Cardiac Screening for Athletes
Looking after your heart is important, regardless of whether you’re an athlete or not. In recent years a focus on sudden cardiac death in athletes has seen charities and heart foundations urging sports clubs to put their members through cardiac screening – something which can help an athlete manage their training more effectively and safely if anything is flagged up. As an avid swimmer when I was younger and someone who still keeps tabs on high level swimming galas, the sudden death of Alexander Dale Oen whilst he was on training camp in 2012 is the most notable case which sticks in my mind.
On my father’s side of the family both my uncle and my grandmother have had heart issues and although one was a heavy smoker and one over 60 it still tugs at the strings in my brain. So, when we were given the opportunity to undergo cardiac screening at Leander club I was relieved. I’ve experience ECG’s before with no complications, so although I was sure it wasn’t going to highlight anything I was happy that I could speak to someone about any concerns. As predicted the ECG went well, but with my recent spate of breathlessness/light headedness and fatigue I was keen to see if anything could have been causing it.
During long steady state pieces (we’re currently doing two 18k ergs a week) I have recently found my heart rate staying level for 60% of the piece and then spiking and just continuing to climb. Due to the huge ramp up in training I’ve experienced, I actually put most of it down to fitness (or lack thereof) which in hindsight was perhaps a daft thing to do. A quick read of my blood pressure revealed all the doctor needed to know and it was kind of relaxing to talk through what steps I should take.
My blood pressure is quite low – this is a new development since my increase in physical activity as I used to run pretty on point. But at GP visits it over past few years it has been steadily decreasing in correlation with increased training. This obviously doesn’t happen with every athlete (in fact most athletes have standard BP), but when there’s an obvious correlation it doesn’t raise any eyebrows. What hadn’t been discussed with me before is how lower blood pressure can affect your training – most importantly your heart rate.
With a lower blood pressure blood is pumped less readily around your body. Combine this with my low folate levels due to being coeliac and it means that oxygen doesn’t travel too well around my body (low folate causes large blood cells). At some point during long training my body realises this, panics, and amps up the heart to try and pump blood quicker and make up for lost time. It can result in light headedness and dizzy spells, but the fact I’m not actually feinting means it’s not something I should get too worried about, just to keep an eye on it.
Finding out it’s nothing to worry about has been a huge weight off my shoulders – so I would massively recommend to anyone (not just athletes!) to go and get your heart checked out so you can make sure you’re doing the best you can too keep it healthy!
Natalie x
