Healthy Heart Equals Happy Heart

The heart is responsible for pumping blood throughout your entire body, from the toes to the tip of your forehead. Without fresh oxygenated blood organs and tissue would shrivel and die.

This muscle is extremely important and without it our bodies would quickly die. Even though it is only the size of your fist it still performs functions that encompass the entire body.

Without the blood we need we could experience things like strokes, kidney failures, and liver failures. In fact every organ in the body would die if it were not for the heart constantly fueling them with blood.

The hearts strength is termed cardio, anything dealing with cardio fitness will help strengthen the hearts performance. Jogging, running, yoga, and Pilates: these are all really great ways to improve your heart health or cardio.

Cardio is strengthened through any aerobic exercise; these are any exercises where you breathe easily while raising your heart rate. While you are speeding up your heart rate you are still taking in the same amount of air, so your heart learns to use a lighter amount of air during harder times and also will need less air during less stressful times.

You can track your cardio improvement by checking your heart rate. Heart rate is measured in beats per minute; you can track the number of beats by finding a pulse and counting for ten seconds, then take the number and times it by six thus equating your BPM or heart rate.

The average heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute, that's about one beat per second. However, trained athletes will get theirs down to 40 beats per minute.

This shows that all there exercise has improved their hearts. Now their hearts don't need the extra twenty beats like regular peoples do.

Exercise isn't the only thing we need for our hearts, it is also important to have a healthy diet. Our bodies can't use all those preservatives that they put in processed foods these days.

Mother Nature knows best, it is good to try and get a healthy portion of veggies and fruits in your diet. This will affect your cholesterol by raising your good cholesterol and lowering your bad.

Cholesterol has many different functions correlated with our hearts. It is carried through the blood so our cholesterol is constantly running through our hearts.

You can improve you cholesterol also by eating whole grain foods, food that retain their original earthy composition. Things like wheat bread and rice that haven't been process-beaten to death.

Just remember, when it comes to your heart, aerobic exercise and whole grain foods will save your life, or at least your heart. So find some foods and exercises that work for you.