Exercise After a Heart Attack: How to Get Moving Safely

If you’ve suf­fered a heart attack, you know how scary it can be. Mov­ing for­ward, you’re prob­a­bly look­ing for ways to pro­tect your heart from future dam­age. But fear of fur­ther dam­age may make you hes­i­tant to exer­cise since it feels like phys­i­cal activ­i­ty makes your heart work harder. 

How­ev­er, not only is exer­cise after a heart attack pos­si­ble, but it’s also impor­tant to reduce your risk for addi­tion­al prob­lems. Adapt­ing heart-healthy lifestyle choic­es — includ­ing reg­u­lar phys­i­cal activ­i­ty — sup­ports your heart health long-term. 

Incor­po­rat­ing reg­u­lar exer­cise into your rou­tine after a heart attack might feel over­whelm­ing. It may also be con­fus­ing to know what’s safe and what’s not. Here’s why and how you should get mov­ing after expe­ri­enc­ing a heart attack. 

Exer­cise After a Heart Attack Can Save Your Life 

Heart attack or not, phys­i­cal activ­i­ty is a key com­po­nent of heart health. If you’ve already had a heart attack, it can low­er your chances of hav­ing anoth­er in the future. 

Exer­cise keeps your heart mus­cle strong, mak­ing it more effi­cient at pump­ing blood to the rest of your body. It can also widen your cap­il­lar­ies (tiny blood ves­sels), which allows even more oxy­gen-rich blood to get to your body. 

Reg­u­lar exer­cise reduces oth­er risk fac­tors of heart prob­lems by: 

• Low­er­ing blood pres­sure
• Reduc­ing lev­els of fat in the blood called triglycerides 
• Help­ing you main­tain a healthy weight 
• Man­ag­ing your insulin lev­els and blood sug­ar (low­er­ing your risk of type 2 dia­betes) 
• Increas­ing lev­els of ​“good” cholesterol 

After a heart attack, you will like­ly be put on a med­ica­tion reg­i­men, such as those to low­er your blood pres­sure and lipids. With reg­u­lar exer­cise — and with close mon­i­tor­ing from your health­care provider — you may be able to reduce or even com­plete­ly stop tak­ing these med­ica­tions. 

The ben­e­fits of exer­cise also extend beyond phys­i­cal advan­tages. While heart prob­lems can cause men­tal health con­cerns, such as depres­sion and anx­i­ety, the reverse is true, too — exer­cise can improve your men­tal health. Phys­i­cal activ­i­ty can reduce feel­ings of depres­sion and anx­i­ety, and it can also improve your qual­i­ty of life in general. 

Quick Tips to Begin Exer­cis­ing After a Heart Attack 

Just as a heart attack is unique to each per­son, the way you approach phys­i­cal activ­i­ty also depends on your indi­vid­ual sit­u­a­tion and health needs. This includes how much you exer­cised before your heart attack and what lev­el of dam­age your heart mus­cle suf­fered. 

Before engag­ing in any exer­cise after a heart attack, get clear­ance from your health­care team that it’s safe to do so. As you begin your exer­cise jour­ney, always lis­ten to your body — and remem­ber that it could take months to get into a rou­tine that works for you. 

If you want to start an exer­cise rou­tine after a heart attack, make an appoint­ment with a Duly car­di­ol­o­gist to make sure you’re get­ting mov­ing safely. 

Oth­er tips to begin exer­cis­ing after a heart attack include: 

1. Try walk­ing, which is easy on the body, as a first activ­i­ty. When you’ve mas­tered that, change it up to some­thing else you enjoy, like swim­ming or biking. 
2. Start slow­ly — and increase inten­si­ty a lit­tle at a time. For instance, begin by walk­ing slow­ly, then increase your pace grad­u­al­ly every 3 min­utes until you’re breath­ing heav­ier, but you’re still able to hold a con­ver­sa­tion. If you feel short of breath, dial it back a bit. 
3. Stay close to home. Walk in short dis­tances near your home to avoid dif­fi­cul­ty get­ting back. 
4. If you expe­ri­ence any con­cern­ing symp­toms, such as short­ness of breath, heart pal­pi­ta­tions that won’t go away, fatigue that gets worse over time, or chest pain, stop phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, and talk to your health­care provider. 
5. If you want to strength train, start slow­ly, such as doing biceps curls with­out weights. When that becomes easy, add small weights (or cans of soup). Be sure to ask your health­care provider before start­ing strength train­ing after a heart attack. 
6. Always cool down. Take at least 3 min­utes to walk slow­ly at the end of any exercise.

You may also want to enroll in a car­diac reha­bil­i­ta­tion pro­gram, where trained pro­fes­sion­als will help you work out safe­ly and effec­tive­ly. They’ll also help you man­age oth­er risk fac­tors, such as eat­ing healthy, quit­ting smok­ing, los­ing weight, and man­ag­ing stress. 

No mat­ter your approach, remem­ber that your tol­er­ance for exer­cise may have changed after a heart attack. Take it day by day, and be patient with your heal­ing body. 

Mak­ing Exer­cise a Part of Your Every­day Routine 

After a heart attack, you may be look­ing for new ways to take care of your body. Exer­cise is one of the best gifts you can give to your body and heart, and it’s nev­er too late to start. 

To get the most out of exer­cise, make sure you get mov­ing most days of the week, if not every day. Even if it’s some­thing small — like walk­ing around the block or swim­ming laps for 10 min­utes — it can have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on your heart health now and mov­ing for­ward. Plus, the more you do some­thing, the more it becomes a nat­ur­al part of your routine. 

Your heart may have been through a lot, but it’s still a mus­cle that needs exer­cise. Give your heart some extra atten­tion, and your heart will give you what you need for con­tin­ued health.