Heart attack prevention starts with getting your baby boomer body moving.

People who exercise routinely have a dramatically lower risk of having a heart attack.

So if you want to live longer, start exercising. This is particularly true for women. For a woman, not being physically fit is the biggest risk factor for heart disease.

And it's not just working out that's important, it's working out to your full capacity.

Recent studies suggest that people who scored less than 85% of their target fitness rate on a treadmill stress test were twice as likely to develop serious heart disease.

HOW HEART ATTACK PREVENTION STARTS WITH EXERCISE.

They’re a number of obvious heart-healthy benefits to exercise, like weighting loss, muscling tone and better body shape.

But something else happens when you lose weight. You'll also usually lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Exercise also directly affects the heart by keeping blood vessels strong and healthy by improving the blood vessels' ability to dilate and increase blood flow.

And if you already have heart disease, exercise can help normalize your heart rhythm as well as helping your body expand smaller vessels to help keep blood flowing around an area that is clogged.

Exercise is the single best prescription you can give yourself, it's the only thing that will lower you risk to heart attack by 40%.

If you want to age successfully, and be one of those vigorous baby boomers that you look at and say ‘wow’, then start exercising regularly.

Exercise will get you there because it’s not only heart attack prevention; it impacts your total health as well.

SO IT”S TIME TO GET FIT.

If you think you need a gym membership to get the heart attack prevention benefits of exercise, think again.

The truth is that the greatest decrease in heart disease occurs for those baby boomers who just take themselves out of the sedentary category and start moving.

You just have to move your body with some regularity at a moderate intensity. Try a brisk walk, gardening, cycling, and walking up steps. It’s all good for heart attack prevention.

U.S. government guidelines recommended 60 minutes of physical activity daily to prevent weight gain.

For those of us who have lost weight, they recommend 60 to 90 minutes a day to keep the pounds off.

But don't let that scare you. Many cardiologists say you can improve your heart health with less exercise.

Try 30 minutes a day instead and if needed, try splitting those 30 workout minutes into three 10-minute or two 15-minute segments.

Both the long and the short walks prove equally effective in heart attack prevention when you’ve previously been a couch potato.

The point is to get up off the sofa and move — because it's in the moving that you’ll reap the benefits.

START OUT SLOW.

If you're like a lot of baby boomers, it could be 10, 20, or even 30 years since you participated in any kind of meaningful physical activity.

If that is the case, the last thing you want to do is go mountain biking with a bunch of college kids. Likewise ladies, don't sign up for "boot camp "and expect to go full speed on day one.

Start slow and build up gradually.

Start with a daily walking plan that gets you in the game. Then make it a habit to take the stairs instead of the elevator, and park your car farther rather than closer to the store when shopping, maybe get a dog and walk it. Just start getting more movement in your normal life.

But, if you do feel discomfort while walking, or doing any physical activity, talk to your doctor. They can do some routine testing to assess your current heart health.

Your doctor can also work with you on a heart attach prevention activity program that you can continue safely and effectively.

Remember, no matter what your age, it's never too late to reap the benefits of fitness in your life.

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