The Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation By: Jenna Kong

1. The Benefits of Cardiac RehabilitationBy: Jenna Kong • An overview for people that are interested in participating in a program.

2. What is Cardiac Rehabilitation? It is a program that is designed to help you exercise safely and maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle. The program usually includes a personalized exercise program, educational sessions, and help to change your risk factors such as quitting smoking and improving your diet to help manage your disease. Cardiac rehab programs also offer emotional support. The cardiac rehab program will allow you to meet and interact with others like yourself who can help you stay on track and motivate you to become healthier.

3. Who can benefit from Cardiac Rehabilitation? • Anyone that has cardiovascular disease. • Anyone that has had a recent cardiac event like a such as a heart attack. • Anyone that has heart failure. • Anyone that has had a cardiac procedure, such as an angioplasty or heart surgery. • Anyone that has an arrhythmia which is abnormal heart rhythm or an implantable device such as a pacemaker or defibrillator.

4. The Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • There are many benefits of participating in a cardiac rehabilitation program. • It is smart for a person with heart diseases and problems to invest the time and money to enroll in a program.

5. The Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation To start off, a program can help you improve your ability to do all of your activities of your daily life such as: • Helping you gain more energy so you can take your kids to school or to after school activities. • Helping you focus more on your work. • Helping you sleep better.

6. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can help you reduce your controllable risk factors for heart disease such as: • Smoking • High cholesterol • High blood pressure • Sedentary lifestyle • Obesity • Diabetes

7. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can help you improve your quality of life. The main thing that determines our quality of life is our ability to enjoy all that life has to offer. • A quality life is a life full of meaning and purpose. Having the ability to make choices about what you want to do with your time, your belief, and what you buy shape your quality of life.

8. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can help you improve your outlook on life. • People that are getting help and taking action to better their health are generally happier than people who are sitting back and letting something bad take control of their life.

9. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can help you become more emotionally stable. When our life is stable, we tend to make better decisions about our life and our future. When we are more stable, we tend to be more responsible and have a sense of purpose. • Sometimes in life there are circumstances that make it difficult to be stable, but the deciding factor is how you handle the situation. You can either make it worse or use it as a learning experience to grow.

10. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can help by educating you more on your disease and how you can manage it. The more you are aware of your disease the better it will be to overcome it. • A lot of people are diagnosed but they have no idea of what the disease it. A rehab program will teach them all about the disease and how to get better.

11. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program will help you slow down the development (or even reverse) of fatty plaque buildup in the arteries of your heart. • This is critical do so. Plaque is very dangerous to your health.

12. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can give you guidance on how to change and improve your diet. • You will work with a nutritionist that will asses your current diet, and he or she will help you modify and improve it to become healthier.

13. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program will engage you in physical activity to get your body healthier. • It will help you improve muscle strength, flexibility, and endurance. • It will help you lose weight and also helps you cope better with stress, and boost your sense of well-being. • Exercise training may not be safe for all patients though.

14. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program can help you decrease any pain you are having. • Being more physically active and eating better will help your body feel better! • The pain will decrease slowly over the duration of the program.

15. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program will decrease the need for you to take medicines to treat your heart or chest pain. • You will be healing yourself from within. • Certain medicines will not be necessary.

16. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • Lessen the chance that you'll have to go back to the hospital or emergency room for a heart problem. • This will help you save money and help your health.

17. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program enable you to become more independent. • You will be healthier and able to do more things on your own without assistance.

18. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program will help you reduce your stress. • The help you will be getting will ease tension in your body and make you feel more relaxed.

19. More Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation • A program will help relief you if you are depressed. • You will feel cared about and be able to count on people to help you out.

20. In conclusion... As you can see there are many benefits you can get from participating in a cardiac rehabilitation program. Even though it required you to invest your time and money, it is your health that is going to benefit, and your well being as well. For more information check out The American Heart Associations page on Cardiac Rehabilitation. Click here for it!