Matters of the heart: Why is cardiovascular fitness important?
Why is cardiovascular fitness important?
The short answer is because your heart is a muscle too.
There are over 600 muscles in your body, and just like your skeletal muscles, your heart needs a workout too.
Here's the long answer to Why is cardiovascular fitness important?
...Have you ever wondered what’s in the air we breathe?
Air is made up of about 78% nitrogen. Almost 21% of the air we breathe consists of oxygen, and the remaining 1% comprises over a half dozen other trace elements.
Aerobic, means “with air” or “with oxygen”.
The human body can survive weeks without food, days without water but only minutes without oxygen.
The amount of air we inhale and exhale which each breath (called “tidal volume”) varies between roughly half a litre and 1 litre of air.
We typically take in 12 to 15 breaths every minute. Consequently, the volume of air we breathe each minute (called “minute ventilation”) can attain 5 to 15 litres.
During strenuous exercise, the number of breaths we take (called breathing frequency) can rise to 35 to 45 breaths per minute while minute ventilation can exceed 15 to 20 times- and some sources state over 25 times- resting values.
Why is cardiovascular fitness important: Matters of the Heart
Of course, no one singular muscle is any more or less important than another.
But perhaps, it can be argued the most vital muscle in the human body is your heart.
Your heart is a muscle whose primary role is to pump blood through arteries to all of the tissues of the body.
Did you know, if you live to be 80 years old, your heart will beat at least 2,943,360,000 times?
On average, your heart beats about 72 times per minute (called “heart rate”).
The quantity of blood ejected with each beat (called “stroke volume”) can amount to approximately 65 to 80 millilitres of blood.
This means the total amount of blood pumped by the heart each minute (called “cardiac output”) can reach roughly 5 litres- at rest.
This level can increase up to 4 times as much during exercise.
It takes about 23 to 60 seconds for blood to circulate through the body.
Why is all of this important? Why is cardiovascular fitness important?
Because every time we breathe in air, it circulates to our lungs where oxygen ‘diffuses’ into the blood, usually bound to haemoglobin molecules (the iron-protein molecule carried by the red blood cells)- and through the pumping of the heart, this oxygen is delivered by the blood to all of the tissues and cells of the body.
Without oxygen delivery, your brain will cease to function, let alone maintain the ability to produce the energy necessary for human movement.
Indeed, anyone who has taken a CPR class- cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(Canada)(USA)
- can tell you that a heart attack, stroke, or choking victim who goes without oxygen for even 4 to 6 minutes can suffer permanent brain damage.
Your heart is responsible for this function. It is important to keep your heart healthy and fit.
The primary purpose of aerobic exercise is to make your heart muscle stronger so it can become more efficient at circulating oxygen to every cell of your body.
And oxygen is needed for energy production.
Our muscle cells consume oxygen to convert the food we eat to energy in the form of ATP (the adenosine triphosphate ‘energy’ molecule).
A sedentary lifestyle diminishes your body’s capacity to use oxygen efficiently. Aerobic exercise improves it by strengthening your respiratory, cardiovascular and skeletal systems.
This in part, is the answer to the question- Why is cardiovascular fitness important to your health and well being.
You should realize the human heart responds to physical activity and exercise throughout the life span.
Science shows that the percentage increase in improvements in aerobic power (also called VO2Max) through cardiovascular exercise amongst the elderly, is reported to be comparable to that of the young.
Why is cardiovascular fitness important: VO2Max
Many of you reading this may be familiar with the term VO2Max.
VO2Max, also called maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake, or aerobic power, is defined physiologically as the highest rate of oxygen transport and use, that can be achieved for production of ATP at maximal physical exertion while breathing air.
The most common test or procedure used to measure an individual's VO2Max is called open-circuit spirometry.
VO2Max is typically measured at a university exercise lab, fitness testing and performance laboratory, hospital, wellness centre or other clinical setting.
Personal trainers also use various field tests or assessments, in conjunction with established formulas to estimate VO2Max.
Today, it is still considered the ‘gold standard’ used to measure how ‘fit’ you are in terms of cardiovascular fitness. VO2Max literally defines the pumping capacity of the heart.
Hence, cardiovascular or aerobic “fitness” essentially measures two things: the ability of the heart to deliver oxygen to the working muscles and in turn, the ability of the muscles to produce energy with the oxygen.
The greatest improvements in aerobic fitness are achieved through the use of rhythmic activities employing large muscle groups over prolonged periods, such as walking, jogging, cycling, stair climbing or swimming.
So why is cardiovascular fitness important? Because a strong healthy heart is vital, and because it's so easy to exercise your heart!
It’s never too late and you’re never too old to get engaged in cardiovascular exercises. The important thing is to get started.
Cardiovascular or aerobic training is one of the fundamental training components of fitness and should be a regular part of your
fitness workout program.
But what are your options?
Now that you can answer the question- Why is cardiovascular fitness important, you may want to know what
types of cardiovascular activities
are available to you regardless of whether you train at a club or workout from home...
