It has long been understood that exercise is good for the body, and it really is, there are no doubts about it. Why then, the sensational title? The simple answer to it is, well, yes, exercise can trigger a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest or death.
Let me explain it to you, and these statements have been picked up from one of the most sought after study in cardiology, the Framingham Study. Researchers, have long believed that sedentary lifestyle has been associated with a higher risk of mortality, from heart ailments. Now there are some researchers that have challenged this statement. They do not disagree to the statement, and everyone encourages you to exercise, and get yourself in shape. What is the issue then?
The issue is that in a retrospective study analyzing patients who had sudden cardiac arrest, the researchers found that, there were higher chances of sudden cardiac arrest or death, in patients undergoing heavy training/exercises; and in contrast, patients who relatively had less exercises had lower risk of sudden cardiac arrest or death. Now, this is sensational ! This can be found in the latest edition of Braunwald’s textbook of Cardiology in the Chapter: Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
When we analyse these statements, we can see, that they are relative, and are talking about acute stresses, in the form of heavy exercise, and the risk of mortality is lower, in case of sudden cardiac arrest/death, when people undergo less intensive workouts, hence giving less stress to the heart. So far so good. This means, that exercise, within limits, is beneficial, but as with anything, extremes of anything can be harmful. This is no way means, that people who are trained athletes, and who undergo rigorous exercise regimes, should stop what they are doing. Why? Let us analyse the next set of sentences.
The next set of sentence, in this research, point to the root of all cause, in such cases, and they have made it absolutely clear, in the context of myocardial infarction (heart attack). What is the statement?
“Higher risk of mortality and MI, has been amongst patients undergoing acute, high levels of exercise, especially patients who had a sedentary lifestyle, to begin with”.
Let us analyze this statement, in context of our present scenario. We know that the country, is undergoing serial unlock in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of people were not able to exercise as much as they used to, or have continued living their sedentary lifestyle and taken the lockdown as an excuse to continue getting low levels of exercise, and with the unlock happening, many of these people are waking up to changing their lifestyles and embracing working out.
This is good. But what we have to remember, is not to exert ourselves on day one, and take it slow. Start at your own normal pace, take a walk, stop when you feel the need to, and increase your capacity over the next few days and weeks. Remember, taking it slow, perseverance and gradual improvements, is what made the tortoise win the race.
Walk, run, Do Yoga, cycle, jog, play football, whatever, just take it slow. Let your body adapt.
Exercise is the best gift you can give to your body. Just listen to your body, when it says so. Have a nice day.