Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a Consultant Cardiologist at York Cardiology, put together a video not too long ago where he discussed the results of an interesting study on the effects of exercise on people with atrial fibrillation.
The study demonstrated the dramatic positive effects of exercise and provides an exercise road map for other afibbers to follow!
The study was conducted in Norway. The study consisted of 51 patients with symptomatic paroxysmal or persistent afib who had been referred for an ablation.
A loop recorder was inserted into their chests to record the time the patients were in afib during the study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Twenty-six were assigned to 12-week aerobic interval training and 25 were assigned to a control group where they were allowed to do just what they had always done.
The patients were not significantly overweight (average weight of around 200 pounds) and were, on average, six feet tall.
At the end of the study they found the following:
- Mean time in atrial fibrillation increased from 10% to 14% in the control group and decreased from 8.1% to 4.8% in patients who went through the exercise program!
- The exercise group had significant improvement in quality of life and reported less frequent afib episodes and less severe afib episodes.
- Their weight also decreased and their cholesterol levels went down.
- Finally, their left atrial function improved too!
This was a very important study because it showed how beneficial exercise is for people with afib.
If you want to try it out for yourself, here is the exercise program they did:
Walking or running on a treadmill 3 times a week for 12 weeks.
Each session started with a 10-minute warm up at 60% to 70% of their maximum heart rate. Maximum heart rate is determined by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you are 55 years old, your maximum heart rate is 165 bpm. 60%-70% of that would be a heart rate between 99-116 bpm.
The warm up was followed by four 4-minute intervals at 85% to 95% of maximum heart rate, with 3 minutes of active recovery at 60% to 70% of maximum heart rate between intervals.
Each session ended with a 5-minute cool down period.
So an entire session looked like this:
10 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate.
4 minutes at 85-95% of maximum heart rate.
3 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate.
4 minutes at 85-95% of maximum heart rate.
3 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate.
4 minutes at 85-95% of maximum heart rate.
3 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate.
4 minutes at 85-95% of maximum heart rate.
3 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate.
5 minutes of cool down
Total session time: 43 minutes
Be sure to discuss your desire to exercise with your doctor and then try this program. It may help improve your afib!
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Drinking with afib,
My heart rate reaches 85% at very moderate levels of exercise (resting 100bpm) and exceeds maximum on occasion – I don’t understand how. Also my pulse is a lot lower than my heart rate – but approaches heart rate when exercising. Should I ignore it and focus only on heart rate?
Peter:
I have to be honest, I didn’t think it was possible for a person’s pulse to be different from their heart rate. That’s news to me.
Regardless, I would probably focus on your heart rate since that’s the source of your pulse anyway. It’s also much easier to take your heart rate vs. your pulse when you’re exercising (assuming of course you’re wearing a heart rate monitor like the ones I provided links to in previous comments).
I wish you well!
Travis
Interesting article/video. I would like to try the exercise program without buying a treadmill. I would just walk outside. II would need a heart rate monitor watch or device. One that could also track time. Can you recommend such a device?
Larry:
Something like the Polar Ft1 Heart Rate Monitor would be affordable, accurate, and give you the watch features you want (it’s just under $41). Do you have a smartphone by chance? If you do, then there are other options I can share with you.
Thanks,
Travis
Yes, I have an iPhone.
Larry:
Since you have an iPhone, then I would look at the Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor. It will pair with your iPhone via Bluetooth.
Whatever you decide to buy, opt for those monitors with the chest strap as they are far more accurate and reliable than wrist monitors.
Good luck!
Travis
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