– by Doreen Marion Gee –
Exercise is the ultimate panacea for many ills, helping us keep our heart and body strong and healthy as the years advance. This knowledge underlies the excellent Take Heart program at Panorama Recreation Centre that focuses on building a healthy ticker. The effective and beneficial program gives people a new lease on life and certainly stacks the odds in favour of a long, healthy future.
The Take Heart program targets people who have either had a heart event or who have risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and being overweight and inactive. Kamma Wiggins, a Certified Athletic Therapist and Personal Trainer with Panorama, applauds the proactive and preventative program that uses exercise to build cadiovascular health. Having an extensive knowledge of cardiovascular disease, Kamma supervises the program; participants attend twice a week with a graded incremental exercise program targeting aerobic exercise, then strength training. As a partnership with the Island Health Authority, Take Heart lasts 12 weeks, with 24 sessions.
The positive effects of the program on blood pressure reveal the mechanics of how exercise boosts heart health. Kamma: “Exercise is fantastic for lowering blood pressure, immediately and long term. After exercise, blood pressure naturally falls.” Reducing blood pressure is the body’s way of protecting itself when it is under stress – in this case, good stress. With regular continuous exercise, the lowered blood pressure becomes a permanent result.
Kamma explains the overall benefit of the Take Heart exercise program to heart health. “The heart is a muscle and it needs to be strong to perform the activities of daily life.” As we put progressive demands on the heart from exercise, the heart increases in muscle tone, gets stronger and more able to perform well. “The result is that the heart becomes more efficient at the job it is doing.” A healthier better-functioning heart lasts longer. Other health benefits are improved resting heart rates and lower cholesterol levels.
A big Take Heart positive for Kamma is the reduction in people’s general life-stress – they feel better and are happy to see themselves being more active and regaining their quality of life. To Kamma, the social aspect of the program is enormously beneficial to people recovering from heart problems as they feel more supported. She sees a shift from hopelessness to empowerment as people are doing activities for the first time.
Cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs reduce hospitalizations. With many factors involved in heart disease, it is wise to have a few aces up one’s sleeve – such as the Take Heart program. It gives people a fighting chance at a long healthy walk into the sunset.
To apply, contact Kamma Wiggins or Kim Say at Panorama: www.crd.bc.ca/panorama.
