Are you Bradycardiac?

It's always thrilling when you get to know what happens inside your being in response to regular determined workout sessions. It's one of the things that make you realize that we're all blessed with the smartest and extremely capable organic masterpieces. exercise & heart rate Like I promised in an earlier post I would take you into a journey that just might give a whole new dimension about the benefit of endeavoring into a fitness lifestyle. All delivered in a simplified scientific method. exercise & heart rate A normal human heart beats at rate ranging between 60 and 100 beats per minute (BPM). It's the normal range at which the heart is able to pump blood efficient into your circulation maintaining the all essential oxygenation of tissues along with the many other essential functions of the blood including delivering nutrients, washing away carbon dioxide and of course lactic acid along with other waste products. exercise and heart rate

Bradycardia is a term used to describe a slowing heart rate, typically below 60 (BPM) a condition that results from many cardiac and systematic defects. With absolute bradycardia being below 40 BPM. exercise & heart rate

Among the many defects that could result in bradycardia lies ischemic heart diseases, valvular heart diseases, sinus node dysfunction ( the little place within the heart at which the electrical impulse for the heart beat innately originates) and endocrine dysfunctions on top of which is thyroid gland dysfunction. Apart from those gloaming rather terrifying causes lies another cause for bradycardia and I quote as it's written in my USMLE exam prep source; 'Excellent physical conditioning'. I just love the sound of that, don't you? exercise & heart rate But in order to grasp the whole idea we need to understand that physical exercise stresses your cardiovascular system into pumping more blood into your systemic and respiratory circulation to meet the increased demand for air and nutrients. Your heart beats faster, your arteries are engorged with blood and it's always proportionate with the amount of workload you put "aerobically speaking" and your physical conditioning to start with. exercise & heart rate This whole cycle happens with more complexity than the above each and every time you workout. But then again the body is smarter than that, it aims at homeostasis which includes but not limited to decreasing stress and more importantly decreasing energy expenditure; the most precious token the body owns. exercise & heart rate With regular sessions of physical stress i.e. working out your body begins to build up a system that's more efficient and enduring for your demands which includes but not limited to growing new collaterals. exercise & heart rate The simplest way to grasp what collaterals mean is to think of a tree trying to get as much energy from the sunshine in order to grow and have a stronger trunk. A tree has growth buds which represent potential growth only when circumstances are optimal, which is a very important take away but more on that later. The buds then grow to form new stems which at first will be green and fragile but then become stronger into subsidiary trunks. exercise & heart rate I believe that's the closest example to the development within our circulatory system when we make working out a habit. Collaterals grow which are new tiny extensions for already present blood vessels. Net result? More efficient delivery and washing away system and better infiltration into active tissues i.e. muscles, bones, internal organs. exercise & heart rate Now if we take into considerations that the entire systems of the body are interconnected and were meant to operate with utmost harmony, we would understand that better circulatory infiltration would offer less load on the heart. In other words; the heart doesn't need to beat as much to ensure maximal saturation of tissues with much needed blood. And thus your heart rate begins to decrease in a very healthy and rewarding way. You begin to feel that the same workouts you started with are not as exhausting anymore, more on how to overcome a hiatus later on. You don't get the all popular feeling that everyone gets when they start getting physically active that their neck is going to explode from the carotid artery pulsations. But that's not the best part of the whole charade. The best part is that what you have accomplished doesn't just kick in when you workout, it extends to include the times at which you're idle physically; working and sleeping for instance. It's always inspiring to track your progress as you make it. You should have realized the mood improvement and the steady flow of energy throughout the day way before and honestly that should be more than enough to keep you going but being aware of a somehow scientific point of view deepens the habit into a lifestyle that you can't do without. It's true that I believe that my day is never a great day without me killing my workout and I know I'm not the only one. Now because I like my posts to have a personal side to it, I'm gonna share with you the best number I managed to get down too. My resting heart rate has successfully been recorded at a 43 beats per minute. Working in a hospital gives me access to equipment that can track such recordings but that should never stop you because technology is always right there at our finger tips only if know what we are looking for. Apart from devices and wristwatches that are able to track your HR. If you have a smart phone. Chances are you can install an application that is able to track it for you. I'm not gonna direct you to a certain application partly because I'm not marketing for any and partly because that should be your homework if you're keen enough! exercise & heart rate Enough talking and let's start blasting our workouts. Im going for a 30 minute intense kettlebell workout tonight. What are you going for? exercise & heart rate