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Cardiovascular Health

Exercise Routines: Movement for a Fit Heart

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Updated on: February 6, 2025

Movement and exercise have many well-established health benefits, including improved mental health, increased overall fitness, and reduced risk of chronic diseases. Spending too much time seated with little physical activity has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and reduced life expectancy.1 As part of a healthy lifestyle, exercise routines and increased movement specifically contribute to reduced inflammation in the body2 and a lower risk of heart disease.1,3 

Many different types of physical activities, from simple movement to high intensity, are beneficial for heart health.4,5 As part of a personalized treatment, functional medicine practitioners work with each patient when considering a range of exercise options that are available and align with a patient’s medical needs, personal goals, and preferences. 

Fitness & the Healthy Heart

The American Heart Association recommends several exercise approaches for improving cardiovascular (i.e., heart) and respiratory fitness in adults, including:6 

  • Moderate and vigorous aerobic activity.
  • Muscle strengthening through resistance training.
  • Increasing daily movement while decreasing sedentary behavior (i.e., sitting time and inactivity).
  • Adding intensity to physical activity. 

Flexibility and balance training are additional exercise strategies, and the heart health benefits of specific routines continue to be studied.7,8 As an example, a recent clinical trial found that 12 weeks of passive stretching of the legs (five 40-minute sessions per week) improved blood pressure and artery health.7 

AEROBIC, RESISTANCE, AND COMBINED TRAINING

Aerobic and resistance training programs may have different routines, but both have shown similar benefits for cardiovascular fitness. Alone or combined, these exercises have been associated with decreased blood pressure levels.9,10 A 2021 study found that a combined exercise routine that included aerobic plus resistance training was the most effective for:11 

  • Improving weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure.
  • Controlling blood sugar, insulin, and total blood fat levels.

INTERVAL AND CONTINOUS TRAINING

Studies have investigated the benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) for adults with existing heart issues such as hypertension (i.e., high blood pressure). Both interventions have been shown to help reduce blood pressure measurements and improve cardiorespiratory fitness.5,12

DANCING, WALKING, AND RUNNING

Dancing, walking, and running are aerobic exercises that benefit heart function by improving cardiovascular fitness.6 

  • Studies on dancing have suggested that this activity helps to reduce blood pressure measurements.13  
  • A recent study found that adding 1,000 walking steps per day may lower cardiovascular disease risk and improve life expectancy.14
  • Studies on running have also suggested that even small quantities of running (i.e., ≤1 time a week, <50 min a week, and <6 mph) have significant heart and overall health benefits.15

PILATES, TAI CHI, AND YOGA

Increasing daily movement, even in low-impact ways, may be beneficial for heart health.

  • Pilates training addresses flexibility, strength, and balance and may be effective for the improvement of blood vessel function and blood pressure for those with or at risk for high blood pressure.16-19
  • Studies also suggest that tai chi exercises may reduce blood pressure, total cholesterol, fat levels in the blood, and blood sugar while improving quality of life for adults with hypertension.4 
  • Practicing yoga continues to indicate heart benefits such as reduced blood pressure measurements.20

The Functional Medicine Approach

A personalized, whole-body approach to heart health that includes lifestyle-based treatments such as exercise are foundational in the functional medicine model. Practitioners collaborate with patients to develop tailored therapies that are most beneficial to a patient’s health condition and their overall health goals. 

Use the link below to find a functional medicine practitioner near you to learn more about how different exercise approaches may help improve cardiovascular and respiratory fitness and how lifestyle-based therapies that include increased physical activities may be appropriate in a personalized health intervention.

Find a functional medicine practitioner near you!

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REFERENCES
  1. Zhao R, Bu W, Chen Y, Chen X. The dose-response associations of sedentary time with chronic diseases and the risk for all-cause mortality affected by different health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Nutr Health Aging. 2020;24(1):63-70. doi:10.1007/s12603-019-1298-3
  2. Alizaei Yousefabadi H, Niyazi A, Alaee S, Fathi M, Mohammad Rahimi GR. Anti-inflammatory effects of exercise on metabolic syndrome patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biol Res Nurs. 2021;23(2):280-292. doi:10.1177/1099800420958068
  3. Cleven L, Krell-Roesch J, Nigg CR, Woll A. The association between physical activity with incident obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypertension in adults: a systematic review of longitudinal studies published after 2012. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1):726. doi:10.1186/s12889-020-08715-4
  4. Liang H, Luo S, Chen X, Lu Y, Liu Z, Wei L. Effects of tai chi exercise on cardiovascular disease risk factors and quality of life in adults with essential hypertension: a meta-analysis. Heart Lung. 2020;49(4):353-363. doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2020.02.041
  5. Qin Y, Kumar Bundhun P, Yuan ZL, Chen MH. The effect of high-intensity interval training on exercise capacity in post-myocardial infarction patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2022;29(3):475-484. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwab060
  6. American Heart Association editorial staff. American Heart Association recommendations for physical activity in adults and kids. American Heart Association. Reviewed January 19, 2024. Accessed January 7, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/aha-recs-for-physical-activity-in-adults
  7. Bisconti AV, Cè E, Longo S, et al. Evidence for improved systemic and local vascular function after long-term passive static stretching training of the musculoskeletal system. J Physiol. 2020;598(17):3645-3666. doi:10.1113/JP279866
  8. Wong A, Figueroa A. Effects of acute stretching exercise and training on heart rate variability: a review. J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(5):1459-1466. doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000003084
  9. Pires NF, Coelho-Júnior HJ, Gambassi BB, et al. Combined aerobic and resistance exercises evokes longer reductions on ambulatory blood pressure in resistant hypertension: a randomized crossover trial. Cardiovasc Ther. 2020;2020:8157858. doi:10.1155/2020/8157858
  10. Pedralli ML, Marschner RA, Kollet DP, et al. Different exercise training modalities produce similar endothelial function improvements in individuals with prehypertension or hypertension: a randomized clinical trial [published correction appears in Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):10564]. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):7628. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64365-x
  11. Liang M, Pan Y, Zhong T, Zeng Y, Cheng ASK. Effects of aerobic, resistance, and combined exercise on metabolic syndrome parameters and cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2021;22(4):1523-1533. doi:10.31083/j.rcm2204156
  12. Leal JM, Galliano LM, Del Vecchio FB. Effectiveness of high-intensity interval training versus moderate-intensity continuous training in hypertensive patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2020;22(3):26. doi:10.1007/s11906-020-1030-z
  13. Peng Y, Su Y, Wang YD, Yuan LR, Wang R, Dai JS. Effects of regular dance therapy intervention on blood pressure in hypertension individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2021;61(2):301-309. doi:10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11088-0
  14. Hall KS, Hyde ET, Bassett DR, et al. Systematic review of the prospective association of daily step counts with risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, and dysglycemia. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2020;17(1):78. doi:10.1186/s12966-020-00978-9
  15. Pedisic Z, Shrestha N, Kovalchik S, et al. Is running associated with a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality, and is the more the better? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2020;54(15):898-905. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-100493
  16. Rocha J, Cunha FA, Cordeiro R, Monteiro W, Pescatello LS, Farinatti P. Acute effect of a single session of Pilates on blood pressure and cardiac autonomic control in middle-aged adults with hypertension. J Strength Cond Res. 2020;34(1):114-123. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000003060
  17. Wong A, Figueroa A, Fischer SM, Bagheri R, Park SY. The effects of mat Pilates training on vascular function and body fatness in obese young women with elevated blood pressure. Am J Hypertens. 2020;33(6):563-569. doi:10.1093/ajh/hpaa026
  18. Andrade IYTP, Melo KCB, Andrade KTP, Almeida LG, Moreira SR. Pilates training reduces blood pressure in older women with type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2022;30:168-175. doi:10.1016/j.jbmt.2022.02.022
  19. Batista JP, Tavares JB, Gonçalves LF, et al. Mat Pilates training reduces blood pressure in both well-controlled hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women: a controlled clinical trial study. Clin Exp Hypertens. 2022;44(6):548-556. doi:10.1080/10641963.2022.2079670
  20. Nalbant G, Hassanein ZM, Lewis S, Chattopadhyay K. Content, structure, and delivery characteristics of yoga interventions for managing hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Front Public Health. 2022;10:846231. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.846231