The NHS recommends that adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week to help protect against heart disease. Whilst some people benefit from the exercise-focussed environment of a gym, others prefer to incorporate exercise into their daily regime such that it does not feel like exercise at all.
We are currently in the middle of National Gardening Week (2nd to 8th May), and this is the perfect time of year to be getting out into the garden to tidy things up after a long winter. Burning an average of 300 calories an hour, gardening is also classed as a moderate intensity exercise, so there is an added incentive to get out into the fresh air and dig up some weeds.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) particularly recognises the benefits that gardening can have on body and mind, so much so that there was a British Heart Foundation Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011. The BHF also has an area of its website dedicated to gardening and heart disease, with tips and advice from patients with various heart conditions who have continued to keep their spruces spruced in spite of their ill health.
Fresh air and a bit of gentle exercise can make a huge difference to how a person feels both physically and psychologically, so we hope that this National Gardening Week will see some of our patients get involved with the great outdoors and feel better for it.