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Faizan
Whether your are young or old, shortness of breath could indicate a serious medical condition or it could simply be a symptom of not being in good cardiovascular shape. Regular aerobic exercise can help you maximize your oxygen utilization by increasing the power and efficiency of your cardiovascular system. Still, changes to your cardiovascular system will take time and dedication.
Potential Causes
If you experience shortness of breath during your everyday routine or directly following exercise, it could just indicate that age or a lack of cardiovascular fitness is catching up with you. Still, if your problem is severe enough to limit you from even light or moderate workouts, you should seek the opinion of your physician. Chronic shortness of breath could indicate asthma, pneumonia, hypertension or a host of other medical issues. For everything else, aerobic exercise may be enough to curb this problem.
Aerobic Exercise Benefits
Engaging in regular aerobic exercise will improve cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance, reduce stress and help to manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. You can estimate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Then, using the Karvonen Heart Rate Reserve Formula, you can get a less arbitrary idea of where your target heart rate should be during exercise instead of relying on a broad estimate. The formula calls for you to subtract your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate to find your heart rate reserve. Once you have that number, you can multiply it by your desired workout intensity -- 70 percent, for example -- and add your resting heart rate to the product to find an ideal target heart rate. This formula takes your cardiorespiratory fitness into account, making it more accurate on an individual basis.
Cardiovascular Adaptations
It takes some time on the track to achieve, but once you've incorporated aerobic exercise into your daily routine, you'll begin to see improvements in your cardiovascular fitness gradually. Increases in heart strength will improve stroke volume, increasing blood flow and blood oxygen content. This will make your cardiovascular system more efficient at managing the flow of oxygen, decreasing the chances that you will experience shortness of breath.
Raising Your Aerobic Capacity
If you really want to ward off any shortness of breath, consider ramping up the intensity of your workout to increase your aerobic capacity. Aerobic capacity is a measure of the amount of oxygen you can consume while exercising at your maximum capacity. Steady-state cardio training can affect small changes in aerobic capacity over time, but if you really want to raise the ceiling, you need to push yourself to a work rate between 65 and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Exercising in this zone for 20 minutes a day, three to five days per week will be sufficient to significantly increase your cardiovascular power over a short period of time.
Potential Causes
If you experience shortness of breath during your everyday routine or directly following exercise, it could just indicate that age or a lack of cardiovascular fitness is catching up with you. Still, if your problem is severe enough to limit you from even light or moderate workouts, you should seek the opinion of your physician. Chronic shortness of breath could indicate asthma, pneumonia, hypertension or a host of other medical issues. For everything else, aerobic exercise may be enough to curb this problem.
Aerobic Exercise Benefits
Engaging in regular aerobic exercise will improve cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance, reduce stress and help to manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. You can estimate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Then, using the Karvonen Heart Rate Reserve Formula, you can get a less arbitrary idea of where your target heart rate should be during exercise instead of relying on a broad estimate. The formula calls for you to subtract your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate to find your heart rate reserve. Once you have that number, you can multiply it by your desired workout intensity -- 70 percent, for example -- and add your resting heart rate to the product to find an ideal target heart rate. This formula takes your cardiorespiratory fitness into account, making it more accurate on an individual basis.
Cardiovascular Adaptations
It takes some time on the track to achieve, but once you've incorporated aerobic exercise into your daily routine, you'll begin to see improvements in your cardiovascular fitness gradually. Increases in heart strength will improve stroke volume, increasing blood flow and blood oxygen content. This will make your cardiovascular system more efficient at managing the flow of oxygen, decreasing the chances that you will experience shortness of breath.
Raising Your Aerobic Capacity
If you really want to ward off any shortness of breath, consider ramping up the intensity of your workout to increase your aerobic capacity. Aerobic capacity is a measure of the amount of oxygen you can consume while exercising at your maximum capacity. Steady-state cardio training can affect small changes in aerobic capacity over time, but if you really want to raise the ceiling, you need to push yourself to a work rate between 65 and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Exercising in this zone for 20 minutes a day, three to five days per week will be sufficient to significantly increase your cardiovascular power over a short period of time.
