Your heart needs to exercise just like any other muscle in the body. According to experts, the muscles that you utilize regularly become stronger and healthier, whereas the ones that are not used weaken and atrophy.
And so, when it is exercised, the heart pumps more blood through the body and continues working at optimal efficiency with little strain. This helps keep it to stay healthy longer.
Regular exercise and workouts also help to keep arteries and other blood vessels flexible, ensuring good blood flow and normal blood pressure. But can running – which sets your heart rate monitor too high – handle the stress? How do you know your heart can even handle the training for such a run?
What is a runner’s cardiomyopathy or athlete’s heart?
According to studies, the hearts of lifelong male endurance athletes may contain more plaque or other signs of heart problems like scarring and inflammation, than the hearts of less active men of the same age. 1
Doctors say around 25 per cent of people may be at risk for a condition known as runner’s cardiomyopathy, also known as athlete’s heart.
This condition is the name for the changes that happen in your heart when you do strenuous exercise for more than one hour on most days of the week. Most of the time, these changes may not be excessive, however, in some athletes, they can make your heart look similar to how it looks when you have a form of cardiomyopathy.
In this condition, the right atrium and right ventricle dilate, causing a temporary injury to the chambers at the end of a marathon. This is due to three to five hours of volume overload for these thinner chambers while the individual is running a marathon.
When this damage occurs repetitively over time, scar tissue may build up in the heart muscle, which can lead to sudden death.
Marathon runner’s cardiomyopathy is not related to age, gender, degree of conditioning, or speed. Thus, the only way to know if you are at risk is to undergo a cardiac MRI and or have blood tests.
How much should you run?
According to the American Heart Association, exercising 30 minutes a day and five days a week improves your heart health and helps reduce your risk of heart disease.
Doctors suggest a combination of both aerobic exercise and strength exercise is best as they help you create a balance. Exercising helps preserve weight loss, which is good for the heart, however, they do not prevent plaque buildup or heart blockages.
Running is the most efficient source of aerobic exercise, hence its popularity. According to studies, approximately 15-20 miles per week appears to be ideal as shorter distances and varying speeds are healthier for your heart than endurance running. 2
Also, it is important to determine your ideal running heart rate – by figuring out the intensity you are aiming for. For moderate-intensity exercise aim for a heart rate of 50-75 per cent of your maximum heart rate. For vigorous activity like running, aim for 70-85 per cent of your maximum heart rate.
