Burn Some Calories
If you want to keep your heart healthy, get moving. The good news is that you don’t have to run a marathon or spend every waking hour working out in the gym to reap the benefits. And those 30 minutes don’t have to be spent sweating on a treadmill or madly pedaling an exercise bike. Household chores count, too. “Even a little bit of physical activity can have a big benefit on your health,” advises Dr. Gretchen Wells, director of Women’s Heart Health at the Gill Heart Institute at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. below, find out how many calories you can burn in a half-hour based on your weight doing the following activities. (The first number is calories burned if you weigh 150 pounds, and the second number is calories burned if you weigh 200 pounds.)
- Jogging: 337/450
- Swimming: 302/402
- Tennis: 275/366
- Bicycling: 220/294
- Hiking: 206/276
- Shoveling snow: 202/270
- Basketball: 202/270
- Mowing the lawn: 162/216
- Gardening: 162/216
- Walking the dog: 148/198
- Horseback Riding: 144/192
- Golf (walking): 130/174
- Vacuuming: 87/113
- Dusting: 80/106
- Watching TV: 36/48
- Kissing: 36/48
The top four ways to live a heart-healthy life:
- Be active for at least 30 minutes a day.
- Choose foods that are low in sodium and saturated fat.
- Don’t smoke or take steps to quit smoking.
- Know your numbers. If your blood glucose (sugar), cholesterol, blood pressure and/or BMI are abnormal, get treatment.