Physical Activity
If you have coronary heart disease
Benefits of being physically active
- Improves blood sugar utilisation and insulin sensitivity
- Controls weight
- Improves fitness
- Reduces your risk of a cardiac event
- Increases your chances of surviving a cardiac event
Impaired blood sugar control and being sedentary are major risk factors of coronary heart disease.
Increasing your participation in physical activity and exercising is a modifiable factor that you can work on.
Precautions
Monitor your intensity (exertion)
Exercise at moderate intensity.
If you have a less active lifestyle, start off with a lower intensity.
You can monitor the intensity of your activity with:
Get a recommendation from your health care team
Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) or talk test
Do the Talk Test to estimate intensity
Low Intensity: Able to sing and talk in full sentences.
Moderate Intensity: Noticeable increase in breathlessness, but can talk in phrases and short sentences.
High Intensity: Breathlessness and having difficulty talking.
What to look out for
Seek medical attention IMMEDIATELY if you experience one or more of the following symptoms before, during or after exercising:
- Chest pain (with or without the discomfort radiating through left shoulder/arm)
- Dizziness/lightheadedness
- Profuse perspiration
Reduce sedentary time by:
- Adopting an active lifestyle through daily physical activities
- Increasing your daily step count
Seek medical clearance
Get a referral for a Fitness Assessment and enrol yourself in a Supervised Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme:
- At the Singapore Heart Foundation
- Through your cardiologist at the hospital
