Water is indeed the universal solvent because it can even wash away stress. Its presence alone is therapeutic. The mere sight and the feel of the movement of water are calming. The sounds of the ripples and waves are relaxing. It’s no wonder aerobic water exercises are highly effective and recommended as an exercise regimen.

Water exercises are highly aerobic and good for the cardiovascular system. The routines help lower the risk of hypertension. These workouts have low-impact but are highly effective in combating stress. It is extremely relaxing. Try these aerobic water exercises:

1. Side lateral raise - The participant should put his arms on the side with palms facing inward and the back of the hands facing outwards. The water will serve as a form of resistance for this exercise. Lift or raise the arms towards the side until the arms are aligned to the shoulders. Lower the arms back to the side of the body. For more resistance, hold the arms longer when it is aligned to the shoulders for about a minute and gradually release this hold and move the arms back the sides.

2. Forward flies - The participant should have his arms extended towards the side keeping it aligned with the shoulders. The back of the hands should face the sky. Rotate the upper arm to make the palm face forward and create resistance with the water. Move the arms towards the center until arms are parallel to each other with palms facing each other. Rotate the upper arms to make the palm face outwards and move the arms towards the side to realign with the shoulders again.

3. Leg lifts - The participant should stand with his feet close together. The arms should be holding the waist with the elbows bent on the sides forming a 90-degree angle. Lift one of the legs to the side up to a comfortable level. Hold the position until some muscle burn is felt. Gradually lower the leg back to the starting position. Next, lift the other leg to the side up to a comfortable level and hold until some muscle burn is felt eventually lowering the leg back.

4. Forward leg lifts - The participant should still keep his feet close together. Also, keep the arms holding the sides of the waist making the elbows form a 90-degree angle. Always keep the back or the spine straight. Raise the upper leg so that it is parallel to the ground and the knees bent forming a right angle. Hold this position and gradually raise the lower leg so that it is also parallel to the ground. Now that the leg is extended, perform the upper leg raise for the other leg.

These exercises are not very different or far from the workouts done on land. However, most water routines use water itself as resistance making it less prone to injuries. Enjoy your stress-free day in the water!

Finding the perfect Workout Routines takes time and effort. These best workout routines is a great place to start if a person is interested in flat abs. The P90X workout routines is also another workout that will help develop flat abs.

Are you one of the many people who perform long cardio sessions of 45 to 60 minutes? Some people are still unaware that this is not the most efficient method for fat loss. Researchers have discovered that breaking up your cardio workouts into smaller segments helps to burn more fat than performing cardio in one single long session.

The study, by the University of Tokyo and the Institute of Sports Medicine in Copenhagen, involved 7 men who either performed one 60 minute cardio session or 2 sets of 30 minute cardio workouts with a rest of 20 minutes in between. The exercisers worked at an intensity of about 60% of max.

The results concluded that there was a higher degree of fat burning when exercisers performed 2 bouts of cardio instead of 1 continuous session.

This is yet another reason to mix up your cardio sessions at the gym. You could perform one session of cardio, then do an abs circuit or stretching session before doing your second cardio workout. You could even perform one session of interval training and then a second session of steady pace training to help take your fitness and fat loss to new levels. Try also performing each cardio session on a different piece of equipment. Don’t just stick to your favourite treadmill or stationary bike - try new things. If you hate the stepper because it’s hard, then overcome the obstacle and feel the sense of achievement in mastering a new exercise.

This is and ideal way to add variety and interest to your workouts.

http://www.michael-geary.com

Cardio must be done at the gym, right? Or pounding the pavements outside in the cold and rain, or by lapping the pool for hours on end?

Well, no, not at all - especially when you have a kettlebell or two to hand!

Cardiovascular activity is anything that involves elevating the heart rate to get it working harder than usual, and will involve movement of the major limbs in order to elicit an elevated heart rate response.

We all think of the obvious forms of cardio, but even weight training can have a cardiovascular benefit when the exercises are performed with minimal rest in between. I’m sure you’ve heard of circuit training, but when it comes to performing cardio outside of a circuit class we all tend to migrate to the ‘usuals’.

I think a lot of this is down to gyms! We don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves, so we ‘follow the herd’ and do what everyone else is doing, and what will keep us as invisible as possible. Jumping jacks, skipping, burpees etc are all just a little too, well, different, to feel comfortable doing in public.

Even if we exercise at home, it still feels a bit strange jumping around not moving anywhere, so we might go for a run instead. Ironically going nowhere in another sense…

The bodyweight exercises mentioned above are all excellent cardio conditioning exercises, and are actually more intense so can be performed in an interval training format (e.g. 1 minute on and 1 minute off) which gives you a far better fat burning and metabolism boosting workout than the equivalent time spent at a steady plod on the treadmill! You get much more high intensity work in, and it is intensity, not time spent exercising, that is the key to increased fitness and a boosted metabolism (which means increased fat loss!).

Kettlebells are also a perfect way to get cardiovascular conditioning without even having to move from the spot you are in - if you are ever asked what you would take onto your desert island, make sure it’s a kettlebell (you’ll then look super hot when you find the local ‘talent’ too!).

Swings are the basic kettlebell dynamic (hence cardiovascular) exercise, and involve your entire body. You simply (there is specific technique involved so not that simple to start with) swing the kettlebell backwards and forwards, bending at the knees and hips as you lower the kettlebell and driving the legs and hips up to raise the kettlebell, using momentum from the power of your legs and hips, rather than the strength of your arms.

If you doubt whether this can match plodding away on a treadmill, I recommend you give it a go! I did 25 swings with a 16kg kettlebell yesterday in between each set of resistance exercises (a total of 23 sets of 25 swings!) and in around 30 mins I had had a heart-pounding, metabolism boosting, endorphin rushing workout that was hard but enjoyable and immensely satisfying!

Compare that to jogging on a treadmill watch TV…. In fact, maybe don’t even try! In my view there is no contest, and once you’ve given it a go you’ll surely be hooked too!

For more kettlebell information as well as fat loss, fitness, health and nutrition secrets check out my blog: http://kettlebellebody.blogspot.com and make sure you sign up to my mailing list!

http://www.perfectfitforlife.com

Aerobic cross-training refers to using two to three different types of aerobic exercise during an exercise session. For example, if you plan to exercise for 60 minutes, you might start with 20 minutes of walking or jogging, followed by 20 minutes of biking, and finish with 20 minutes of rowing.

Now, please don’t get the impression that you have to be in great shape to do this or that it has to be 60 minutes long. You can start with something as simple as a ten minute walk followed by ten minutes with an exercise video. This is cross-training too. You can gradually build up from there.

re you ashamed of your weight? Do you have a goal weight that you want to reach through weight loss? I’d say so, it’s been pushed into our brains many times over and over again that “weight loss” is what we want to accomplish. There are weight loss guides, weight loss supplements, and many other things that push “weight loss”. Many people even set their goals to be at a certain weight. Additionally, the medical community has developed an “ideal weight” chart, which can further add to the confusion about weight loss.

Only natural weight loss can be permanent. Going on diets and taking weight loss pills to eliminate food cravings is only temporary and leads to obesity.

Most weight loss systems are not natural, and that’s why the “failure rate” is over 98%.

There are no diets whatsoever, which lead to natural weight loss, because every single diet slows down your metabolism, which means that when you go off the diet, you will eventually gain back more weight than you lost.

I have put together a very comprehensive site in regard to exercise and weightloss.
It can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it.

http://infofromtt.com/aerobics

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Stafferton

Aerobic exercise has tremendous physical benefits for you and it should be a part of your exercise routine. What does it do for you physically that makes it such an important form of exercise? Just ask your heart, lungs, and muscles - they will give you a quick answer.

Here is what happens inside your body when you get out and do aerobic exercise on a consistent basis:

1. Your heart gains strength and as time goes along it is able to pump a greater volume of blood with each beat. This is typically called larger stroke volume. Lest you forget, the heart is a muscle and just like any other muscle, the more you exercise it, the bigger and stronger it becomes. Your ticker gets much more efficient at what it does. Your heart chambers are able to bring in larger quantities of blood with each beat, thus increasing the amount of output it has in terms of supplying the rest of the body with oxygen rich blood. Top notch athletes can have stroke volumes twice as high as average folks.

2. With this increase in stroke volume, you will find that pretty soon your heart isn’t going to have to beat as often while you are exercising. Your heart is naturally becoming stronger and more efficient; and you didn’t even have to think about it - you just simply needed to get your body moving. Your body is amazing isn’t it! This is all part of the reason why, when you first started walking, running, biking or whatever aerobic exercise you have chosen, you didn’t make it half way around the block without huffing and puffing. With consistent, regular exercise, you’ll look back after a few months and wonder how you could have ever been that out of shape. If you monitor your pulse while you exercise, over time you will see that it takes more intense exercise to get your heart rate up. When you first started exercising, just the thought of exercising got your heart rate up! You will also notice that your resting heart beat is lower. Most people’s resting pulse rate is between 60-80 beats per minute. Some well conditioned individuals can have resting heart beats as low as 40 beats per minute. While yours may never get that low, it will go down.

3. Like the heart, the muscles in the rest of your body are getting better at what they do. I want you to picture about 100 little oxygen molecules that your heart has sent circling past a particular muscle. The stronger that particular muscle is, better job it does of absorbing those little oxygen buggers. If the muscle isn’t very fit, it may absorb only 30 of them, but if it is stronger it will grab all 100. To make a long story short, it has made better use of the oxygen that has been delivered to it. Your muscles now have more endurance and this also explains why you are now getting a lot further than just halfway around the block before you crash and burn.

4. There is also some mitochondrial action (don’t worry about remembering that term) going on inside your muscles also. The mitochondria are the fellows who are doing the grunt work in your muscles. They use the oxygen to burn fat and carbohydrates to make you go. In short, without these guys, you won’t be going far. The more you exercise the more mitochondrias your muscles develop. Regular aerobic exercise can bring about increases of these within a matter of weeks, sometimes even days.

You getting the picture? I hope so. This will at least give you a little knowledge of what is going on inside you while you are doing your thing. The important point however, is to get out there and DO YOUR THING!

Dean Erickson is a free lance writer. For more information on aerobics, weightloss, and other fitness topics, visit http://www.aerobicexerciseweightloss.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dean_S._Erickson

OK, so sweat isn’t particularly the nicest of topics to talk about. People spend vast amounts of money on deodorants to stop themselves from sweating. It’s no wonder either because sweating can turn smelly and make our clothes wet and uncomfortable to wear. The thing is though that our bodies need to sweat in order to be able to keep in good health.

But why should this be? Sweating is so horrible, surely it can’t be good for you? Well, the reason we sweat is because humans need to intake water for a variety of reasons. Water is essential for tissues and cells in our body and it allows important elements such as salt and sugar to be transported throughout the body. Besides these reasons, water also acts as our bodies own thermostat so that you can keep to the optimum temperature for health.

In order for your body to be able to maintain your body in equilibrium you’re body goes through the process of homeostasis. To be able to do this body temperature is extremely important. If the temperature of your body becomes too high you experience a fever and even heat stroke. When your body gets too cold then you suffer from chills. Both of these conditions should be avoided in order to stay healthy.

Also perspiration isn’t the primary method of homeostasis it’s very important for body temperature control. When we exercise all the different chemical reactions increase in speed which causes the internal temperature of your body to increase. Your body is always aiming for equilibrium which is about 98.6F/37C. Sweating causes the heat to be carried out from your body through the skin.

It’s also said that by sweating you are expelling lots of toxins from your body so it’s important that you do some exercising that is designed to make you sweat. There are so many different types of exercise that allows you to do this. Cycling, running, rowing, boxing and weightlifting all allow you to achieve this.

In addition to sweating out toxins you’re body also releases many different good hormones that increase your levels of happiness. This is why some people exercise instead of taking anti-depressants. There have been many studies on the effects of exercise and one of them found that people with gastroenteritis (GI) have had their symptoms greatly reduced when they have been exercising more. How you choose to get more exercise is up to you. Some people like to join a gym whilst others prefer to go hill walking and enjoy the outdoors.

April Kerr is keen on exercise and has created website Best Elliptical Trainers which has details of Reebok elliptical trainers and Schwinn elliptical trainers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=April_Kerr

Although running to lose weight is not for everyone, but if you are capable of running, then you will find tremendous benefits. To get the most out of your running exercise, it is important that you follow a few, simple guidelines. After all, you want each running outing to be effective, but also enjoyable. The great thing about using running to lose weight is that you can do it wherever you go. Therefore, if you travel, you can still find a place to run. If it were raining, an indoor treadmill would be the ideal solution.

Running to lose weight has been a favorite option for millions of people. Something about getting outdoors in the fresh air is invigorating, boosting a person’s level of energy and clearing the mind. While you could use a number of exercises to drop pounds, running to lose weight works exceptionally well, while building up lean muscle and improving the heart and lungs.

As mentioned, if you are going to use running to lose weight, you want to do it the right way. The information below will help you with the various decisions needing to be made.

Proper Running Attire

While running to lose weight should be fun, if you were not wearing the right attire or shoes, you will find the experience a miserable one. The last thing you want to do is come home with a foot full of blisters or sick from not having enough layers on. It is important to wear clothing that provides ventilation, but also clothing that is not too hot or too cool.

Additionally, we strongly recommend that you invest in two to three pairs of high quality running shoes. Then, alternate the shoes each time you go out running to lose weight. This will make your feet more comfortable while reducing the risk of chin splints.

Carbohydrates and Protein

Before you go out running to lose weight, it is important to fuel the body. For this, you should eat a little bit of carbohydrates about 30 to 45 minutes ahead of time. A great option would be a cup of cooked pasta, topped with a little bit of protein in the form of chicken or cheese.

Safety

Of course, whether you plan to go running to lose weight during the day or nighttime hours, you always want to put safety first. Sure, listening to an MP3 player or iPod makes the time go faster but it also blocks out your hearing. Unfortunately, many people have been attacked while running and listening to music, having been snuck up on from behind. Instead, stay in populated areas, use well-lit roads, parks, or paths, avoid the headphones, and if possible, run with a friend or dog.

Remember, in addition to running to lose weight, you can also incorporate various forms of exercise, breaking up the routine to make it more interesting. For example, you might start running to lose weight on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then bike, swim, or hike on Tuesday and Thursday.

In addition, for the greatest success, it is imperative that you start on a healthy diet, trying to keep calorie intake between 1,200 and 1,500 daily. By choosing the right foods, especially those high in fiber that will make you feel full, you will actually eat more but with fewer calories

By using running to lose weight, you will easily burn 200 to 300 calories every day. When you add that up over the course of a week, you have lost one to two pounds, which is considered a healthy weight loss goal. Keep in mind that a pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Therefore, if you can use running to lose weight along with other exercise options and a diet of fewer calories, you can be certain the pounds will begin to fade.

In addition to enjoying the benefits to the body by running to lose weight, you will also enjoy benefits for the mind. Running is an excellent way to de-stress and relax. Since stress has also been shown to have a direct link to weight gain, by reducing stress, you have just found yet another benefit of this type of exercise.

Do you want to learn other proven ways to lose weight fast? Learn all of them through a FREE weight loss interview with a certified, professional fitness coach with over 15 years of experience. Get your interview here. http://www.FatBurn4Idiots.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Mcewen

Regular cardiovascular training can improve overall health in a big way but only if done in right intensity and couples with a good diet. Cardiovascular training is one of the most important aspects of fitness.Not only does it strengthen heart but can also add years to your life by decreasing stress,lowering blood pressure and reduce cholesterol.In fact if you are looking to reduce weight,cardiovascular training in conjunction with a good diet is one of the most effective ways to achieve your goal.

Swimming,jogging,running,cycling are all good forms of cardio vascular training and if done regularly can help you reap a lot of benefits to your health.However,it is important to keep in mind that if you are new to cardio training then you must increase your intensity gradually,trying to do too much,too soon will usually result in you either becoming injured or discouraged.

Research show that an aerobic exercise program that exceeds more than four 45 minutes sessions per week has a limited effect on improving your aerobic capacity.You burn up more calories if you aerobically exercise more,but you won’t necessarily wind up with a heightened level of cardiovascular fitness.In addition,exercising aerobically more than 1.5 hours per week may be counterproductive,if your goal is to maximize your level of muscle mass.

Your goal dictates how much cardio you should do.For example if your goal is to reduce body fat then 20-40 minutes sessions 3 to 4 times a week.Start slowly if you are just starting training,e.g. three times per week,20 minutes per session.But if you are trying to gain weight then do very less cardio like 2 sessions of 20 minutes of light intensity to maintain health benefits.For improving cardiovascular fitness three to four sessions of 20-30 minutes should yield good result.

It’s also important to change your exercise pattern after you have been on a regimen for a period of time.Alternate between swimming,running,cycling and aerobics if possible.This keeps the cardiovascular workout more effective.The key to effective cardiovascular training is consistency and regularity while ensuring you keep safe!Happy Running!

He has an affiliate marketing experience of two years. Read more:http://www.articlecorner.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rohit_Tomar

Once again, we have been shown that when it comes to understanding how the body actually works, we usually take two steps forward and one step back. That’s because we usually jump to conclusions without understanding the bigger picture.

For years, many top body builder’s have achieved extremely lean bodies without doing one second of cardio-vascular exercise (Cardio). Their lack of body fat was usually attributed to their low carbohydrate, high protein, low fat diets.

Now, there is a possible new explanation making the rounds among training experts. It is Anaerobic or Extremely High Intensity Exercise protocols. Since weight lifting is Anaerobic exercise, we must look to data from Anerobic studies to explain the low body fat on these champion body builders.

The study most often cited is the one performed by Dr. Tabata, a Japanese Researcher. The wide spread acceptance of the results of his study led to his workout being called the Tabata protocol.

In my opinion, his study group was too small to be as widely accepted as gospel by so many knowledgeable people. His study consisted of only fourteen very fit college age athletes. Seven followed the protocol and seven followed a typical aerobic type routine.

The results were staggering. The seven athletes following the protocol warmed up for ten minutes and then did seven sessions of stationary bike exercise at 140% of their VO2 max with a ten second rest interval in between each one, five days a week for only six weeks. Their resistance level was automatically monitored and adjusted to keep them at 140% of VO2 max.

This group averaged a 14% increase in VO2 max (aerobic capacity) and a 28% increase in Anaerobic capacity (which is your ability to work at high intensity without using oxygen).

The control group exercised at 70% of their VO2 max for 60 minutes, five days a week for the same 6 weeks. They averaged a 9% increase in Aerobic capacity and no change to their Anaerobic capacity.

So just what exactly does this mean? I’m glad you asked.

For now, all it really means is that seven extremely fit individuals working at levels which maybe dangerously high for average people, achieved fantastic results with only 4 minutes of Anaerobic exercise.

That’s it. However, already there are hundreds of articles written by self-described experts (kind of like me) changing Tabata’s parameters to suit themselves and their paying audience.

Some say changing the 4 minutes of unbelievably hard exercise to 4 minutes of hard exercise, or even moderately hard exercise, will do just fine. Others say doing high intensity weight lifting is just as good. Another groups says that twice per week instead of 5 times per week is fine. And still others say that any unmonitored or self monitored exercise activity will work just as well as one that is designed to force you keep working at these predetermined, extremely high intensity levels

Just to put things in prospective, exercising for 20 seconds at 140% of VO2 max is something most people have never done since they were a young child (if at all).

Now perhaps some of or maybe even all of these people maybe correct. But, to be Completely Blunt and Honest, at best, they are just going by what they feel; and, at worst, they are making things up to keep their readers/clients happy and make an easy buck by telling people something they think they want to hear.

This study is something no scientifically minded researcher would ever accept as an incontestable fact. He/she may think some of these results and ideas have merit and may deserve further examination. However, that is a long way from telling people that their ideas are definitely just as good as study that has very little data to back it up in the first place.

To me, this seems like an industry, that because it thinks it needs constant shake up to generate new business, jumping on a study whose size was so small that no other professional group (I know of) would ever accept it as a proven fact.

This is compounded by the need of trainers to seem as if they know the latest research, especially when they know it sounds too good to be true (or can be made to sound to good to be true).

So what’s my two cents? High Intensity Interval Training works. The Tabata protocol seems to help explain why. Creating an Oxygen debt by working harder and creating the need for more oxygen than your body can chemically process during the work period seems to be the reason. What that reason is exactly has not been proven.

So what’s a person to do? The Tabata protocol does seem to be worth trying if you are extremely fit. If not, you must get your doctor’s approval before even attempting anything nearly as intense as this. Remember, it has been reported that most of his highly fit subjects had difficulty completing the seventh set of 20 seconds at all out effort.

Always keep in mind that the results from any exercise or exercise routine will depend upon the genetics of the person doing it, the skill level of the person doing it, the level of fitness of the person doing it, the life style of the person doing it , the age of the person doing it and the consistency of the person doing it even if all other parameters of the exercise or routine are the same.

Since most people do Cardio in order to lose weight/fat, if these protocols deliver even half of what the preliminary results predict, then a lot less people will be hitting the Cardio machines; and, those that do, will be spending a lot less time on them.

Gary Giamboi is a NASM certified Personal Trainer, an E-500RYT Yoga Alliance Instructor, a Level 4 Qigong Instructor from the National Qigong Association, holds the rank of Kyoshi (Teaching Master) in several Japanese Martial Arts from the Genbukan World Ninpo Federation and the Kokusai Jujutsu Renmei and a Master’s License in Taijiquan (Tai Chi) and Qigong.

He is available for Private Training and Consultations, as well as, seminars and the 200 hour Yoga Teachers Training courses.

He can be reached via his website, http://www.Genbukan.biz

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Giamboi

Our Heart :

The heart is a hollow, muscular organ that pumps blood, rich with oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body. It is the organ which functions incessantly round the clock. Heart lies in the center of the chest, slightly to the left and protected by the breast bone (sternum).

The heart is made up of a powerful muscle called Myocardium. The heart has two separate pumps that continuously send blood through out the body carrying nutrients, oxygen and helping remove harmful wastes. A wall (septum) divides the heart into a right side and left side. The right side heart receives impure blood low in oxygen. The left side heart receives pure blood that has oxygenated by the lungs. This cycle is repeated about 70 times per minute and is counted as a pulse.

The heart is divided into four chambers. Two upper chambers (atria) receive blood from the veins. Two lower chambers (ventricles) pump blood out of the heart through arteries. The heart has four valves that keep the blood flowing in the correct direction i.e., work as regulators.

The heart muscle is nourished by a system of arteries, which originate from the ‘aorta’: the right and left coronary arteries.

Heart Functions:

The heart functions as interrelated double pumps. One pump (right heart) receives blood, which has just come from the body after delivering nutrients and oxygen to the body tissues. It pumps this dark, bluish red blood to the lungs where the blood gets rid of a waste gas (carbon dioxide) and picks up a fresh supply of oxygen which turns it a bright red again. The second pump (left heart) receives this “reconditioned” blood from the lungs and pumps it out through the great trunk -artery (aorta) to be distributed by smaller arteries to all parts of the body. Types of Heart disorders :

There are three main diseases of the heart.

1) Coronary artery disease (King’s Disease):
Coronary arteries become narrow or blocked due to the deposition of Cholesterol and other body fats leading to ‘artherosclerosis’, commonly called ‘hardening of the arteries’. Artherosclerosis causes insufficient blood flow to the heart muscles. Angioplasty, intensive medication, life style changes, and in severe cases, a by-pass surgery is recommended to correct the defect.

2) Valvular heart disease:
It is a defect in the valves by birth, infection causing scarring or thickening leading to insufficient opening or closure of valves for blood flow. This disorder can be cured either by medication or by artificial valvular surgery.

3) Congenital heart disease:
Congenital heart defects are problems with the heart’s structure that are present at birth. These defects can involve the interior walls of the heart, valves inside the heart, or the arteries and veins that carry blood to the heart or out to the body. Congenital heart defects change the normal flow of blood through the heart.

There are many different types of congenital heart defects. They range from simple defects with no symptoms to complex defects with severe, life-threatening symptoms. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect, affecting 8 of every 1,000 newborns. Most of these defects are simple conditions that are easily fixed or need no treatment. A small number of babies are born with complex congenital heart defects that need special medical attention soon after birth. Over the past few decades, the diagnosis and treatment of these complex defects has greatly improved. As a result, almost all children with complex heart defects grow to adulthood and can live active, productive lives because their heart defects have been effectively treated. Most people with complex heart defects continue to need special heart care throughout their lives. They may need to pay special attention to certain issues that their condition could affect, such as health insurance, employment, pregnancy and contraception, and preventing infection during routine health procedures.

Symptoms of heart problems:

1. Angina - and its symptoms

Angina develops when the blood flow to the heart is less than the demand. Angina is the heart muscle’s complaint of inadequate oxygen, occurs when the work of the heart is increased by:

• Excitement
• Exercise
• Walking fast
• Eating a large meal

Angina may also occur when you are at rest. The feelings that go with poor circulation are passed along the spinal column to the brain and may trigger any nerve along the path. Therefore, the feelings of angina vary greatly from person to person. They may be described as:

• Indigestion.
• Tightness.
• Fullness.
• Numbness / tingling in any part of the arm.
• Choking.
• Pains in the jaw, teeth, ear lobes.
• Discomfort in the neck or between the shoulder blades.

Many people have angina that is well controlled by medications and modifications of certain activities, if not controlled by them coronary by-pass surgery may be recommended.

2. Chest discomfort
3. Chest pain
4. Brief pain episodes - often 2-5 minutes
5. Pain worsens on exercise
6. Shortness of breath
7. Indigestion
8. Palpitations