Exercise Your Way to a Healthier Heart | Pigeon Forge, TN Walk-In Clinic

You know that you need to exercise. But do you really have a good understanding of how physical activity positively impacts your body and mind? Our team at AFC Urgent Care Sevierville has some insight to share.

The Benefits of Exercise

Exercise is important for maintaining a healthy weight, improving your mood and increasing cognitive function—and it also plays a crucial role in promoting a healthy heart.

For starters, exercise helps to lower a person’s blood pressure by keeping the blood vessels open, allowing blood to flow smoothly from the arteries to the heart.

Second, exercise has been shown to help manage the effects of stress. There are many events in life that can cause stress. And some stress is actually good for you. But too much stress is not. Exercising regularly allows you to reduce stress by releasing endorphins in the body that promote a positive mood.

Third, excess weight is a risk factor for heart disease, as well as many of the risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Exercise can help you attain—and maintain—a healthy weight.

Exercise isn’t just beneficial for the prevention of heart issues. It has also been shown as an effective technique in the management of heart failure, a progressive condition. In fact, a recent study found that exercise helped patients with heart failure increase their heart’s ability to pump blood, which, in turn, improved their quality of life!

But how much exercise should you be getting? The American Heart Association recommends that most people exercise for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week to help improve your heart health and reduce your risk of heart disease.

Think exercise has to be something bland and tedious? Nope! Choose an activity that gets your heart pumping and that you enjoy. Even a walk works! Research found that a 30-minute brisk walk helps people raise their levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, while helping reduce the risk of heart attack by as much as 50 percent. The main point is to choose a cardio activity that you enjoy doing so that you will want to keep exercising regularly.

Get Your Heart Pumping in Pigeon Forge

Whether you live in Pigeon Forge or are just in town for a visit, there are plenty of opportunities out there to help you get the 30 minutes of daily exercise you need for optimal heart health.

One of the best ways? Get out and enjoy the natural beauty of the Smoky Mountains! Hiking in the mountains is a wonderful way to get out and enjoy the fresh air and scenery, while also easily getting in your exercise for the day. There are hikes of varying lengths and difficulty, so there’s literally something for everyone! And the Great Smoky Mountains offer an added touch—there are plenty of places where you can walk through history and see how people of yesterday lived right in our backyard.

Looking for something to enjoy in the city itself? There are plenty of places where you can enjoy some entertainment while also staying active. From the WonderWorks Indoor Amusement Park to The Island in Pigeon Forge, there are many attractions in and around Pigeon Forge that give you the ability to go on a brisk walk while also enjoying the sights!

Are you wanting to kick your exercise routine up a notch? Visit our team at AFC Urgent Care Sevierville today to make sure your health is in good shape and ready to get started!