Sound contradictory? Actually, there are sound physiological reasons why an increased heart rate is advantageous during exercise yet undesirable when the body is at rest. While you exercise, your heart beats faster to pump more blood (which contains important oxygen, fluids and nutrients) to the working muscles.
In addition to strengthening your heart muscle, aerobic exercise trains your heart to pump more blood with every stroke — increasing your cardiac output up to eight times its resting capacity. Ultimately, your heart becomes more efficient at delivering oxygen and draining metabolic waste products away. Best of all, this improved efficiency is sustained even after exercise, translating into a lower resting heart rate.
A high resting heart rate (more than 85 beats per minute), on the other hand, often indicates medical problems, such as a weak heart that is struggling to do its job or thyroid complications. If you have a high resting heart rate, exercise may be a practical prescription. However, you should always check with your physician before beginning an exercise program.
It should be noted that feelings of a fast or irregular heartbeat can be brought on through excessive use of caffeine or alcohol and/or smoking. Should you experience any symptoms related to a fast heartbeat or palpitation, especially if associated with a feeling of faintness, medical advice should be sought.
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