Even a good thing can be be a bad thing if you overdo it. According to a new study, extreme exercise can actually be bad for your health.
Strenuous training — the kind many marathoners and other endurance athletes do — can indeed be harmful to our hearts, The New York Times reports. But don’t hang up your sneakers or skip a few gym sessions yet. The study also shows that you need to work out a lot for it to be bad for your health.
A newly published scientific review offers reassurance as well as a reason for caution. In general, it found that while most athletes’ hearts can withstand strenuous exercise, there are exceptions. For some people — even those in seemingly good health — heavy loads of exercise might be problematic.
The upshot: It’s important to be as informed as possible about family cardiac history and potential genetic risks before starting an exercise regimen, particularly if it will be especially strenuous.
Exercise is in general extremely beneficial for heart health, according to dozens of large-scale epidemiological studies — whether a workout lasts five minutes a day or two hours a day.
But while the findings generally indicate the more people work out, the less they are at risk of cardiac problems, the benefits plateau or decline after a certain point. What’s more, studies indicate that there are seemingly healthy people for whom strenuous exercise holds unexpected dangers.
A study conducted by British physicians and presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in August this year says that excessive exercise, either in volume or intensity, may be associated with a higher risk of heart attacks.
The researchers compared the arteries of athletes who ran fewer than 35 miles a week or cycled fewer than 150 km a week with athletes who ran or cycled beyond that threshold. They found that athletes who ran a maximum of 35 miles a week had lower levels of coronary artery calcium (the plaque that blocks arteries) and were less likely to suffer from heart attacks and strokes as compared to sedentary adults.
But they also found that the group which exercised way more had higher levels of plaque. In other words, a dedicated runner who logged 50 miles a week had the same or worse heart than a couch potato.