How to Take Care of Your Heart as an Active Adult
The most common cause of death in most Western societies is cardiovascular disease, tied mainly to a poor diet and a lack of movement for a high percentage of the population. As a society, we are eating more (and more of the wrong stuff) and moving less. Think of an at-risk patient, and most of us conjure up images of obesity, fast food, and large soda drinks. Unfortunately, we must broaden our lens on who we consider at-risk individuals. Even highly athletic and active people are not entirely safe from the dangers of heart disease.
Today we will cover:
Heart Disease in Active People
When guiding athletes and fitness enthusiasts towards higher performance, we emphasize the importance of first building a platform of health before allowing fitness to emerge from this platform. We believe that sporting goals are, of course, a focus, but we never want to chase them at the expense of health and life. The most successful athletes we work with embrace a holistic performance journey, in essence, they become better athletes AND the best version of themselves. Under this banner, we hold ourselves accountable to consider health parameters as much as speed gains, and heart health is pivotal. Yet, most performance-driven folks don’t give a second thought to heart disease. They are active and healthy, right? Well, let’s explore that statement.
When we consider heart health, we must take into account the four elements that make your heart tick:
The Pump: The heart muscle
The Arteries: Your blood and oxygen delivery network of arteries, capillaries, and arterioles
The Electrical System: The connection between brain and heart muscle to manage heart beat and other functions
Blood Pressure: The pressure in the arteries and veins that ensures circulation of blood
When evaluating your heart, consider these four different aspects of functioning as they reveal a broader story of potential risk factors in more athletic populations. A healthy lifestyle of training, recovery, and quality nutrition is not a complete guarantee of avoiding issues around our cardiovascular system. Problems can still stem from genetic predispositions, leftover impacts of poor habits when younger, and the daily stress from life or training.
Engaging in a complete cardiovascular assessment from a sports-focused cardiologist and aiming to embrace risk-reducing habits is of high value for all of us.
Heart Health Warning Signs in Active Individuals
While it is possible to stumble upon a highly active person who has seriously blocked arteries and atherosclerosis, it’s rare. Likewise, most of the more traditional cardiovascular issues that upend so many lives among the less healthy and active populations are not, typically, immediate risks for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Instead, there are several other areas worthy of investigation and consideration.
For the more athletically inclined, the majority of heart issues stem from these elements:
Genetic and family history
Electrical malfunction, including atrial fibrillation and tachycardia
Mechanical malfunction (valve issues, etc.)
Arterial calcification
The challenge with these areas is that symptoms can be tough to spot, especially in athletes. For example, telling an athlete to be on the lookout for being out of breath is not exactly helpful. On the flipside, monitoring heart rate that skyrockets relative to the effort is much more likely to be signaled from the metric-obsessed athlete than everyday folk. The key is that issues can lurk silently, and we need to identify them.
At the most basic level, you should be aware of any consistent shortness of breath, numbness in the extremities, unusual fatigue, or a suspicious drop in performance. You should also not disregard very high heart rates (>175 beats per minute) relative to low or moderate exercise levels as simply a poorly functioning heart rate monitor. It could well be an electrical issue in the heart and worthy of assessment.
Preventative Measures for Improving Heart Health
Most of these heart issues can be treated with smart interventions around diet, stress reduction, and training management. However, none of them are factors to be ignored. This year, we have had several athletes who benefited from consultations with a cardiologist due to issues in the areas mentioned above. All the athletes were seemingly healthy and training fine, but they all required medical support.
Uncovering these issues is vital for any performance-minded person. Consultation with a sports-focused cardiologist includes a physical covering any current symptoms, prior medical problems, prior surgeries, exercise history and current exercise volume, stress levels, and family history of heart disease. A simple yet revealing first test includes using an EKG, which can quickly uncover even minor irregularities without extensive intervention. In addition to the physical exam, cardiologists often opt for simple laboratory tests, including lipid testing and assessment of fasting glucose and kidney and liver function. More individualized lab testing is undertaken if the individual shows further risk factors after the physical or if their family medical history reveals something concerning.
A secondary option is signing up for InsideTracker. While not licensed as a medical assessment, we have had multiple interesting case studies in recent months where results required immediate behavior change and medical intervention.
InsideTracker aims to help individuals shift common biomarkers from good to great. Yet, we have observed several athletes who returned results of surprisingly high levels of blood glucose and cholesterol. These biomarkers, in particular, are risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, so the athletes took immediate action to reduce their levels, with a focus on nutrition, recovery, and exercise. The good news is that, within a few months, blood glucose and cholesterol levels were reduced dramatically (an average of 25% reduction).
Furthermore, a few athletes saw more serious issues revealed after an InsideTracker assessment. Initially, innocuous findings revealed more serious heart issue indicators after further investigation. Thankfully, all the athletes took positive steps and partnered with cardiologists to manage and reduce these discovered risks. All continue to train and thrive with enhanced clarity and peace of mind.
The key to all of this is awareness and risk-aversion. You can’t manage what you can’t see. While the vast majority of us have a clean slate and bill of heart health, we need to understand the risks and, in doing so, reduce the incidence of something dangerous cropping up silently. Almost every potential issue can still be managed, allowing for a fully functioning life and pursuing big, hairy goals.
Cheers,
Matt
A note about InsideTracker
We don’t take our name lightly and that is especially true with partners. We only work with companies that have proven to be high-performance value for our athletes. Never has this been more the case than with InsideTracker. Our excitement is hard to contain as the results from our coaches and athletes keep coming in.
We have six months of performance data under our belt now. (It is blinded across our athlete base for privacy purposes.) Here are just a few biometric highlights from Purple Patch athletes who have had at least two assessments, three to five months apart.
The average Vitamin D levels improved 50%
The average drop in LDL Cholesterol: 12%
The average decrease in blood sugar levels: 27%
The average B12 level improved by 70 points
We are beginning to see what we hoped we would see, with the mission being from good to great, leveraging the insights and recommendations from the team at InsideTracker, and combining that with the coaching advice from our team at Purple Patch.