Does intense exercise damage your heart? Apparently it does (Uptated 28/11/2013)

If you do intense exercise such as cycling, running, marathon, triathlon, ultras and so on then you must read this article - carefully! It could well save your life.

Before you go any further please read the New Zealand Herald article which I have reproduced below by Phil Taylor. While I do have my criticisms, as you will read later, it still is one of the best articles on the subject to date - Congratulations Phil!

And please take a few minutes to listen to the TEDx Talk by cardiologist, Dr James O'Keefe which is embedded below in this article.  Maybe we were not born to run?  The kill-joys may be right.

Once you have read the article and watched the video, please read what I have written below.......

Heart of the Issue - Sport - NZ Herald News

Intense, exhausting exercise may damage the heart; but I disagree with what is done in response to it: Retirement, drugs and surgery.

When reading Greg's article, you may have noted that the only athlete (Hayden Roulston) who elected not

Hayden Roulston in winning form

to go down the conventional medical path is the only one to have fully recovered and has gone on to greater performances than ever and continues to do so today.  All others referred to in the article have retired with varying degrees of ill health or limitations on activity.

It is a shame that Greg and the medical experts involved in these case did not inquire more into what those "alternatives" Roulston partook of that brought about such a miraculous and lasting recovery.

(In case you are wondering: Yes, I have talked to Hayden about what he did to restore his health - but what he actually did is his to tell).

Why are non-medical solutions consistently  ignored?

Is there a taboo within mainstream medicine to even suggest, let alone admit, that there are effective alternatives to the allopathic medical paradigm which is to attack a health problem by administering patent poisons or maiming with the scalpel?  Is it because there are really cheap, non-patentable naturally occurring substances and procedures that can cure!  Is it because non-patent natural products have the potential to undermine the multi-billion dollar industry that has built up around high tech patent medicines and expensive surgical procedures?

Some years ago, I attended a lecture by a cardiologist who, among other things, made mention of Rob Waddell's heart problems.  I was horrified at what he described was in prospect for Waddell in the way of surgery and which he has subsequently undergone in some form.  What should have been asked was this:

"Why did Waddell's heart problems apparently diminish when he switched from rowing to grinding and why did they reappear when he switched back to rowing?  

Surely there are better alternatives to barbaric and life-threatening surgery which is, essentially, slicing and/or scraping the surface of the heart muscle to create scars!  More about this later.

It is not unusual for extreme athletes to have heart rates as low as the 30-40 beats per minute range.  In fact it is a source of pride among athletes to have the lower the better!  But this is far from healthy and more an indication of chronic exhaustion, more commonly known as Adrenal Fatigue.  Blown out adrenals is near universal in endurance sports such as triathlon, running, rowing and cycling.  In fact, I am currently touring New Zealand and Australia, running a one day course for health professionals about adrenal and thyroid burnout in athletes.

Incidentally, the last course was in Brisbane last weekend, attended by 70 enthusiastic health professionals.  The feedback has been sensational and there are more than 100 enrolled for this weekend's course in Melbourne:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/06/feedback-on-running-on-empty-courses-is.html?utm_source=BP_recent
Sadly, few doctors have been in attendance.  This has to change, or else the medical profession will fall further and further behind and remain dependent on drugs and surgery when treating this most treatable of conditions.

Think about it:  When a person collapses with shock and their heart stops beating, resuscitation may include

Mo Farah and Galen Rupp: "Hypothyroid"? 

injecting adrenalin into the heart in a desperate attempt to kick start it.  Olympic athletes such as Mo Farah and Galen Rupp have been resorting to injections of adrenalin and thyroxine to power their athletic performances.  Adrenalin is produced by the adrenal glands; thyroxine is produced by the thyroid. The fact is this:  Strong adrenal and thyroid glands power the cardiovascular system, including the heart.  One of the symptoms of adrenal fatigue is unusually low blood pressure and an unusually low resting pulse, that is often erratic.  If the adrenals give up the ghost completely, the heart stops and the person dies.  This is presumably the cause of death of the first person to run the marathon: Pheidippides!

Bradycardia (unusually slow pulse), tachycardia (racing pulse) and heart arrhythmias (irregular/flutter pulse) are strongly associated with adrenal fatigue which, as I mentioned earlier, is near universal in endurance athletes. In fact, it is common in any group of people who experience unrelenting stress.  Especially when combined with the nutrient depleted diet.

My personal experience with adrenal-related heart problems

My finest hour: Racing John Walker and Graeme
Struthers (NZ Marathon Champion).  I came 2nd
in that race.  Graeme won. 1976

One of my last real running races was as a member of the Victoria University team contesting the NZ Veterans Cross-country Relay Championships.  I was about 42 years old then.  We were in the lead by the time the baton was handed to me.  I took off, setting a winning pace; but, at about the half way mark, I suddenly slowed.  My legs were dead and I felt I was going to die!  I staggered to the finish, having given up the lead.  I felt terrible and I had let the team down.  I was heart-broken.  Our team leader was most unimpressed.  I did not run competitively again until well into my 50's, mainly because I could not get beyond a staggering trot.

I was suffering a chronic irregular heart beat.  In the lab my maximum pulse peaked at a miserable 109 beats
per minute and my 24 hour cortisol levels had dropped to nearly zero (cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands).  I was consulting a cardiologist and my doctor wanted to place me on steroid (Prednisone) medication.  I chose, instead, to begin a conservative programme of nutrition balancing and rest.

Gary: Early 40's
showing clear signs
of adrenal
exhaustion.

Today I am a new man: I have not had an irregular pulse for years, my resting pulse is a healthy 50-60 beats per minute (not too low) and my heart red lines at about 175 beats per minute - not bad for a 60 year old, if you don't mind my saying!

It took a good ten years to get to where I am at; but the journey has been well worth the effort!

The evidence is clear: I have reversed what was progressing to outright heart disease that would ultimately kill me!  The evidence is clear in terms of blood tests, blood pressure and heart response to exercise.  Further evidence is via the stop watch: I am a full 20% faster over a two hour cycling race as compared to when I was in my 40's. This is sensational news; but it has not warranted any attention at all, other from the few people who read this blog.

Read this:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2011/07/more-about-reversing-cardiovascular.html

In my 50's and back to my winning ways

As with Hayden Roulston's remarkable recovery, as compared to the others, when it comes to health, mainstream media and mainstream medicine are completely blind to the obvious when it comes to the truth about what works and what does not.

For most people: 

"Oh dear, I have heart disease: Better do what the Good Doc says; take his poisonous drugs, have the surgery and resign myself to a lesser life and a sooner death".

Rob Waddell is an interesting case study.  Before proceeding to comment, I warn that I am making a number of assumptions based on comments by the cardiologist during his lecture, and my assumptions about dietary variations typically seen in endurance athletes and athletes who are bulking up.  The diets can be very different and it is in these differences that we may discover the key to prevention and recovery form an irregular heart beat. 

An endurance athlete's diet is typically high in carbohydrates, while being relatively low in fats and proteins.  The proportion of vitamins and minerals to energy is usually very, very poor.  When tested, an athlete on this kind of endurance diet is depleted.  Here is a good example:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2012/01/running-on-empty-why-athletes.html

An athlete who is bulking up for the role of grinder on a yacht will typically be consuming much more protein and fat while, by default, the intake of vitamins and minerals is proportionally much higher in relation to calories.  I understand that the Team NZ crew are generously fed with food of the highest quality.

I believe this nutritional shift, combined with the adrenal and thyroid burnout associated with endurance sport, is the key to the apparent reduction in heart problems when Waddell switched from rower to grinder and why the symptoms came back when he switched back to rowing once again.  I will assume he resumed rowing by adopting a restrictive diet to shed the bulk he was carrying while working as a grinder.

Of course, grinding has a huge cardiovascular component but not of the same unrelenting intensity  as experienced in rowing training and competition.

The widespread, uncontrolled use of NSAID anti-inflammatory medication in sport

 There is clear evidence of increased risk of heart flutter or atrial fibrillation with the use of anti-inflammatory medication.  Such medicines are dished out like lollies in sport, often by the coach who is supplied with endless amounts by their team's "Sports Doctor", or purchased from over-the-counter sources.

This article here gives you an idea of just how widespread is the use and abuse of these drugs in sport:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/06/a-kiwi-cyclist-has-admitted-to-using.html

In my opinion, there is no need for these drugs in sport: The potential health risks outweigh any dubious benefits.

Please read these articles:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2012/06/does-taking-anti-inflammatory-drugs.html

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter

Other causes of heart flutter in athletes

Increasingly, there is excessive use of stimulants at even recreational levels of sport.  These stimulants are commonly in the form of caffeine, ephedrine, or their herbal or synthetic equivalnets.

Other than chocolate, coffee and tea, these stimulant chemicals can be found in energy drinks, party pills, pre-workout supplements and weight-loss formulas (especially if you see the words "thermogenic" or "fat-burner" on the label). 

At least one lecturer in sports nutrition at the Otago School of Medicine is advocating the use of "No-Doze" caffeine pills for use by junior athletes, like netball players, as pre-game stimulants.  This is appalling advice to come from a health professional who holds such a powerful position of influence.

If an athlete, or anybody, for that matter, suffers from an irregular heart beat here is what I recommend:

Go see your doctor without hesitation

Get a thorough check up, get zapped with a defibrillator or whatever else is needed to ensure your immediate safety.  This may include medication.

Read this:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/11/atrial-fibrillation-arrhythmias-and.html

Get a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis completed right away

It takes about three weeks to get the results back.  This test will give us a really good idea of what is going on with your adrenal and thyroid glands and the balance between minerals such as magnesium, calcium, copper and iron (A blood test does not do this).  We want to get this report asap so as to avoid the risk of becoming physiologically and psychologically depend on any medication (Time is a factor).
Here is the link to the test:
http://www.garymoller.com/Products/Products/H/Hair-Tissue-Mineral-Analysis-Profile-Two.aspx

Commence a programme of nutritional balancing

Guided by the Hair Test results.  Nutrition supplementation without accurate testing to guide a person is a bit like target shooting while blind-folded.

Nutritional balancing is the key to restoring health, including strong cardiovascular function.  It takes time but it is every bit worth the time and effort.  Seldom does a programme of nutritional balancing fail to get a person into a state of health where medication is no longer necessary.

What do other health professionals think about this approach to health care, including nutritional balancing?

If the response to the current lecture tour of New Zealand and Australia is anything to go by....
http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/06/feedback-on-running-on-empty-courses-is.html?utm_source=BP_recent

How to prevent heart damage from "excessive" exercise

If the heart is deprived of critical nutrients - and it just needs to be one of hundreds of nutrients - such as magnesium, calcium, ubiquinol or d-ribose, to name just a few, then it will be at risk of damage.  If there is an imbalance between calcium and zinc, for example (present in 80% of the athletes I test), there will be disastrous deposition of calcium in the heart and arteries (arteriosclerosis).  If there is a lack of or excess of copper, cholesterol may soar, the heart may become floppy and the heart valves leaky.  These can all be prevented and even reversed, if present, through a careful and patient process of nutritional balancing.

I am once again back to extremely intense exercise, red-lining the heart at 170 beats per minute on a regular basis.  In doing so, I am not worried about all the growing evidence that this can be extremely harmful.  The reason I do not worry is because I am carefully monitoring markers of cardiovascular health (Cholesterol is not one of them): Blood pressure, resting and exercising pulse, calcium/magnesium ratios and more.  My cardiovascular health is maintained by supplying the nutritional building blocks a strong heart and flexible arteries require and I am carefully replacing the nutrients that are lost during intense exercise. This is guided by repeating the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis on an annual basis.  

How do you know this works Gary?

Over several years of nutritional balancing my own cardiovascular work output has increased by at least 20% - All for no extra training!  As they say:  "Better than Lance!"

Refer here: http://blog.garymoller.com/2011/06/cardiovascular-disease-arteriosclerosis.html

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Inflammation explained by Dr Eric Bakker

Here is a "Practitioner" article by health expert, Dr Eric Bakker.  It is one of the best articles I have come cross yet about inflammation.  But, first, a few comments:

I have written a number of times about the importance of inflammation for healing and how the widespread use of anti-inflammatory medications cause more harm than good.

 

Healthy inflammation signals healing is taking place

Inflammation is regulated by the adrenal glands.  If inflammation appears to be uncontrolled, or excessive, then treat the adrenals to improve their health and avoid, at all costs, chemically suppressing the healing processes (inflammation).

Unfortunately you never hear this from mainstream medicine, including your doctor and physiotherapist.  Why?

• Anti-inflammatory medications, such as Voltaren and even aspirin, are multi-billion dollar industries in world-wide sales and exert huge influence on the institutions that train health professionals.
• Medicine denies the existence of adrenal fatigue, subscribing instead to the nonsensical belief that such conditions develop magically in an instant to be a life-threatening condition known as "Addisons".  That there is nothing in between this and good health can only be explained by the fact that medical treatment of choice is powerful steroids that actually destroy adrenal function!
• If the body has healthy, strong adrenals through nutrition and lifestyle measures then the need for expensive physiotherapy and medical procedures, including the need for patent medicines and non steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines would be largely redundant.

Here is the article by Dr Bakker



Inflammation and Adrenal Function
Eric Bakker ND

Many people have a tendency to see inflammation as a disease process, but inflammation in fact is a necessary innate response of our body’s immune system, a process that brings the necessary resources required to a specific area to fight an infection or to heal an injury.  Inflammation is a natural process that is vital as part of the body’s healing process. But an inappropriate inflammatory response can be very damaging and even destructive, and many now believe that inappropriate and out of control inflammatory responses indeed underpin most chronic disease today, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Acute inflammation can occur under different circumstances, for example, if you fall and injure your leg, inflammation occurs.  You can also develop inflammation in response to a bacteria or a virus in your respiratory tract, along with symptoms such as fever, nasal swelling, sneezing, discharge and congestion.  However in this case, a foreign body has caused the inflammatory response.

Chronic and ongoing inflammation is a response initiated by an over-reactive immune system.  Diseases such as ulcerative colitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or rheumatoid arthritis, like many autoimmune diseases, represent a spectrum of diseases in which white blood cells become highly overactive.  Excessive production of the chemical messengers called cytokines in many autoimmune diseases lead to excessive inflammation, and an improperly functioning immune system will often reflect in chronic uncontrollable inflammation.

Autoimmune disorders are among the leading causes of death among women under age 65, according to a study published in a public health journal in America in 2000.  It is safe to assume that our rates are similar in NZ and Australia.

Particularly with chronic autoimmune disease, how much inflammation occurs will depend to a large degree on cortisol, and as soon as adrenal weakness occurs, the body will become increasingly susceptible to any type of inflammatory response.  With each incremental reduction in the output of cortisol, the body’s inflammatory responses increase and inflammatory reactions such as pain, redness, heat, swelling and loss of function only increase over time.  Bacterial and viral toxins may eventually become unopposed, surging inflammation upwards as immunity worsens. The “wonder drugs” such as prednisone and hydrocortisone are commonly prescribed by doctors to suppress such autoimmune responses, these steroidal drugs are a synthetic analogue to the body’s own cortisol.  While your patients may experience a temporary relief of the symptoms of inflammation and an increase in their wellbeing, the effects are only short lived and repeated dosages are required, much to the detriment of the body due to the incredible damage caused by their long-term use. It is important for the body to have its own constant and regular supply of endogenous cortisol, and for this reason approximately 96 percent of serum cortisol is bound to serum proteins, including serum albumin and corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG).  Free cortisol (only about 4 percent) passes easily through cellular membranes, where it binds to intracellular cortisol receptors.  In this 3-way system, the body has ways of accessing cortisol either immediate, intermediate or in a delayed sense as the need arises.  With any immediate and short-term stress, serum cortisol is often sufficient to supply the body’s needs, and if a person has a further minor injury or continued stress then they will have access to the cortisol bound to the albumin.  However, with a more serious injury or prolonged chronic stress, the body has then access to the corticosteroid binding globulin.  This clever innate system allows a person to always have access to cortisol when required, and as you can imagine, this form of subtle control over cortisol does not occur when a person is taking synthetic prednisone or hydrocortisone. With inflammation, it is therefore in your patient’s best interest to improve their adrenal function to its maximum potential, and let’s look at three key ways to achieve this objective in your clinic:

Point 1: Diet and Lifestyle. As you are no doubt aware, one of the best ways for your patients to reduce inflammation in the more immediate sense is for them to change their diet and lifestyle.  Being a skilled practitioner, you will be sufficiently acquainted with the pro-inflammatory foods and drinks, and it is best that your patients are instructed to follow a low-inflammatory diet approach for some time.

Any diet high in the pro-inflammatory foods, along with a lifestyle high in stress coupled with chemical exposure will most always set the scene for leaky gut syndrome (LGS), and LGS will often pave the way for inflammation and set the stage for autoimmunity, a disease of “no known etiology”.  Dr. Wilson’s AF Program therefore has a strong focus on diet as well as lifestyle modifications.

Point two: Focal infections. The second point is to be on the look-out for any hidden or focal infections, many of your patients may potentially have dead or diseased teeth (root canals), mercury toxicity, or a low-grade infection or inflammatory response involving the ileocaecal valve, bowel pockets, candidiasis, SIBO (small bowel overgrowth), tonsils, appendix or gum issues in the mouth.  The panoramic x-ray taken from a patient in my clinic with rheumatoid arthritis clearly shows an infection in one of her root-canalled teeth.

Point three: Treat Adrenal Fatigue.  Thirdly, suspect and treat adrenal fatigue in any patient who has low grade or a chronic inflammation.  But before you do, I’d like you to seriously consider using the most clinically effective and value for money adrenal fatigue products in the business, products formulated by the doctor who coined the phrase “adrenal fatigue” and who has devoted his entire professional life to clinical AF practice and research, a well respected clinician who has developed the most effective AF treatment protocol in our industry.  Since early 2007, Dr. Wilson’s Adrenal Fatigue Program has set the standard how countless health-care professionals now treat patients with adrenal fatigue in their clinics both throughout Australasia as well as in many countries throughout the world.

Dr Wilson's  Adrenal Fatigue Quartet

My clinic has now treated several thousand AF patients, utilizing Dr. Wilson’s Program, and we have seen many remarkable outcomes in autoimmune patients, including reductions and in many cases an actual cessation of steroidal drugs. Yes, it is possible to have your patient lessen her dependence on steroids, particularly if you carefully follow the three-point approach above.  Are you still using those very basic adrenal formulations in your clinic, and have you seriously considered utilising Dr. Wilson’s Adrenal Fatigue Program yet?   At Nutrisearch, my technical team and I are always happy to give you the guidance or assistance you need in helping you to get started in improving your patient’s outcomes today.

More reading:
http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/

Dr Bakker's site: http://www.adrenalfatigue.co.nz/

My articles about inflammation: http://blog.garymoller.com/search/label/inflammation

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Candida and Fungal Infections? Gary Moller recommends you explore this programme: Click Here!

Does taking anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) improve performance and recovery?

Gary's bruised and battered thigh -
No anti-inflammatories - just quick healing!

A report from the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (June 11, 2012. Abstract FRI0457) showed that in exercisers with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ketoprofin (100 mg twice a day) increased the amount of pain and delayed healing. Celecoxib (Celebrex, 200mg twice a day) treatment diminished total pain slightly. The authors state that "the inflammatory reaction following muscle injury is essential for recovery".  This supports other studies showing that competitive athletes do not benefit from taking NSAIDs. For example, Ibuprofen did not reduce elevated cytokine levels that signify muscle damage in ultra-marathon runners (Brain Behav Immun 2005;9: 398-403).
Source: http://www.drmirkin.com/

______________________________________

Gary:

"So, Gary, when was the last time you took an anti-inflammatory?"

Answer: "Not in the last ten years at least".

Reason: 
Because anti-inflammatories interfere with healing and recovery. By interfering with healing and recovery, the athlete risks ending up with structures, such as tendons and ligaments that are incompletely healed and, therefore, weak and at risk of further injury. Any further injury to an already weakened structure may result in catastrophe such as complete avulsion of the ligament or rupture of the tendon.

Please read this article for a more detailed explanation as to why anti-inflammatories should be off the treatment list:
 http://blog.garymoller.com/2010/03/inflammation-and-healing-explained-case.html

If you hurt yourself, the better course of action is to bear with the pain and use treatments that do not interfere with healing like compression and elevation in the first instance and then gentle exercise, massage and warmth, depending on the medical advice.

"Should I take anti-inflammatories NSAIDs before doing bruising or exhausting exercise?"

The answer is an emphatic "NO!"

Quoting from Dr Mirkin's article above: ".. competitive athletes do not benefit from taking NSAIDs".  In fact, the evidence is that taking NSAIDs before and after hard exercise causes physical harm by directly interfering with the healing processes, of which inflammation is an integral part.

If inflammation is excessive, then you need to take a hard look at your nutrition, as well as adrenal health - Do so with the assistance of a suitably qualifies health practitioner please.

You need inflammation in order to heal!

"If this is the case, then why does it seem that every sports medicine practitioner recommends and dispenses anti-inflammatories for just about every sprain, strain and bruise - even the most minor?"


Answer:
It all comes down to the power of the Market - the Almighty Dollar!  Millions are being raked in daily by powerful and influential pharmaceutical companies from the sale of NASID's and they are not about to let a minor detail, such as "harm" to get in the way of a healthy profit.

"So, why don't the Medical Professors say something?"

My opinion: Medical schools rely on millions of dollars of research grants and direct funding from pharmaceutical companies for survival nowadays.  No longer can such institutions of higher learning be considered independent of commercial interests.  Do you really think the Professor in charge of Rheumatology is going to make a public song and dance about the inappropriateness of and excessive prescribing NSAIDs for most injuries and aches and pains?  Not likely!  While he/she may express an opinion in private that is similar to mine, he/she is unlikely to speak of such things in public, lest it jeopardises millions of dollars worth of Faculty funding.  Ethically, he/she should speak out regardless of the possible consequences, but don't hold your breath on that one folks!

_______________________________________

About this website

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation.  Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Inflammation and Healing Explained: The case against using anti-inflammatory drugs

It is very popular nowadays is to pop anti-inflammatory drugs like lollies for just about any kind of sprain, strain or bruise.  Despite their popularity, there is usually no need at all to take these drugs Few people are aware of the downsides that may negate any supposed benefits.
Inflammation signals that the body is responding, as it should,  to an injury or infection.  Inflammation is necessary to stem the damage, stabilise and repair  When allowed to run its natural course, the usual end result is a timely return to full health and fitness.
Anti-inflammatory drugs interfere with this natural healing processes, giving the user a false recovery that is premature.  In the case of injury, there are few cases where I feel these drugs are beneficial.
Please refer to the chart to the left.  What this chart tells us is we have little need for anti inflammation medications if we have a diet that is supportive of a healthy immune response.