A sedentary (inactive) lifestyle is one of the top risk factors for heart disease. Fortunately, it's a risk factor that you can do something about. Regular exercise, especially aerobic exercise, has many benefits. It can:

· Strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system.

· Improve your circulation and help your body use oxygen better.

· Improve your heart failure symptoms.

· Increase energy levels so you can do more activities without becoming tired or short of breath.

· Increase endurance.

· Lower blood pressure.

· Improve muscle tone and strength.

· Improve balance and joint flexibility.

· Strengthen bones.

· Help reduce body fat and help you reach a healthy weight.

· Help reduce stress, tension, anxiety and depression.

· Boost self-image and self-esteem.

· Improve sleep.

· Make you feel more relaxed and rested.

· Make you look fit and feel healthy.

Exercise plays an important role in both the prevention and rehabilitation of many forms of heart disease. Exercise can have a positive influence on many of the factors that increase the risk for heart disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.

You may not care about increasing your strength. "Firm, sexy abs" may be the last thing on your mind. Fine. But even if you don't know your biceps from your bicuspids, there's one muscle you should never ignore: your heart.

Other muscles just get small and flabby when they aren't used. Your heart, on the other hand, might stop working.

Like any other muscle, the heart gets stronger with exercise. If you work out regularly, your heart muscle will grow a little larger and stronger, allowing it to move more blood with each beat. As a result, it takes fewer beats to get you through the day. Your heart rate drops, and your heart will enjoy a well-deserved rest.

Even more important, exercise helps protect your arteries -- where heart attacks get their start. Regular exercise removes LDL ("bad") cholesterol from your blood.