Athlete's Heart Explained: How Excessive Exercise Affects Your Heart

While exercise is known to be good for the heart, extreme levels could lead to a phenomenon called athlete's heart, or athletic heart.

What Is Athlete's Heart?

Exercise can significantly reduce one's risk of conditions that negatively impact heart health, such as high cholesterol, obesity, and high blood pressure. However, extreme exercises throughout one's life can also lead to a condition known as an athletic heart.

Athlete's heart generally describes differences in the left ventricle of the heart and other changes that take place when one exerts themselves for an hour each day on most days of the week. There are no known symptoms for the condition. If one experiences palpitations or chest pain, it may be due to a different heart condition or issue.

According to the American Heart Association, the recommended amount of exercise a week is 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise or 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity. The association also advised engaging in exercises for muscle strengthening at least twice a week.

When exercise goes beyond the guidelines, it is possible for an athletic heart to result. This condition typically happens among endurance athletes who keep on competing in marathons or other long events. Several athletes spend several hours per day exercising and over 12 to 15 hours per week exercising.

Cycling, swimming, rowing, and cross-country skiing are all sports that could lead to an athlete's heart.

For runners, the heart adapts itself in response to having to pump huge volumes of blood. Because of this, heart chambers enlarge for more blood to be pumped and held.

For weightlifters, the heart remodels by thickening as a response to the higher pressure that is applied over the heart.

How Athletic Heart Could Affect You

While exercise is generally good for the body, there are some risks that come with developing an athletic heart.

William Cornwell, MD, who serves as the director of sports cardiology from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, writes that, for one, athletes with notably enlarged hearts are at risk of atrial fibrillation, which refers to abnormal heart rhythms that usually occur among adults who are older or individuals with heart failure or high blood pressure. This condition is worrisome as it could result in a stroke.

Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is also another worrisome risk and complication.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, an athlete's heart is still the normal response of the heart to heightened aerobic exercise. The condition itself is not dangerous. Athlete's heart may go on as long as one does not opt for easier training. After going three months without training, the heart could go back to normal.

If one experiences chest pain, fainting, and heart palpitations, it may be necessary to see a healthcare provider. Though these symptoms are not exactly linked to an athlete's heart, they could signify coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathy.

Exercises Is Still Recommended

While elite athletes have a higher risk of developing an athletic heart, this does not minimize the importance of exercise in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

If a person does not routinely engage in exercise, the heart may end up stiff and may not pump blood as well as it used to. Routine exercises could help a compliant heart and prevent stiffness from surfacing.

Moreover, when one engages in routine exercises throughout adulthood, the heart ends up being encouraged to stay strong and flexible even in old age. Even if a person only starts to regularly exercise by 40 to 50 years old, some sedentary aging effects could still be reversed.

Overall, routinely adhering to exercise guidelines can promote one's physical and mental health. It can also help the heart remain healthy throughout one's life.