LHM Youth Lifestyle Information – Keeping Fit

We all need some sort of exercise to be fit. Everyone will be able to exercise at different levels for different amounts of time, so slowly increasing our exercise is the safest way to improve our fitness. There are very few children, teenagers and adults with a Fontan Circulation who are told that they should not exercise.

Most cardiologists are really happy for their patients to get fit. But if you’re unsure or have any questions it’s always a good idea to either speak to your hospital team or you can get in touch with LHM.

Let’s look at some key parts of keeping fit

A lot of young people tend to go straight into exercise without really preparing. As well as wearing the right clothes for the sport and the weather we also need to protect our muscles and our heart and lungs by warming up a bit before we walk, run or ride.

Here is the link to the NHS warm up guidance – click here

Everyone is now encouraged to get out of the house, including young people with half a working heart. Going for a walk every day can help general fitness. You can even go further and increase the distance you walk every day. The Fontan heart likes it when you exercise the legs as it helps the blood move around the body and back up to the lungs.

You can download step counters on your phone or get a fancy step counting watch. Gradually increase the number of steps you do each day.

If you would like guidance as to how much to do ask your cardiac team.

Yes, we know that walking upstairs can make us breathless but if you gradually increase the number of steps you walk up and gradually speed up the walk upstairs it helps your heart and lung function.

As always increase the challenge gradually, don’t run before you walk. The joy of walking up steps for exercise is that they are right there in most of our homes.

This might not be the right exercise for all of the LHM youth members but if you are fit and walking does not give you enough exercise your medical team might be happy for you to take short runs. Often a mixture of running and walking suits the Fontan heart best.

If you do decide to run, go at an easy and steady pace and take a break whenever you feel you need to. Remember it’s a short run not a race.

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Riding a bike is great exercise for young people with half a working heart. It helps get you from A to B but is also supported exercise for the lower body and therefore provides good support for blood returning to the lungs. Keep an eye out for special deals for bike riders. Halfords are doing free bike checks to get an old bike on the road.

If you find the balance and co-ordination of riding a bike a challenge at first practise can really help. Always wear a helmet to stay safe and avoid bruising.

Swimming pools are open for exercise swimming as well as just a splash around. If you have always been a good swimmer and like this style of exercise, it is a great way to exercise the heart.

Make sure you get dry and dressed quickly after being in the water because getting cold is a problem for young people with a Fontan heart. Wetsuits can help even though you might not find them fashion forward.

Getting the whole family involved in taking an exercise class helps keep up the fitness but also can be a laugh. There are great online classes, or your local sports centre or gym may offer some great dance and exercise classes.

The British Heart Foundation has some great rehabilitation exercise videos available if you want to start slowly and gently work up your exercise tolerance, they can be found by clicking here.

The British Heart Foundation also has a harder workout for people who are bit fitter. It’s also important to then stretch down and cool the muscles off at the end of the exercise. It could help reduce those aching muscles.

Here is the link to the NHS stretching guidance – click here

Getting the whole family involved in taking an exercise class helps keep up the fitness but also can be a laugh. There are great online classes, or your local sports centre or gym may offer some great dance and exercise classes.

Using gym equipment like the treadmill, bike or cross trainer are good ways to exercise, raise the heart rate and generally build up your fitness.

Weights, especially upper body weights or too much upper body exercise is not great for someone with a Fontan circulation as building up too much upper body muscle creates resistance for blood flowing to the head and then returning to the heart and lungs. General upper body fitness is fine.

Talk to the gym team about setting a program of exercise especially for you. They may ask for guidance from your cardiac team before they start but they will be able to help you gradually improve the amount of exercise you do at every session.

We should never underestimate how important fluid are for keeping a Fontan heart healthy. For the Fontan circulation needs a good amount of blood in the system for the heart to pump well. Every drink we drink ends up in the blood before it travels to the kidneys, so it is this fluid that helps keep our amount of blood up. Drinking water is the best as it helps to keep our cells fresh and clean.

How much children, teenagers and adults should drink can found clicking on the following links:

Hydration for young people

NHS – six to eight glasses of water still the best

Fruit juice, squash and fizzy drinks are fun for a treat but are not great for a healthy diet and can cause tooth decay, which is not great if you have half a working heart – click here to find out more.

During puberty, especially if you are not particularly active, you may see yourself start to gain weight. For some gaining too much weight can become an issue especially if they are still eating food that is filled with sugar and fat.

We are not suggesting that everyone with a Fontan circulation should go on a strict diet, unless their doctors or dietitian have told them to, we are suggesting that healthy diet is a positive decision and can really help with your health.

Using the healthy plate guide can make it easy to make these healthy food choices and learning to cook and create healthy tasty dishes is fun.

No one is saying that a treat is not a fun thing to have every now and then. We all like treats.

Here are some links to some ideas that may help.

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/habits.html

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/healthy-eating-for-teens/

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/