JP Stroke Foundation

We are all very familiar with the notion “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but what if I told you that a run a day might also keep the doctor away. 

The notion isn’t exactly wrong, as many of us are well aware physical activity plays a crucial role in keeping our bodies healthy and working to their best potential. 

According to a health article written by HealthLinkBC, exercising regularly is very important for our health. The best type of physical movement for high blood pressure is aerobic exercise. These types of exercise typically use our larger muscles in a continuous manner that raises our heart rate. Examples of these activities could be walking and cycling (2). 

Studies suggest doing 2 and a half hours a week of moderate to vigorous-intensity exercise. This could easily be split into five 30 minute workouts weekly. It is also okay to slit up the time into 10 or 15 minute sessions more frequently during the week if that is better for your personal schedule (2). The idea is to get active and get your heart rate up, so get creative and use any time you may have to get moving! It’s all about gradually building an exercise routine that works for you. 

Aerobic exercise tends to be safe for everyone but you should still check with your healthcare provider to ensure that it’s the right exercise for you (3). Moreover, daily, low intensity workouts can have long-term benefits for your health (1). Now, let’s take a deeper look at how we can start building these habits: 

Firstly, we want to find the target heart rate that you should be hitting. This can be found by doing a quick google search and looking at your age, height and weight. Once you have a target goal, you can look at what activities you could do to get that heart rate up. These could be as simple as doing housework, walking around the neighbourhood or stretching. The idea is to get movement into your daily life and make a real lifestyle change that will better your health. Try to be realistic with yourself; if you never enjoyed running don’t make plans to go for a run. Maybe you would rather take up a yoga class or a Zumba lesson. You might also be thinking that you are too busy to make time for this, but there are many options you can incorporate into your life. Simply taking the stairs instead of the elevator can be a great first step! I also suggest doing the workout with a friend to keep yourselves accountable. 

Simple changes like this could make a big difference in your personal life and for those around you. Physical inactivity is one of the biggest factors that we have control over and it can be easy to ignore the importance of this. We have control over our bodies and 10 minutes of physical movement a day is a great place to start. So next time you are about to take the elevator, take a second and think about all the benefits those stairs might have. Your body will thank you later. 

Author: Camiliya Rouzmeher 

1. “Exercise after Stroke.” Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, http://www.heartandstroke.ca/stroke/recovery-and-support/stroke-care/rehabilitation/exercise-after-stroke. 
2. “Exercising to Prevent a Stroke.” HealthLink BC, http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/hw223366. 
3. Prior, Peter L, and Neville Suskin. “Exercise for Stroke Prevention.” Stroke and Vascular Neurology, BMJ Publishing Group, 26 June 2018, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6122300/.