After my previous post about the event the other day in which my heart got “maxed out” while bicycling exuberantly after caffeine intake, I have still been looking into this.
I find this issue very interesting because it has to do with the way the human body is designed. What actually happens in the body when one engages in an activity that is so vigorous that the heart reaches its maximum limit?
It actually seems like there really isn’t a lot of research on this. There’s a huge amount of research on all types of disorders and conditions from people who don’t take care of themselves, eat poor diets, have messed up arteries, etc.
But what about extremely healthy people who are athletes? Personally I find this far more interesting that what is happening with all these sick people, although of course all the money that is to be made in the medical industry is made from the sick people, not the healthy ones.
Here are a few more articles I found about maximum heart rate:
doctorslounge.com: Question: Reaching Max Heart Rate during exercise – Dangerous?
livestrong.com: What Happens If You Exceed Your Maximum Heart Rate During Exercise?
exercise.com: What is a safe upper limit for heart rate during exercise?
healthtap.com: Top 10 Doctor insights on: Dangerous Heart Rate Levels
wikipedia.org: vagal tone
duckduckgo.com search: maximum heart rate danger
Ok so the bottom line seems to be that I don’t think its particularly bad to hit max heart rate. However because I haven’t been working out as regularly as I used to I’ve probably lost some vagal tone as its called meaning the way my body regulates my pulse during high exertion is less optimal than before.
It’s really interesting in an objective sort of way when the heart hits its maximum limit. It’s interesting to observe how the body has a limit built into it, tolerances which it cannot exceed by design.
Also interesting is that certain things like regular exercise and possibly meditation can increase vagal tone.
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