does anybody fear the health consequences of running?

Concerned Citizen wrote:

I know a lot of out of shape people who didn't do anything their whole life exercise-wise and have cardiac and/or joint problems. I'll take my chances with distance running.

This^

This happened on Saturday and here it is on Wednesday and you still haven't seen your doctor? Dude, make an appointment! Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's major. It's more than worth a trip to your doctor to find out.

BS

I think you went into a fib as soon as you started writing.

50+ years old here. Strange thing happened to me last month. Came down with a sudden and very sore throat, which morphed after a few days into a head cold, definitely viral. So I couldn't run as I was achy also. Anyhow, as I was lying in bed at night I began to have a bout of A-Fib that lasted most of the night. Didn't hurt or even scare me all that much. The A-Fib has lasted nearly a month. Not continuous but intermittent, mostly at night and is getting less pronounced. I definitely notice when I run that the A-Fib either stops or lessens that day. I have not seen a Doc, I don feel like getting a myriad of tests at the moment. I did some research and found that A-fib can be brought on by a virus. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Anyhow, I don't run all that much any longer, maybe 3-4 days a week, 30 min day.

My heart was broken by a red headed girl in the sixth grade. Never got any better, now I run on "Pure Hate".

1) The OP almost lost me when suggesting that others should google the thing he was posting about, or were lazy. Kinda rude eh?

2) The posters who mentioned that they have experienced recent episodes of irregularities/potential a-fib, get your asses to the doctor, like tomorrow. My father died suddenly in his later 50s after having what he had thought was a virus for a few days before dropping dead one morning. For phuuckd sake get yourselves checked out. I've been told by a cardiologist friend recently that age 50 is when "shit starts happening" for people in the US with strokes and heart attack. Wake the helll up!

If running is bad for your health, I'll still do it. End of story.

As for as life expectancy, I'm willing to take my changes. The chances that I'm increasing my life span by running seem a lot better than the chances that I'm decreasing it.

As for quality of life, though, there's no question at all. I'm way healthier and happier at 150 pounds and a goal race every so often than I was at 195 pounds.

Boston Marathon used to have their doctors check the heart of every entrant before issuing a race number. Once two nationally ranked marathoners were denied numbers; they bandited the race and finished 6 and 7 overall. Since then BM doesn't have a health exam, according to this book I requested.

Some marathoners do get a heart attack while running (hands only CPR), but overall much fewer than sedentary people do. About five years ago I got chest pain; I slowed down and the pain cleared and didn't come back when I speeded back up.

Whiite Trash wrote:

I've been told by a cardiologist friend recently that age 50 is when "shit starts happening" for people in the US with strokes and heart attack. Wake the helll up!

I would hope he's referring to sedentary people or he's not on top of the current research. It's known for decades that physical activity is protective for cardiovascular risk, and that seems to be true even for overweight folks from this new research:

I met cardiologist couple of months ago for as detailed tests as possible (stress tests and more). The dr has finished his studies in the USA 6 years ago (I'm in Europe) so he was up to date on all studies and obviously had a passion for his job unlike some. I asked about the heart and extreme training, I mentioned 25km per day and running marathons, I'm 32yo btw and have trained for 10 years.

The dr said that because the test was normal, for me, there is no way that running will damage my heart, no matter how much I will run and push myself. Absolutely no way. To think that he said, would be an issue of anxiety. He then went on about "trends" in researches, like how food with fat was supposed to cause heart problems couple of decades ago, but it's clear today that it's not causing it...also went on about how I shouldn't be Googling on this subject and started to talk again about how anxiety was a problem especially for well informed and educated people.

However! He said that if there is a history in the family of heart condition and you have an underlying issue you would need to consult a dr of course before extreme program. Also he talked about couch potato starting running after 40 yo and pushing it hard in the marathon for 4 hours could cause problems, not only with the heart but kidneys and more.

I just wanted to throw this out here, that if you don't have an underlying issue with your heart, and you actually worry about running damaging your heart you have an ANXIETY. I know that can be hard to admit but it's a HUGE common problem, so please get some help to make the anxiety go away because it will make you live a better life and run faster!!

I also want to add that he after he finished his speciality in the heart muscle he said he found out that 90% of studies in med field can be dismissed as bullshit (did not use the word bullshit but I can't think of a better word to translate that from

Germany to English) contrary to what he thought many years ago, when he thought a new study was a scientific fact (which it is not in many cases). So please take it easy on the Google machine and have a Xanax.

Amen, Fesooo.

People today are waaaaay too often looking for something to worry about.

Probably the best you can do for your health is a bit of moderate exercise on a daily basis and probably running 100km/week isn't ideal, but if you love running that is more important I guess. Live fast, die young.

Great, great post.

I'm in my mid-thirties, been a runner since HS, resting HR in the high 40's to low 50s depending on current fitness, have a favorable cholesterol/lipid profile so I'm basically healthy but I have occasional palpitations, nothing major but it's noticeable particularly when laying down positions. When I experimented with being a vegetarian for a year and during that time they went away. Might OP, this might be worth a try.

3hr-marathoner wrote:

I'm in my mid-thirties, been a runner since HS, resting HR in the high 40's to low 50s depending on current fitness, have a favorable cholesterol/lipid profile so I'm basically healthy but I have occasional palpitations, nothing major but it's noticeable particularly when laying down positions. When I experimented with being a vegetarian for a year and during that time they went away. Might OP, this might be worth a try.

I really should have proofread that post. It's almost unreadable.

In a nutshell: my heart palpitations went away when I stopped eating meat. I didn't like anything else about being vegetarian so I went back to eating meat but the idea that vegetarianism might be good for my particular heart has stuck in my mind. Maybe I'll go back to it if the palpitations get worse.

the funny parts in this thread is where the people under 30 think 50 is "old" (and who would want to live that incredibly long - lol) the people in their 30s who think everything is fine and none of these things would ever happen to them because they are in perfect health - of course, because you are 30

then there are the people in their 50s who know far better that things suddenly start popping up in your mid 40s and eventually you can pretty much count on something going wrong each year, just hope that it is minor

yes, if you have been running all your life and have a resting heart rate in the 40s there is a chance you are going to need a pacemaker - just make sure you have insurance in your 50s and hope that medical costs don't double again and again as huge chunks of the population get older (baby boomers)

I got so much anxiety about what running was doing to my body, I took up smoking instead. It really calms my nerves. I'm really glad I discovered it.