Physical Activity

People with heart failure often worry that they can’t exercise because of their “bad heart”. In most cases, this is not true. In fact, physical activity is beneficial for your heart and your general health. A regular program of physical activity will enable you to increase your strength gradually and avoid overtaxing your heart.

1. Help increase muscle tone and strength
2. Improve your ability to function on a daily basis
3. Reduce your HF symptoms (such as shortness of breath and fatigue)

• Discuss it with your HF clinic physician or nurse, and set realistic goals
• Plan your exercise period when you feel the most energetic, i.e. first thing in the morning, or after an afternoon nap
• Perform activities, such as stretching, while sitting down whenever possible
• Rest frequently between periods of exercise.

Engaging in low to moderate intensity activities most days of the week for 30 to 45 minutes are recommended for those with stable heart failure. Being physically active may help improve heart failure symptoms, quality of life and keep you out of the hospital.

DEPENDING ON YOUR HEART FAILURE, ASK YOUR DOCTOR WHAT YOU CAN DO

Setting personal goals and habits can be a great way to get into a healthy rhythm of exercising. The following are examples of goals that you can set:

• Make exercise part of your daily routine, just like brushing your teeth and showering
• Choose a friend to exercise with
• Choose a type of exercise you enjoy
• Keep a journal of your activities. This not only reinforces your exercise habits, it will also show your doctor the progress you are making (Download and print our daily exercise chart shown below as a way of staying on top of your daily activities)

When beginning to exercise, start with very low impact activities for 5-10 minutes per day

Low impact: light walking, gardening, stretching

As you continue your exercise routine, gradually increase the amount of activity to 30 minutes per day, 5 times per week. Increase the impact to a moderate level

Moderate impact: raking leaves, dancing, biking

Stretching

After being physically active it is important to give you muscles a good stretch. Stretching helps to increase your flexibility which helps to improve posture and reduce injuries.

It’s important that stretching be done after being active when the muscles are warmed up. In order to benefit from stretching, it’s important that they are done properly.

• Side-to-side looks: Look straight ahead, slowly turn your head to one side, hold for 10 seconds, then return to centre. Repeat 3 times on each side.
• Shoulder shrugs: Sitting in a chair, slowly lift your shoulders up to your ears by squeezing your shoulder blades together, pause, then lower. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
• Shoulder circles: Extend both arms sideways at shoulder height. Rotate arms 10 times in small forward circles. Repeat circling back.

Precautions to Take

• Stop exercising immediately if you:
• Become short of breath
• Feel weak, tired, or dizzy
• Feel any physical discomfort at all
• Feel your heart rate speeding up
• Have palpitations
• Are in pain

• Heavy lifting
• Pushing heavy objects
• Shoveling snow
• Climbing stairs
• Sit-ups or push-ups
• Competitive sports
• Heavy housework – washing windows, scrubbing floors
• Racquetball, squash, tennis

Sexual activity

Heart failure does not mean you can’t enjoy sex and being close to your partner. In general, you may continue your normal sexual activities; however, it is recommended that your heart failure be stabilized prior to engaging in sexual activity

Some drugs used to treat heart failure could cause difficulty in achieving an erection. There are drugs available that help men achieve an erection, but sometimes these drugs interfere with heart medications. Please talk to your doctor if you are worried about this.

Sex is a kind of exercise, so it should be avoided for the same reasons outlined earlier. Other times when sex should be avoided: