This means that if heart problems some decades ago have been associated with elderly people or the people with some born problems, now almost every social and ethnical group is a potential target for the heart problem.

Who are at the highest risk?

This is not an "ideal picture" and if you don't fall for these parameters it's too early to be happy, but the most likely person to have problems with heart is the one of male sex, aged over 35, smoker, high blood pressure, high levels of certain blood fats, and a family history of cardiovascular disorders. Surely we can make the list bigger and add other factors of risk that can include the compulsive and highly anxious personality and some other factors, but you see the picture.

The risk factors split into:

- those beyond individual control (namely age, sex, and heredity)
- those that can be controlled, avoided, or even eliminated (we are talking about the high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and high cholesterol levels in the blood)

And if you can do nothing about the first group of risk factors, the second one is in your hands. Just simple stats to those who are not happy about getting rid of stupid habits. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, the risk of you having a heart attack is twice more of a nonsmoker. If you smoke, have hypertension, and eat a diet high in fats without any exercise at all, your risk is five times greater than normal.

This is serious. If you want to live longer, then let's see how you can find the road to the health of your heart.

The Notion of Healthy Heart - What is That?

The heart is a muscle, or, to be more precise in terms of medical science, a group of muscles. These muscles are similar in many ways to the ordinary muscles of the arms and legs. This is the key to the solution of the problem - just as exercise improves limb muscles, special exercise improves the health of the heart muscles as well.

Read more about the heart exercises and other useful tips in Part 2 of Practical Benefits of Cardio Interval Training for Your Health.