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How much exercise ?


staffe's picture

By staffe - Posted on 21 May 2014

This came across my information flow and it touches on some stuff me and my training buddies sometimes ask ourselves. Don't know if this is of general interest or not. If you don't think you are at risk of over exercise then there is no point reading this stuff.

Is what we do good for us? We've all been told exercise is good but is more better?

http://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2014/03/25/he...

This article suggests more may not be better, especially if you stop doing it. I was a bit intrigued by this so I contacted the researcher for studies relating to us in the Master categories and spend the 5 hours or more a week training the article referenced. I was pointed to a study looking at just that. Only two pages so I attach these as jpgs if anyone is interested.

GiantNut's picture

Seen this before - aimed at marathon runners and olympic distance triathletes mostly - maybe 100 mile cycle events would fit too if your hard at it for 6-8 hours and lose your electrolytes then big problem....Personally I never had a marathon on my (ahem) bucket list or compete on a day that's 35+ degrees - rather pull out than be carried out.

Here is a link at the other end of the scale that not doing enough regular exercise can cause heart attacks

http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/goldb...

This article is very interesting - re testing your hearts ability to recover after exercise is a predicator of heart attacks

http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/heart-rate-dr...

Note - I'm not medically qualified either is Google

Barnsy's picture

I'd take the study with a grain of salt.
The study group contains athletes that have trained most of their lives and are so attuned to their body that they are more likely to report problems to their doctor. The control group on the other hand contains Joe Average, someone who may take a spell of dizziness as a bad night on the turps or coming down with the flu. As a result may be less likely to report this to a doctor. The study's not talking about full blown heart attacks but heart flutter, a period of rapid heartbeat that can last hours or days sometimes with no symptoms showing.

By the way, I'm no Dr, but Google is god and knows all.

staffe's picture

That is right, it only refers to a form of arrhythmia. What I was surprised over was the J curve characteristic of the benefits. I.e there is a sweet spot and then the benefits are lessened which means more is not always better.

My conclusion is that exercise is like consuming alcoholic beverages - More is always better until a while later when one pays the price of over indulgence Eye-wink

the.flying.al's picture

Reading the comments the conclusion is pretty funny:

"Vigorous long term exercise is associated with AF in healthy middle aged men despite protection against coronary heart disease and death".

The mortality rate amongst the athletes was 1.7% compared to 8% for non athletes.

The articles significance is probably more that it questions how much of a problem AF is rather than suggesting to back off on exercise to avoid it.

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