Exercise and heart patients may seem incompatible, but a strong exercise program is an essential part of a heart patient’s recovery. Exercise for heart patients encourages strong muscular regrowth, recovery from atrophy, and mental, physical, and emotional conditioning.

Heart patients should exercise regularly during recovery, but exercise is actually just part of a larger picture that includes health risk assessments, risk factor reduction (like smoking cessation), health screenings, and vocational and psychological counseling. For more information on exercise and heart patients, one can find a number of good articles at the American Heart Association website.

For those who are hoping to avoid becoming heart patients through exercise, the Discovery Channel is now reporting that a casual game of soccer burns more fat than a good run of the the same duration. Initially, this research may fail to raise one’s heart rate. However, in this Danish exercise study, subjects in both the soccer-playing and jogging groups maintained the same average heart rate.

In other words, the researchers discovered that, even when the exertion level is the same, anaerobic exercise is significantly superior to aerobic exercise for the heart and the burning of fat. In fact, the soccer-playing subjects nearly doubled the fat loss of the jogging subjects (3.7% body fat loss, compared to 2%). This is a significant finding for heart patients and patients with a history of congenital heart failure as they consider their exercise options.

Also encouraging was the significant level of muscle development among subjects practicing vigorous exercise, who experienced an average of 4.5 pounds of muscle mass growth, as opposed to an average of zero change among the joggers. The soccer subjects even enjoyed their exercise more, while the joggers felt exhausted after their workouts.

With cardiac disease consistently tracking among the most significant Western health problems, it’s important that employees and heart patients exercise as efficiently as possible. Some 5.2 million Americans are now estimated to suffer from heart disease. If you and your employees are hoping to avoid heart disease through exercise, you may want to plan your corporate wellness programs around anaerobic activities where possible. Of course, high-impact exercise should be undertaken with caution, and a doctor’s advice is strongly recommended for employees and heart patients who are newly participating in exercise and employee wellness programs.