Cardiovascular exercises, often called aerobic exercises, are physical activities designed to improve the endurance of the heart and lungs. They achieve this by boosting oxygen intake and circulation throughout the body. These workouts typically involve using large muscle groups in repetitive movements over an extended period. Common examples include running, jogging, cycling, swimming, brisk walking, and rowing. Cardio exercises increase both heart and breathing rates, which facilitates blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscle cells. Beyond the physical advantages, these exercises also provide numerous psychological benefits.
Benefits of Daily Cardio Exercises
Incorporating cardio exercises into your daily routine can significantly enhance both your physical and mental well-being. Here are some of the key benefits:
Improved Cardiovascular Health: Cardio exercises strengthen the heart, blood vessels, and lungs, reducing the risk of heart diseases, lowering blood pressure, and enhancing overall circulation. Regular cardiovascular exercise can lead to a decrease in resting blood pressure and heart rate, meaning the heart doesn’t have to work as hard all the time. Maintaining a good cardio routine also helps improve good cholesterol levels while lowering blood fats.
Weight Loss: Cardio is an effective way to burn calories and lose weight. It helps in shedding excess body fat, which can improve overall health and self-esteem. When paired with a heart-healthy nutrition plan, regular cardio exercise supports safe weight loss.
Reduced Stress and Anxiety: Cardio exercises can lower stress and anxiety levels by promoting the release of endorphins, natural mood boosters. As heart rate and breathing increase, these endorphins improve mood and reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
Read also: Is 1 hour of cycling enough to lose weight?
Improved Sleep: Regular cardio can improve sleep quality and duration, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep, ultimately improving the overall sleep cycle. However, avoid rigorous exercise too close to bedtime, as it can be too energizing and prevent restful sleep.
Increased Stamina: Cardio exercises enhance overall endurance and stamina, enabling individuals to work out for longer periods, leading to more calories burned and better overall fitness levels. Over time, regular cardio exercise allows muscles to adapt to an increased workload, making regular activities seem easier.
Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases: Cardio lowers the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, stroke, and certain cancers, improving overall health and reducing the risk of premature death. It also helps improve blood sugar control, decreasing stress on the pancreas and reducing the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Improved Cognitive Function: Cardio exercises enhance blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain, improving cognitive function. This leads to better focus, concentration, overall mental clarity, memory, and decision-making skills. Exercise prevents the shrinking of the hippocampus, the region of the brain responsible for retaining and recalling information.
Improved Metabolism: Cardio can increase metabolism, which is the rate at which the body burns calories, leading to better overall health and fitness levels, promoting weight loss and weight management.
Read also: Explore the Cardio Metabolic Diet for optimal health
Improved Lung Health: As the body adapts to the increased demand for oxygen, the respiratory and cardiovascular systems become more efficient, making it easier for the body to perform physical activities. This strengthens the heart, lungs, and other muscles, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity. Cardio helps decrease how frequently you have to breathe as exercise ability improves and can lead to reductions in fatigue and shortness of breath in chronic lung problems like asthma.
Joint Health: Cardiovascular exercise helps fight osteoporosis and reduce the chances of a hip fracture, and it helps manage arthritis discomfort and maintain range of motion.
Skin Health: Being active helps increase circulation, which leads to clearer, healthier skin by improving blood flow to skin cells and lowering stress levels, which helps keep chronic skin conditions like eczema at bay.
Muscle Health: When you work your heart and other muscles of your body during cardio exercise, this increases oxygen supply to your whole body, allowing all muscles to work harder and more efficiently.
Improved Digestion: Cardio enables muscles to work harder, including the muscles driving peristalsis - the movement of food through your digestive tract. Staying active helps improve blood sugar control, decreases stress on the pancreas and reduces your chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. Exercise can also help regulate your gut microbiota.
Read also: Weight Loss Guide Andalusia, AL
Strengthened Immune System: Less stress, more sleep, and better blood and oxygen flow to your cells contribute to a healthier, more effective immune system.
Reduced Risk of Falling: Strength and balance are only as good as your endurance, and cardio helps improve that.
Improved Sexual Function: Aerobic exercise decreases the chances of erectile dysfunction in men and leads to enhanced arousal for women.
Enhanced Mood: Staying active helps boost your mood, especially after a stressful day, combating depression, improving self-esteem, and releasing tension-fighting hormones like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
Recommended Cardio Duration
The American Heart Association advises aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity heart-pumping exercise each week, spread out over several days. If you're new to cardio, start with moderate-intensity exercises to allow your muscles and joints to adjust. Try to get in a 30-minute workout five or more days a week that raises your heart rate for the duration of the activity. If you're new to exercise, try starting with three 10-minute workouts, five or more days a week.
For adults, the recommendation is at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, or at least 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or an equivalent combination of both. Children ages 6 to 17 years should do at least 1 hour of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise daily, with at least 3 hours of vigorous intensity activity weekly.
While there is no recommended upper limit on the amount of cardio exercise you should do daily or weekly, some research suggests that exceeding 4 to 5 hours (240 to 300 minutes) of vigorous intensity exercise weekly can increase the risk of cardiovascular complications. It is also recommended to limit vigorous activity sessions to 40 to 60 minutes maximum.
Is 1 Hour of Cardio a Day Too Much?
A 1-hour cardio workout daily may be too much, especially if you regularly perform high-intensity workouts and don’t allow any recovery days during the week. However, some research found that doing up to 60 minutes of cardio exercise daily is safe and appropriate, especially if weight loss is a goal. The limits of how much cardio exercise is safe vary from one person to the next. It’s important to balance the intensity and duration of your workouts with adequate rest and recovery.
Moderate vs. High-Intensity Cardio
If you engage in moderate-intensity workouts, such as a brisk walk, then 30 minutes every day can help you reap a variety of benefits. You could break this up throughout the day, too, into shorter segments. On the other hand, if you prefer high-intensity interval training (HIIT), you can cut your workout time by half and still get the same health benefits.
Considerations for Daily Cardio
- Pros: Daily cardio can help manage a calorie deficit due to its calorie-burning effects, contributing to weight loss. It also increases energy levels and improves sleep.
- Cons: Doing cardio every day may increase the risk of fatigue and injury. It’s important to incorporate rest days into your routine.
Exercise for Weight Loss: Calories Burned in 1 Hour
Being active is vital to losing weight and keeping it off. When active, the body uses more energy in the form of calories. To lose weight, most people need to cut the number of calories they eat and move more. Diet affects weight loss more than physical activity does. Losing weight with diet alone and without physical activity can make people weaker because of age-related losses in bone density and muscle mass.
This list shows about how many calories are burned while doing certain exercises for one hour based on a person who weighs 160 pounds (73 kilograms). Remember, to lose weight or to keep weight from creeping up on you as you age, you need to eat less and move more.
Tips for Starting a Cardio Routine
Before starting a cardio workout routine, assess your fitness level and set realistic goals. If you’ve been sedentary for a while, start with short, low-intensity workouts. Gradually increase the duration and intensity as your endurance improves.
- Warm-up and Cool-down: Warm up for a few minutes with a brisk walk or calisthenics. Cool down the same way.
- Listen to Your Body: Skip a workout if you feel sick or lack energy.
- Hydrate: Drink fluids before, during, and after your workout.
- Choose Safe Terrain: Avoid running or jogging on uneven terrain to reduce the risk of injury.
- Stop if Necessary: Stop if you feel sudden pain or have trouble catching your breath.
The Importance of Rest and Recovery
Rest days are crucial for preventing injury, burnout, and fatigue. On your rest day, consider active recovery like going for a light intensity walk, bike ride, or doing chores around the garden. Rest day doesn’t mean staying sedentary.
Cardio for Different Populations
Cardio workouts are beneficial for anyone, regardless of their fitness level, age, gender, or even if they are differently-abled. People who have chronic health conditions may not be able to do as much cardio exercise, but it’s still important to try to be as active as possible.
The Best Time to Workout
In general, working out any time of the day is good for your health. However, some studies suggest that working out in the afternoon, between 2-6 pm, may be the best time. While studies have conflicting findings as to when is the optimal time for cardio, the important takeaway here is that regardless of the time, cardio is important.