Rebuild Your Heart

Almost everyone living in a modern, industrailized society has done substantial damage to their heart and cardiovascular system.  This is tragic because the heart is really the key to so much that makes us male. A strong cardiovascular system and heart means, almost always, strong erections.  Plus, a strong cardiovascular system is strongly associated with increased blood flow to the brain and, therefore, less dementia and other cognitive issues as well. 

Here I want to concentrate on ways you can literally rebuild your heart.  Yes, I mean make it bigger, stronger and more efficient. But how can you actually build an atrophied, out-of-shape heart muscle that should be turbocharged and ready to go for the bedroom and the boardroom?  Below are three key ways according to the research that you can actually make your heart bigger and better:

NOTE: On other pages, I discuss how a low fat diet can literally Clear Out Your Arteries.  Another excellent book on the subject is Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease on the benefits of a low fat diet by Caldwell B. Esselstyn.  Dr. Esselstyn has been clearing out arterial plaque for decades as it turns out using similar strategies and documents his program therein.

1) Wine and Fish.  For those of you who love wine and fish (like moi), you're in for some good news:  researchers have found that the combination of the two has significantly more powerful cardiovascular effects than just one of them alone. Although scientists aren't exactly sure why, they have noted that red wine actually raised blood levels of omega-3's from fish more than if you just ate the equivalent amount of fish on its own.  Regardless, one 2010 study showed that those who consumed moderate amounts of red wine and fish had 20% more heart muscle likely due to the fact that the heart muscle tissues can "regenerate more quickly". [3]

2) Weight and Strength Training.  Research has shown that pushing that iron leads to "increased ventricular mass, and increased ventricular wall and septum thickness". [1]  In other words, it increases the heart chamber that pumps blood to the rest of the body and the dividing wall accompanying it.  Ready to get young again?  NOTE:  Exercise also makes your cardiovascular system much more efficient.  It's no secret, for example, that trained athletes have a lower pulse since their hearts need to do equivalent work.

3) Aerobic Training.  A number of studies have shown that aerobic training does similar changes to the heart, leading to "increased LV [left ventricle] wall thickness, chamber diameter, and mass". [2]  Again, any serious exercise will increase the size of your heart and the all-important left ventricle which receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium and pumps it into your aorta. CAUTION:  There is some evidence that extended endurance sports can actually (temporarily) kill heart cells.

REFERENCES:

1) Sports Med, 1991 Apr, 11(4):210-31, "Health- and performance-related potential of resistance training"

2) Eur Heart J, 2003, 24(24): 2213-2220"Left ventricular structure and diastolic function with human ageing: Relation to habitual exercise and arterial stiffness"

3) Curr Pharm Biotechnol, 2010 Dec, 11(8):911-21, "Diet and heart health: moderate wine drinking strengthens the cardioprotective effects of fish consumption"