Exercise and the Heart

   It's a fact: Exercise improves your heart health. How much it does is open to a lot of research and debate, and, unfortunately, exercise alone does not overcome obstacles like bad family genetics,
smoking and/or drinking, or a junk food diet. Further, vigorous training like marathoning or cross-country skiing seems to alter the heart (either beating too slow, or too fast) in a way that moderate exercise does not.
   Emily Sohn of the Washington Post addressed the issue in a recent article. She quotes Aaron Bagish, director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. "No amount of exercise confers complete immunity to heart disease," Dr. Bagish said. "You can't outrun heart problems completely."
   Still, "exercise is the best prescription for the heart, better than any medicine," according Dr. Mark Link of the University of Texas Medical Center, also quoted in the article. The ideal for heart health is thought to be 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise, which lowers rates of high blood pressure, heart disease and death without putting undue stress on the heart.
   A 2013 study researched over 52,000 cross-country skiers in Sweden who competed in a 56-mile race between 1989 and 1998. The mortality rates of the skiers were lower than the general population during this time span. Rates of death were also lower for skiers who completed the race several times, as opposed to those who participated once. However, frequent (and faster) racers were more likely to suffer from irregular heart beats, either too fast (atrial fibrillation) or too slow.
   I use my trusty MIO watch to monitor my heart rate when I run on the treadmill. Depending on how much coffee or prior exercise I had, my starting heart rate is usually in the high 40's. When doing my "favorite' mile-repeat workout, the heart rate is usually in the high 120's after the first. It rises steadily higher after each, usually ending in the high 150's or low 160's, right at my "max" for my age of 59, after the fifth interval. I feel pretty exhausted by that point, and know I've done my best for that particular day. Hopefully, the next week, it will take me slightly more effort (either faster speed or higher grade) to hit that 160 heart rate by the end.
    When I went for a colonoscopy a few years back, I didn't have any caffeine in the morning and my heart rate was 37. The doctor asked if I was a runner, and said if I wasn't that would be considered too low for the anesthesia to be administered.
     The relationship between the right amount of exercise for optimal heart health is still evolving. One time, before a 500-meter sprint on the rower, we asked a doctor at the club if we should aim to take the heart rate to the max. "That depends," he said, with a smile, "If you want to use all your heartbeats up now, or save some for later on!"