Aerobic exercise lowers heart rate

Long-term adherence to regular, appropriate-intensity aerobic exercise can indeed effectively reduce the resting heart rate of healthy people. Usually, if you persist for 3-6 months, you will see a decrease of 3-10 beats/minute. For people whose basic resting heart rate is high (more than 80 beats/minute), the improvement effect will be more obvious.

I took care of a child who was doing back-end development two years ago. When he first joined the company, he stayed up late every day to catch up on the version. During the physical examination, his resting heart rate shot up to 89. When he climbed the third floor to his workstation, he had to gasp for two minutes before he could speak a complete sentence. Later, I was forced to jog and briskly walk for 40 minutes around the park next to the company three nights a week. I didn't pursue any pace. If I was out of breath, I would walk slowly for two steps, then slow down and continue running. After four months, I had a physical examination and my resting heart rate dropped to 63. Now I go to climb Xiangshan Mountain with us on weekends, and he is always the one who walks in the front.

Many people think that lowering the heart rate is some mysterious thing. In fact, to put it bluntly, it means that the "strength training" of the heart has been done enough. When you do aerobics, the muscles throughout the body need more oxygen, and the heart has to work harder than usual to pump blood. With such regular stimulation for a long time, the myocardial fibers will become thicker, the contraction force will become stronger, and the amount of blood that can be pumped out with each beat (this is what is clinically called stroke volume) will naturally increase. It used to take 80 jumps to supply oxygen, but now 60 jumps are enough, and the resting heart rate will naturally come down - just like a large-displacement family car can maintain a stable idling speed, and can pull a load without slamming the accelerator.

However, there has always been a contrary saying in the fitness circle, saying that "doing too much aerobics will increase your heart rate." I have seen many people use this as an excuse to refuse to move. In fact, it’s really not an aerobic exercise, it’s just over-training. A fan sent me a private message before, saying that he ran two hours a day for fat removal and ate very little. In three months, his resting heart rate rose from 72 to 81, and he became flustered when he moved. After going for a checkup, I found out that it was due to long-term excessive aerobic exercise and too large a caloric deficit. I lost a lot of muscle, my basal metabolism was disrupted, and my heart had to beat several times more to maintain normal blood supply. This kind of pot really cannot be dumped on the aerobic head.

Some people say that I have been practicing for almost two months and my heart rate has not dropped at all. Is this a lie? First, check your heart rate when exercising. Is it stuck in the range of 60%-70% of the maximum heart rate (220-age)? I have an aunt downstairs who says she goes to "brisk walk for exercise" every day. In fact, she takes two steps and then stops to chat with someone for half an hour. Her heart rate is no different from sitting and watching TV. It is impossible to have any effect after practicing for a year. There is no need to pursue any speed or distance. As long as you can speak normally when exercising but cannot sing smoothly, then the intensity is basically enough. Ordinary people do not need to use fancy professional equipment and can just rely on this feeling to judge.

Of course, not everyone is suitable for lowering the heart rate through aerobic exercise. Patients with atrioventricular block or severe arrhythmia should not practice blindly on their own. Their resting heart rate is already low, and blindly doing aerobic exercise may lead to danger. You must first seek evaluation from a doctor. In addition, don’t regard whether the resting heart rate is low or not as the only criterion. After practicing for so many years, my resting heart rate is stable at around 58. However, after running 5 kilometers, my heart rate can fall back to the resting level in 3 minutes. This recovery speed is actually a better indicator of the quality of cardiopulmonary ability than the simple heart rate number.

To be honest, the most taboo thing about aerobics is quick success. You don’t have to force yourself to run a half-marathon every day. Find an event that you can stick to, even if it’s cycling in the countryside on weekends, swimming in a swimming pool in the summer, or even dancing Pamela at home for half an hour. As long as you follow the rules, you will feel the change in two months. At least you won’t be out of breath like a broken bellows after running two steps on the subway.