Contributed by: Healthians Team
Introduction
Daily exercise is thought to provide a variety of health advantages, from elevating your mood to improving your cardiovascular health. Exercise plays a crucial part in maintaining the health of your heart, along with food.
Exercise raises your heart rate, which helps to strengthen your heart muscles and expand your lung capacity. However, a recent study contends that some forms of exercise may raise the risk of a heart attack.
Recently, cardiac arrests that occurred while exercising in gyms have been reported. Heart damage and rhythm disturbances can result from repetitive fitness training and pushing oneself to the maximum during endurance competitions. Genetic risk factors also make people particularly vulnerable. Extreme pressure is put on the cardiovascular system during long-term, endurance exercise.
Extreme physical stress on the heart causes immediate damage that may eventually remodel the heart and result in long-term physical changes including thicker heart walls and scarring.
The relation between heart health and intense exercise
In order to strengthen your heart muscles and reduce your risk of cardiovascular problems, it is generally recommended that you perform 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each day. However, many health researchers say that overexertion and high-intensity exercise can raise the chance of having an acute cardiac issue.
It explains that engaging in intense exercise regimens and participating in endurance competitions might increase one’s chance of acquiring heart-related problems, including heart arrhythmia.
How overexertion can lead to a heart attack?
Extreme exercise may raise the risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) or sudden cardiac death, according to research published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (SCD).
Research on runners revealed that even after completing challenging running competitions, their blood samples still contained biomarkers connected to heart-related problems. These indicators often disappear on their own, but severe physical activity may cause the heart to change and cause problems including thicker heart walls and scarring of the heart. The thicker heart walls or thickened septum can cause a narrowing that can block or reduce the blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta.
How to endure an intense workout session?
- Stay hydrated
Keep yourself hydrated during the workout session. Water is essential to the human body because it helps the body eliminate waste, control temperature, maintain healthy joints, and shield delicate tissues. You don’t want to feel exhausted and run down before a workout since that is what being dehydrated will do to you.
- Stretching
Stretching has a purpose beyond warming up. Stretching may help you become more flexible, which reduces your risk of discomfort and injury while also increasing your range of motion, correcting your posture, and enhancing body control and stability. Most significantly, having more flexibility makes daily tasks simpler, like getting out of bed, climbing stairs, and reaching high cabinets.
Although stretching is straightforward, there are some fundamental rules to follow to prevent injury. Start by brisk walking for a few minutes to warm up. Always move into position slowly and gradually while beginning a stretch, pausing as soon as you experience any kind of intense discomfort.
Stretches should be held for 10 to 20 seconds at first, but as you become more comfortable, you can increase the hold period to 30 seconds.
- Warmup and cool down
You may enhance the quality of your workout by beginning it with a warmup and ending it with a cooldown. A warmup improves your body’s core temperature and the flow of blood to your muscles.
This enhances the muscular tissue’s ability to stretch, which can assist lessen muscle tension, soreness, and the risk of injury. Although there isn’t a clear definition of what a ‘warmup’ is, the general concept is to do a workout or activity slowly (e.g., stretch, use lighter weights) in order to prime the body for faster, more intense movement.
A 10-minute cooling-off period after moderate exercise enables the body’s temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure to return to normal.
Stretching, walking, foam rolling, and deep breathing are all effective cool-down activities that can help you avoid injuries and lessen the strain on your heart and other muscles.
- Balanced diet
Nearly as essential as the activity itself is what you eat before and after. Food is your fuel since it offers you the vigour to work out and concentrate, the nutrients you need to strengthen your muscles and bones, and it aids in your body’s ability to recuperate after a workout.
Try to avoid consuming carbs that can cause stomach trouble before you exercise. Examples include bananas, oats, and whole grain bread. Consume a meal that includes protein, carbs, and fats after working out. Protein-rich diets help the body create new muscle tissue, but carbohydrate-rich foods are better for hours following a long run or other endurance activities. Eat foods like beans, quinoa, or Greek yoghurt to refuel your body after a power workout session.
Final thoughts
There is no denying the advantages of exercise for your health. To receive its incredible health advantages, every person must engage in moderate-intensity exercise for 30 minutes daily. One must refrain from putting their body or physical strength under stress. For anyone suffering from a genetic or cardiovascular condition, it is very important.
Do not overdo exercising, whether you are a beginner or an expert. Additionally, let your body have adequate time to rest and heal. Consult your doctor if you have any problems.
You can also opt for genetic testing to get a predictive insight into the probable heart risks.
