>>141238
You seem to be operating under the misconception that "cardio" is necessary for exercising the heart. It is not. "Cardio" is a poorly descriptive term which usually implies endurance exercise of some form which causes one to become winded with heavy breathing, but all activities utilize the cardiovascular system. My heart beats as I type this, for example, but typing this is not intuitively considered exercise. Therefore, one must ask if "non-cardio" activities such as lifting weights exercise the heart. In fact, they do, and they do so effectively.
But that doesn't delve into the cause of your problem. Exercise---especially of the heavy breathing, endurance variety---increases the amount of circulating free fatty acids, and when the body contains high levels of polyunsaturated fat and prostaglandins derived from that polyunsaturated fat, these free fatty acids can wreak havoc and one becomes prone to edema or water retention (swelling). The prostaglandins (prostate-gland-ins) are found all over the body, but they were first found in seminal fluid. (v. Euler, U. S. 1935) Not only swelling, but prostaglandin E2 also seems to be involved in pain. (Willis, A. L., and Mary Cornelsen. 1973) See: >>141232
• v. Euler, U. S. Über die spezifische blutdrucksenkende Substanz des menschlichen Prostata-und Samenblasensekretes. Journal of Molecular Medicine 14.33 (1935): 1182-1183.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01778029
• HASSAN, HABIBA, et al. Syndrome in premature infants associated with low plasma vitamin E levels and high polyunsaturated fatty acid diet. The American journal of clinical nutrition 19.3 (1966): 147-157.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/19.3.147
>A syndrome consisting of edema, skin lesions, an elevated platelet count and morphologic changes in erythrocytes has been described in a small series of premature infants receiving formula mixtures containing fat with a relatively high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).
• Chan, Pak Hoo, and Robert A. Fishman. Brain edema: induction in cortical slices by polyunsaturated fatty acids. Science 201.4353 (1978): 358-360.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.663662
• Chan, Pak Hoo, and Robert A. Fishman. Transient formation of superoxide radicals in polyunsaturated fatty acid‐induced brain swelling. Journal of neurochemistry 35.4 (1980): 1004-1007.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.1980.tb07100.x
• Chan, Pak Hoo, et al. Induction of brain edema following intracerebral injection of arachidonic acid. Annals of Neurology: Official Journal of the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society 13.6 (1983): 625-632.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.410130608
• Papadopoulos, Stephen M., Keith L. Black, and Julian T. Hoff. Cerebral edema induced by arachidonic acid: role of leukocytes and 5-lipoxygenase products. Neurosurgery 25.3 (1989): 369-372.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1227/00006123-198909000-00008
• Willis, A. L., and Mary Cornelsen. Repeated injection of prostaglandin E2 in rat paws induces chronic swelling and a marked decrease in pain threshold. Prostaglandins 3.3 (1973): 353.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-6980(73)90073-7
Claudino, Rafaela F., et al. Pharmacological and molecular characterization of the mechanisms involved in prostaglandin E2-induced mouse paw edema. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 318.2 (2006): 611-618.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.106.102806
• Constantini, Shlomo, et al. Tumor prostaglandin levels correlate with edema around supratentorial meningiomas. Neurosurgery 33.2 (1993): 204-211.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1227/00006123-199308000-00004
• Blazsó, Gábor, and Miklós Gábor. Effects of prostaglandin antagonist phloretin derivatives on mouse ear edema induced with different skin irritants. Prostaglandins 50.3 (1995): 161-168.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-6980(95)00109-3
>Edema was induced in one ear of male mice of the CFLP strain with solutions of different skin irritants (croton oil 10 μL/35 μg, dithranol 10 μL/30 μg, capsaicin 10 μL/40 μg or arachidonic acid to 10 μL/2 mg per ear). Edema, determined by the edema-disk gravimetric technique, was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by the intraperitoneally administered prostaglandin antagonists
• Shohami, E., et al. Head injury induces increased prostaglandin synthesis in rat brain. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 7.1 (1987): 58-63.
☞ https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fjcbfm.1987.8
>We suggest that the production of edema after brain injury may be related to the increased rate of PGE2 and PGI2 synthesis, which occurs at similar time intervals after injury.