What Exercises Can Help a Senior with Heart Disease

Does your elderly loved one have heart disease? If so, they may be wary about exercising. However, without regular exercise, their heart is only going to get weaker. It is vital that you or a senior home care provider helps your elderly loved one to implement the appropriate amount and types of exercise into their daily lifestyle.

Stretch Every Day

One of the most important types of exercise for a person with heart disease is stretching. Stretches help to prevent injuries as they loosen up muscles. They also improve balance, help with breathing, and encourage stronger muscles (even with the heart muscle). As you can see, it is essential that your elderly loved one stretches every day. If needed, you or a senior home care provider can remind your elderly loved one that they need to stretch every morning or evening. It is a good idea for them to stretch for at least 3 to 5 minutes at a time.

Go Jogging or Walking with a Senior Home Care Aide

Senior citizens with heart disease may not be able to run very well or safely. However, jogging is known to be very good for the heart. If your elderly loved one is currently a jogger, you should have them start out by taking short walks every day or at least 5 days out of the week. It may even be a good idea for you or a senior home care provider to take these walks with your elderly loved one. That way, you can ensure they aren’t over-straining themselves. Once they get used to taking walks, they can slowly pick up their speed every few days until they are at a jog.

Strength Training

People who have heart disease should do strength training exercises. It is important to make sure your elderly loved one doesn’t go into the gym and start lifting heavy weights. However, it would be a good idea for them to start with some resistance bands at home. You can get them different tensions of resistance bands. You or their senior home care providers can find resistance band workouts online. These can be a great start to adding strength training in after their stretches and cardio.

All the exercise types mentioned above can help to keep or get your elderly loved one’s heart strong. While they can’t necessarily reverse the heart disease, they can help prevent it from getting worse. If you aren’t sure which exercises are safe for your elderly loved one, as their heart disease is different from others, you should speak to their doctor about the safety of the above-noted exercises.

Sources:  https://medlineplus.gov/howtopreventheartdisease.html https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/physical-activity-and-your-heart

If you or an aging loved-one is considering Senior Home Care Services in Alpharetta GA please contact the caring staff at CaraVita Home Care today. (770) 643-1712