Your heart, like any other muscle in your body, gets stronger with regular exercise. The right kind of exercise increases cardiovascular fitness by improving blood circulation throughout your body. Cardiovascular fitness allows you to exercise vigorously for long periods of time with less tiring.

Exercise that promotes cardiovascular fitness improves your body’s circulation to help your heart, lungs and other organs work together more efficiently. Cardiovascular fitness also helps you meet physical and emotional demands more readily.

Cardiovascular fitness may help reduce the risk of heart disease. A strong heart does not have to work as hard to circulate the blood through the body because it can pump more efficiently with each beat. It’s impossible to prove you will live longer or never have a heart attack if you’re in good physical condition. But cardiovascular fitness helps you feel better and can improve the quality of your life.