How to Improve Cardiovascular Health: 9 Essential Tips
Updated January 2024
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also get commissions from other companies for purchases made through links in this post.
Cardiovascular health has been in the news recently — even if you don’t realize it. Every study about smoking, blood clots, or heart attacks concerns cardiovascular health. So what is it, and how can you improve it?
Your heart health can be improved chiefly through exercise and diet. That doesn’t sound fun, but it can be if approached well. So do what works for you. Keep reading to get all your questions answered!
What is Cardiovascular Health?
Cardiovascular health is simply the health of your cardiovascular system, and this system includes the heart and blood vessels. Therefore, blood pressure, blood clots, and heart health are all parts of cardiovascular health. Taking good care of your cardiovascular health requires effort in every aspect of your life, but it makes your life as a whole better as a result!
9 Ways to Improve Your Cardiovascular Health
1. Engage in High-Intensity Exercise
Scientists believe that HIIT, or High-Intensity Interval Training, improves heart health. The intense workouts with periods of rest push your heart. They strengthen your heart and lungs, allowing you to work harder each time. These workouts don’t just improve your strength, but they improve your ability to build your strength.
Also, if you are choosing to only exercise at home, be sure to consider our list of recommended at-home workout equipment (affiliate link) to add variety and resistance to your routine!
2. Eat Less Salt and Fat
Most people already know that removing salt and fat from your diet is an excellent way to lower blood pressure, but they don’t want to lose all the flavor. It’s okay because you don’t have to! A great way to quickly improve your diet is to cook your own meals. Restaurant food is usually packed with much more salt and fat than is actually needed. Instead, try using healthier fats, like olive and avocado oil, and plenty of garlic for flavor—you’ll soon realize you don’t need nearly as much salt and fat as you thought!
3. Consume More Leafy Greens
Leafy greens, especially the darker ones, are high in vitamin K, which helps lower blood pressure and reduces the chances of blood clotting. But I know it can be intimidating to stare down a big cup of kale (which has by far the highest vitamin K content). Instead of looking at it as a duty, look at it as a chance to get creative! Blend it into a fruit smoothie or toss it in with a salad. You can make it delicious!
4. Practice Mindfulness
High blood pressure is often partially caused by stress. Taking a moment to relax, meditate, or just focus on your breathing during times of stress can keep your blood pressure lower. It can improve your heart function and even contribute to weight loss!
5. Get Into Nature
Nature encourages activity. A nature walk is a simple, painless way to get up and move. If you’re spry enough, try climbing a tree! Just wading in an ankle-deep river causes you to move in ways you don’t usually do as you are stepping up and down and sideways over all the pebbles. Nature is also calming, and the fresh air that is clear of the usual indoor dust and pollutants is good for you, too.
6. Eat Chocolate
Did you think all of these were going to be difficult? Surprise! Eating chocolate, especially dark chocolate (affiliate link), is actually great for your heart health. The healthy nutrients in chocolate, such as flavonoids, can improve the lining of blood vessels. Just keep it as pure as you can—don’t eat chocolate cake, just a chocolate bar. And preferably a plain dark chocolate bar, not milk chocolate with toffee.
7. Pay Attention to Your Risk Factors
Certain factors make you more likely to have heart disease and other cardiovascular problems. Age is one; another is weight. If you’re above a healthy weight, your heart is one of the first parts of your body to experience challenges. The good news is that exercise and healthy eating are good for weight loss and your heart.
8. Don’t Smoke
If you already don’t smoke, this one is less relevant, but smoking is an extremely unhealthy habit for both your heart and your lungs. In fact, the two are closely tied—after your lungs inhale oxygen, your heart distributes it to the rest of your body. That means some toxins can be transferred from your lungs to your heart. Vaping is moderately healthier than smoking but still comes with some risks. Quitting outright is best if you can.
9. Live a Healthier Lifestyle
Even things that don’t contribute directly to the cardiovascular system can help indirectly because when your entire body runs more smoothly, so does every smaller part of it. Things that can help your whole body include better sleep, light activity (distinct from heavy exercise), and stretching. A healthy lifestyle will make everything, including your cardiovascular health, better.
What Happens When You Don't Take Care of Your Cardiovascular Health?
1. High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure means your heart has to work harder to pump blood through your body. This could be because your blood vessels are clogged or constricted. As a result, high blood pressure adds to the load on your heart and increases the risk for all types of heart disease.
2. Increased Risk of Heart Disease
There are various types of cardiovascular disease that could happen. A heart attack is the most common, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. Still, there are also chances of heart failure, arrhythmia, and cardiomyopathy, explicitly dealing with the heart as a muscle.
3. Blood Clots
Blood clots can partially or entirely block blood flow to an area of the body. It should be obvious why this is a problem—blood carries oxygen, and without that, cells will die. Blood clots are particularly dangerous when they cut off blood to part of the brain.
4. Chance of Stroke
When blood clots cut off parts of the brain, it causes a stroke, and that part of the brain will stop functioning. This is why stroke symptoms include blurred speech and lack of coordination—the parts of the brain that control these functions are failing. A stroke, even if caught early and isn’t fatal, can permanently damage the brain, so it’s essential to take good care of your heart and blood vessels to prevent a stroke before it starts.
Aerobic Exercise Workout Plan
Exercise is the easiest, most important way to take care of your cardiovascular health, and aerobic exercise is particularly good. This category includes activities like brisk walking, swimming, and biking.
The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise. This is best split up into 30 minutes on five days of the week. If your work or school is within walking or biking distance, you can probably achieve 30 minutes every weekday effortlessly. Otherwise, it might be better to try an exercise plan; try something like the following:
Day 1: Five-mile bike ride
The AHA considers biking at ten miles per hour to be a moderate aerobic activity, so a five-mile ride is half an hour of ideal speed. If your speed is more or less than perfect, you’ll still reach the same amount of activity from a five-mile ride.
Day 2: One-mile walk
This is much shorter because biking takes much less energy than walking. Walk briskly, but you don’t have to run.
Day 3: A one-hour swim
I know, I said “half an hour,” but the important thing is the effort being put in, not the exact time spent. When I go to the pool, I know I only spend about half the time swimming. If your percentage of effort is higher, you can spend less time.
Day 4: Jumping rope
This is a high-intensity activity, which means the AHA only recommends half the time spent. However, fifteen minutes will be enough for this surprisingly intense workout.
Day 5: Fun day!
On the last exercise day of the week, reward yourself. Do something you really enjoy. Dancing? Tennis? Both are highly recommended. Another swim or walk? Great! Even gardening qualifies as an aerobic exercise. Do some research and pick something that will feel like a reward for the rest of the week, not another duty.
You can choose any five days of the week. Monday through Friday would be great, but if you’d prefer to use Saturday and Sunday to work out and have a two-day break during the week instead, that’s fine. You could also space out your off days, so maybe you exercise Monday through Wednesday and Friday through Saturday, taking Thursday and Sunday off. Spread the days out however works best for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my heart is OK?
A doctor can give you the best idea of your heart health, but there are a few ways you can tell at home. One way is to check your heart rate. Start a timer for a minute, put your hand on your wrist, and count how many times you can feel your pulse during that minute. If you are resting, your heart rate should be between 50 and 70 beats in that minute. It’s not a severe cause for concern unless it’s over 100 BPM, but lower is better.
You can also check your blood pressure. It’s not hard to find a blood-pressure cuff (affiliate link) to buy, and some of them even count your pulse, too. Healthy blood pressure should be 120/80 or below. If either of those numbers is too high, your heart may be unhealthy.
What is the best cardio?
There’s no single best workout, but some top fat burners are running, HIIT, and swimming. Running and swimming are a particularly good combination. Swimming is gentle with low impact while running puts much more stress on the body. Exercise is best with some amount of impact, so doing both swimming and running balances the two.
How quickly can you improve cardiovascular health?
There’s no magic bullet to improving cardiovascular health, just like there’s no guaranteed way to lose weight quickly. Improving your fitness takes time. Over a few months, though, small steps can start to build into a large impact. Just don’t expect any revolutionary thirty-day plan to succeed.
