Your heart is healing.
Here's how to help it.
A guided rehab session for your heart. Start whenever you are ready.
You will want a sturdy chair and water nearby.
A free rehab session for your heart.
Cardiac rehab, brought to your living room: a real warm-up, gentle strength, steady walking, and stretches, all guided. Moving a little every day, the right way, is linked to a lower risk of going back to the hospital.1 A video shows every move. A voice walks with you. You set the pace.
Welcome to your cardiac rehab session.
A complete guided session for your heart: a real warm-up, strength work, steady walking, and stretches. Videos show each move, a voice walks you through it, and you set the pace.
Free · go at your own pace
How to progress
- Add 1 to 5 minutes to your walk each week. Reach 30 minutes in a row before working any harder.
- Aim for at least 150 minutes a week, spread over most days. More activity brings more benefit.
- Keep strength days at least 48 hours apart. Work in sets of 8 to 12 reps, and add a set only when that feels comfortable.
- When your level feels very light (1 to 2 out of 10) for a whole week, that is the sign to pick the next level in your profile. Check with your care team first.
Modeled on published home cardiac rehab programs from the American Heart Association and AACVPR, the REACH-HF trial, and NHS cardiac rehabilitation programs, refilmed and rewritten for home use.
Check your medicines.
Heart medicines keep working when your team can see the whole list. Look each one up, and it goes onto a sheet you print and carry to your visit. We never tell you to stop or change anything. If typing is hard, ask the person helping you, or bring your pill bottles to your next visit.
Never stop or change a medicine on your own. This tool is here to help you talk with your doctor, not to replace them.
FunctionalHealth
My medicine list
Type a few letters and pick your medicine from the list. If it is not there, add it just as it reads on your bottle.
For example: lisinopril.
Search powered by the NIH RxTerms database. Your care team manages dosing.
Saved on this phone only. Nothing is sent to us. Your list stays here for your next visit, and shows up on your other guides too.
No medicines on the list yet.
Your heart, explained.
See what happened inside, in two calm minutes. Pick what your care team told you, and we walk it through one picture at a time. No hard words.
FunctionalHealth
What did your care team say is going on?
Tap the one that sounds like you. There is no wrong answer. If you are not sure, your discharge papers usually say, or ask your care team.
Care teams use many names, and not every condition is here yet. That is completely OK. Ask your care team what to call what happened, and you can read about most conditions in plain words at MedlinePlus.
MedlinePlus health topics (NIH)See what is safe this week.
Answer two questions and get a plain card for walking, lifting, stairs, driving, work, and your medicines. Print it for your fridge or send it to your partner.
How hard should I exercise?
The simplest way to know you are working just right is the talk test. At the right effort you can talk in full sentences, but you could not sing.9 If you can sing, go a little harder. If you cannot talk, slow down. Work at 3 to 4 out of 10, and warm up gently at 1 to 2.3 Never push past 6 out of 10.
To watch your pulse instead, enter your age.
Your care team can set the range that is right for you.
Enter your age to see your pulse target.
What recovery looks like over time.
- Just homeThe first days and weeks
Rest, take every medicine on time, and walk a little each day as your team clears you. Fatigue, low appetite, and some worry are all normal now.
- This monthOutpatient rehab, about 3 to 6 monthsYou will be here soon
Your energy comes back week by week. This is when supervised or guided rehab builds your strength safely. Ask your team to refer you if they have not yet.2
- Later, for lifeKeeping your heart strong
Aim for movement most days, keep your follow-up visits, stay with heart-healthy eating, and know the warning signs. This becomes your everyday routine.
Log your numbers each morning.
Weigh yourself and check your blood pressure at the same time each day. Bring this to your next visit or print it for your records.
Normal blood pressure is under 120/80 mmHg.4 A weight jump of 2 to 3 pounds in one day is worth a call to your office.6
Eat less salt.
Stay under 2,300 mg of sodium a day. Aim for 1,500 mg, the ideal for most adults with heart disease.5 Tap the foods you eat today and watch the salt add up.
Today's salt
0 mgof 1,500 aim
1,500 mg under your 1,500 aim
Bread (1 slice)
150 mg
Canned soup
890 mg
Deli meat (2 oz)
500 mg
Cheese (1 slice)
200 mg
Pizza (1 slice)
640 mg
Soy sauce (1 tbsp)
920 mg
Frozen dinner
700 mg
Chips (1 oz)
170 mg
Feeling low is common. Ask for help.
About 1 in 3 heart attack survivors develops depression, and anxiety is at least as common.7 Both are treatable, and asking for help also helps your heart heal.
You are not alone
It is medical, not weakness. Feeling down or fearful after a heart event is common, and it is not your fault.
It gets better with help. Most people feel better with support, and treating it also helps your heart heal.
Tell your doctor if it lasts. If low mood, worry, or lost interest lasts more than 2 weeks, say so at your next call.
Take a calm minute.
Recovery is work, and worry is part of it. A slow breath or a few quiet minutes settles the body. Use this any time of day.
Ready when you are
There is no wrong pace. Follow the circle, and breathe in a way that feels easy for you.
To wind down tonight
- Turn screens off before bed. Let your mind land first.
- Do something calm and a little boring. Page through a magazine, or listen to quiet music.
- Make your last coffee early in the afternoon. Caffeine lingers for hours.
- Skip the nightcap. Alcohol makes you sleepy at first, then breaks up the second half of the night.
Sources: American Academy of Sleep Medicine · Sleep Foundation, caffeine and sleep · Sleep Foundation, alcohol and sleep.
More in our sleep guideOne page for the fridge.
Warning signs, what to do for chest pain, and your questions for the doctor, all on one printed page anyone at home can follow. Use this as a guide. When in doubt, call your doctor. If it feels like an emergency, call 911.
Symptoms treated as emergencies8
- Chest pain or pressure, tightness or squeezing
- Pain spreading to arm, neck, jaw, or back
- Sudden shortness of breath
- Cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness
- Unusual, sudden fatigue
- Sudden weakness or numbness, trouble speaking, or a drooping face. These can be stroke signs.
Chest pain that does not settle: use your nitroglycerin as prescribed. If the pain is not better 5 minutes after a dose, call 911.10 Do not drive yourself.
The session was day one.
A free account keeps your place in the session, plans your week, and saves your daily logs to bring to your cardiologist. Two quick questions build your program.
Save my progress, freeYour next step
Start with today's session
Fifteen gentle minutes, made for hearts that are healing. Everything else can wait.
- 1Cardiac rehabilitation lowers the risk of dying and of going back to the hospital, and is recommended after a heart attack, stent, or bypass. AHA/AACVPR/ACC scientific statement (home-based cardiac rehab), 2019
- 2What cardiac rehab includes and how it works: assessment, supervised exercise, education, and counseling. MedlinePlus
- 3Effort target for home cardiac rehab: work at 3 to 4 out of 10, warm up at 1 to 2, progressing to 5 to 6 only if comfortable. Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, home exercise programme
- 4Blood pressure categories: normal is under 120/80 mmHg. American Heart Association
- 5Sodium: no more than 2,300 mg a day, with an ideal limit of 1,500 mg for most adults. American Heart Association
- 6Heart failure warning sign: sudden weight gain of 2 to 3 pounds in a day. American Heart Association
- 7Depression affects an estimated 1 in 3 heart attack survivors. American Heart Association
- 8Heart attack warning signs: chest discomfort, spreading pain, shortness of breath, cold sweat, call 911. American Heart Association
- 9Moderate effort test: you can still talk, but not sing. NHS, physical activity guidelines for adults
- 10Chest pain not better 5 minutes after nitroglycerin: call 911. Do not drive yourself. MedlinePlus, angina: when you have chest pain
Every date, weight limit, and medicine on this page is set by your own care team. This guide is educational and reviewed against the sources above. It is not medical advice.
This page is for information only. It is not medical advice. Every date, weight limit, and medicine is set by your own care team. Always follow your own doctor's instructions, and call your care team with any concern.