Is "Hot Yoga" Ok for afibbers?

My daughter has been taking a class in "hot yoga" and would like me to join her. The room is apparently very hot - like a sauna - and they do yoga in there for 60-90 minutes - with lots of sweating. Does anyone know if there's a reason why I shouldn't be able to do this? I'm mostly under control with Flecainide, but...don't want anything that will tip the balance.

Thanks ~ Barb

Barb
I wouldn't because of the extreme sweating and subsequent loss of electrolytes but that is me. At the very least I would drink lots of water with potassium gluconate and waller water to make sure to replace the electrolytes.
Cyndie

I have been wondering the same thing. Sweating is such a good way to detox, but how much sweating will cause mineral loss to the point of having episode.

In fact, I have been considering purchasing a infrared sauna for the purpose of detoxing. This type of sauna is not supposed to get as hot as other saunas and they say it is ok for people with heart conditions.

Hope someone who has experience with this will answer.

Barb,

I think Cyndie's suggestion of increased fluids & electrolytes is a good one.

How do you respond to a) exercise in general, b) prolonged exercise in hot weather? The answers might give you a clue.

If you want to try it, you might start out for shorter time periods, say 20 or 30 minutes, and see what happens. Then gradually extend if you don't see a problem.

George

Barb,

I do not do well at all in high heat/humidity situations, so for me, I would never set myself up for this. I have never been able to tolerate the combo. At heart, I'm a Desert Rat, so maybe, high heat, no humidity, would work? I do know that when the humidity is high, all bets are off. All of the suggestions about electrolytes and increased fluids should be taken.

I do not know anything about the practice of yoga, however, if you are vagal, the position of your head lower than your heart, or some other weird position, might be an issue?

Regardless of what you spend time doing with your daughter, enjoy it.

lisa

Thanks for your responses. I think I will see how I'm feeling tomorrow (I'm in afib right now....) and if all is well, drink my electrolyte drink and lots of water and only do it for about 30 minutes - for the first time, anyway.

Will let you know if I try it - and how it goes. And yes, if not this, find something else we can do together

Barb

Barb - I agree that this is something you'll probably have to experience before you know for sure. In my many years of exercising with afib, I found that I was not able to do yoga - even post ablation. And I'd probably not be able to tolerate the heat, either.... regardless of whether hydrated and added electrolytes. So, I'd just give it a try with the preventive measures of adding electrolytes before, during and after... plus hydrating the entire time. I'd add electrolytes to your water bottle. Good luck. I love yoga; just can't do some of the postures.

Jackie

So I went to Hot Yoga later this afternoon and while it was really hot and I wasn't able to do all of the movements real well, I made it through. Afib was not a problem...just balancing and stretching enough was. I was a little concerned about my heart pumping rather fast...but nothing happened other than that. I AM wondering if this is a good idea for those who have high blood pressure....

I might try this again this week....will keep you posted.

~ Barb

Hi Barb,
I would take things very gradually. Without any preparation you are putting a lot of stress on yourself. Practise one or two postures at first at home, without pushing yourself, but do it at least once a day. Take it from there.

Join the hot yoga class and do only the movements you have already begun to feel confident with at home, and if you feel the heat or your heart pounding stop for that session.

If you sweat replenish your electrolytes and include sodium so that your body does not dump your potassium. See my last but one post to you.

Peter

Peter - you may be interested in reading the current conference room topic and why adding sodium is not a good idea. The intake ratio of potassium to sodium must be kept to at least 4:1. Most people suffer from far too much sodium intake and this results in hypertension along with many other ailments. It's a significant contributor to afib as well.

Jackie

Ah...would like to hear more on this sodium/potassium thing, as I know that's generally true, but not so sure it pertains when one is either sweating profusely or going through ketosis (which basically is like being on a diuretic, from my understanding).

What do they use when they give someone a "potassium sparing diuretic"? Is there more sodium in that one, more potassium, or..??

btw..I gave up on Atkins...too much afib for me..too hard to manage the right balance of electrolytes...related to this very topic.

~ Barb

Barb - if you take a potassium sparing diuretic, then you have to be cautious about taking supplemental potassium. Potassium-containing foods are fine. The culprit is, as mentioned in other posts, salt or sodium chloride. Everyone gets too much salt from a variety of sources and when that happens, your potassium will be overshadowed by the threat of sodium dominance. Not good. Jackie

Jackie wrote:
> Peter - you may be interested in reading the current conference
> room topic and why adding sodium is not a good idea. The
> intake ratio of potassium to sodium must be kept to at least
> 4:1.

Jackie,
Adding sodium to an electrolyte drink to be taken after sweating profusely does not have to deviate from Dr R. D. Moore’s advice concerning K Factor.

You seem to believe Dr Moore's requirement “The intake ratio of potassium to sodium must be kept to at least 4:1" entails your advice “ Do not add sodium to an electrolyte replacement strategy” But what Dr Moore has written does not confirm this.

Moore in his book “The High Blood Pressure Solution” pages 236 and 237 shows us how to compute our daily K-factor and balance out the foods so that one food, such as an egg with a K Factor of 1.1, can be balanced by another such as an apple with a K-factor of 150.0. So there are several foods in Dr Moore’s lists with a K-factor of less than 4 which are allowable as long as they are balanced out by ones with a K Factor of more than 4. “You have to divide the total potassium by the total sodium in order to determine the overall K Factor for the whole day.”

Your objection to an electrolyte replacement drink including sodium does not take the whole day’s consumption into account for a daily K Factor calculation.

Your genuine agreed stance withDr Moore that we should all be on a low sodium diet is not confirmed by three studies described by Dr Bernstein in his book “Diabetes Solution”
“Page 454 footnote, “A study of older individuals who were rotated between low-, moderate-, and high-salt diets demonstrated that those on low-salt diets experienced significantly more sleep disturbances, and had more rapid heart rates and higher serum epinephrine (adrenaline) levels. An international study called Intersalt, covering 10, 079 people in 32 countries, reported in 1988 that “salt has only small importance in hypertension.” More recently, another study showed that salt restriction increased insulin resistance and thus can indirectly increase blood pressure.”

Peter

Peter... the best gauge of whether one can get away with adding sodium to any drink or regimen is the result. Are they able to maintain NSR consistently and continually.? If so, then, the sodium they add does not unbalance their potassium stores... and that's good. If a patient has hypertension and adds sodium, then the answer would be obvious; they are failing to maintain the the ratio that supports normal Bp function.

Most of the people asking about what they can do to avoid ectopics or continual AF breakthroughs are not aware of the potential for their sodium intake to overpower the potassium intake and cause the negative symptoms. For those who are not in AF yet have hypertension, indicates they are also unaware of the imbalance.

Doctors can argue that adding salt is healthy but when patients remain symptomatic, it's obvious they are incorrect for that particular patient's unique biochemistry. These are simply guidelines; the health status of the individual is the deciding factor and it doesn't really matter what any study shows... if a person adds salt and remains symptomatic (has AF or hypertension), then they need to be aware of the negative effect of too much sodium and not enough potassium and how that negatively affects Na/K pump function.

This gets back to: listen to your body. If you're symptomatic, then something is not right and for this discussion, it's too much sodium and not enough potassium in heart cells. Refer to the current Conference Room session on this topic.

Jackie