American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity for at least five days per week. Their target is 150 minutes of physical aerobic exercise.

Or, if you are up to it with your doctor’s blessings, 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, three time per week for a total of 75 minutes.

There are eleven components in physical fitness. Only one is related to cardiopulmonary (cardiovascular) endurance that is in a traditional sense improve by aerobic exercise.

As we age, and our concern with heart health increases, a misunderstanding about health may lead us to go for a half an hour leisurely walk and consider it a moderate activity and make it a brisk walk as our intense aerobic activity.

As we age we also lose muscle mass, have difficulty with balance and our body become stiff. Walking and similar activities do not address any of the other ten components of physical fitness.

To develop muscle mass, you would need resistance training, to improve balance you need balance training exercises and to improve yours flexibility you need flexibility exercises.

Does this mean you should spend your entire day working out?

As much as I enjoy workouts, I have other things in life I like to do.

Well designed custom workout plans use all eleven components of fitness in a synergistic and progressive way that affect your total wellness and not just your heart health.

There is a clear connection between stress and hypertension. Learning to manage stress is part of a comprehensive treatment of hypertension. One of the four suggestions American Heart Association makes to manage stress is a daily program that involves ten minutes deep breathing. The terms deep breathing without a basic understanding of anatomy could be confusing and counter productive.

The primary confusion in deep breathing is in the role the diaphragm muscle plays in deep breathing vs the role your chest plays. Your diaphragm is responsible for about half of your breathing volume. Imagine that a single dome shape muscle responsible for half of your breathing capacity.

The rest of your breath comes from external intercostal muscles,internal intercostal muscles, scalene muscles, sternomastoids, alae nasi, rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, transversus abdominus and other small muscles in the neck and head.

When the illusion of deep breathing focuses your attention to upper chest movement you begin to use all the muscles that move the chest. That takes a lot of energy and the return does not even come close to learning true deep breathing that happens by focusing on belly breathing which engages your diaphragm.

Breathing patterns that help you use and strengthen your diaphragm are among the most effective patterns for relaxation.