Endurance exercise and AF

Increasingly convincing evidence suggests that long-standing endurance training might promote some cardiac arrhythmias, with most studies showing a correlation between atrial fibrillation in middle-aged men and previous endurance sport participation.

[www.endocrinologyadvisor.com]

Full paper <[sci-hub.io]

My take is exercise is good for plumbing but not so good for the electrical system. I take care of the plumbing with keto diet and fasting. I try to limit myself so I don't screw up my electrical system any more than it already is (by crossing the imaginary line). So far so good....

Thanks for the link, George.

Gill

I can attest to this. Clears out the pipes but crosses the wires. Ya just can't win, can ya?

This evidence has been known for a while, however an Italian EP Caputo determined in a study that ablation allows the athlete to return to their activity following ablation.
I am a 50yr old serious cyclist and triathlete that went into sudden persistent afib. I had a ablation 4 years ago with Dr. Natale and have been fine since.

The other element in the equation is that for those of us that continue to be extremely fit (but not so much endurance exercise), a-fib is usually not so debilitating. At least in my case, it was an inconvenience and did not keep me from living a normal life. The only thing that changed was that if I was in a-fib, I would postpone my workout.

However, living another 30 years with a-fib, didn't seem like a reasonable option, so I had my successful ablation 9 years ago.

Ken,

That's my experience too. My HR was still very compliant in AF and I found that I could exercise. I've jogged several miles and biked even more in AF. Sometimes that would convert it, other times not. I simply refused to be on an AAR drug for one second longer than need be, so I scheduled the ablation ASAP.

If my "endurance" training as a competitive swimmer at the highest level caused my a-fib, the question would be - Would I do it over again. The answer is absolutely yes.

Someone may have researched this, but what percentage of endurance athletes get a-fib compared to non endurance athletes or the general population?

My guess is that even if endurance training is a cause, few of any would opt out of their sport in an effort to avoid a-fib.

I've seen some studies indicating an up to 5x increase in AF among the cardio folks (running, cycling, swimming) versus the general population. That is statistically significant!

We're all kind of wired the same way I guess. No way I want to give up my daily 4-5 milers, because they keep me from ballooning back to my post-college weight of nearly 300 lbs. Lately I've been feeling a bit odd on those runs, though (winded), and I'm wondering if it's just more post-ablation wierdness. I'm 7 months out now from the procedure, so well past the blanking period but as I understand it things can still evolve up to 1 year. As always, time will tell.

The fact is people that don't participate in endurance sports feel that it is a mistake to continue when you have a history of afib. I would never give it up. The ablation has allowed me to go back to what I love to do. I realize my long term endurance training was a contributor to my afib and realize how lucky I was to have Dr. Natale ablate me.

I can relate to Wolfpack not wanting to balloon. It took me two years into afib to get it through my thick skull that competing in high-altitude (topping out > 14,000') races was not a good idea for my afib. Hence I detrained. My weight started creeping up. I'd been fit but heavy ever since competing in American Football in college. I decided to get a glucometer and started checking my blood sugar. I didn't realize the extent of it at the time, but I was insulin resistant. My story has parallels with Dr. Peter Atia's, though my fitness wasn't as intense <[eatingacademy.com]. I started trying to eat so as not to spike my blood sugar above 100 mg/dL an hour after meals. This was somewhat helpful. Then in 2009, I decided to become full on keto or fat adapted, eating a traditional high fat, modest protein, low carb diet. This worked pretty well and I lost 40 pounds. Two years ago, I learned I had an ApoE4 gene (higher risk for cardiovascular disease & Alz. disease). I found that Dr. Steve Gundry of Palm Springs had been testing for this gene in thousands of patients for years and 30% of his population had at least one copy. Gundry had noted that in E4's, consumption of animal saturated fat increased sdLDL (small dense LDL) levels. According to lipidologist, Ronald Krauss of CHORI (one of the premier researchers in this field), sdLDL is the metric to watch (Gundry wants us <30 mg/dL) . These are the longest lived and most likely to oxidize (more commonly, excess carbs will also spike it). So Gundry limited us to 20g/day (4 oz serving) of animal protein from shell fish (preferred), white fish or omega 3/pastured eggs. Using a variety of measures, our heart disease risk (my wife and I - she also has E4 genes), are now in the lowest level.

Kraft's data shows that ~80% of people are "diabetes in situ." See <[www.thefatemperor.com] In other worlds with a full oral glucose tolerance test, with insulin also measured, they will fail on the insulin part of the test. A fasting insulin test has to be 5 μU/ml or less to be in the clear, without the challenge (mine is now 4, my wife's is 3). My A1C is 4.7%, wife's is 4.4%.

Toronto doc, Jason Fung, explains why insulin is key in the "two compartment problem." <[intensivedietarymanagement.com]

So today, I remain active but do no chronic cardio training. I do HIIT Tabatas as well as bodyweight training and am active with skiing, rock climbing, hiking & etc. My weight today is what it was as a sophomore in high school. I control my weight with diet, but not caloric restriction. But by macro nutrient ratios and additionally fasting 22 hours/day. More here <[www.afibbers.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2016 09:49AM by GeorgeN.

Impressive results, George. Thanks for sharing.

This supports what we've been emphasizing for so many years... about finding core causes that contribute to the AF tendency and then altering lifestyle and environmental factors to ensure that we are not only free of afib but also gain a healthy body in the process.

Your relentless research and then sticking to the discipline has certainly paid big dividends to you both.
Congratulations.

Jackie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2016 07:15PM by Jackie.

Thanks Jackie!

One more thing, to limit the "U" shaped benefit of exercise, I do everything, including HIIT Tabatas breathing through my nose. This is most difficult for the Tabatas.

lorenzo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The fact is people that don't participate in
> endurance sports feel that it is a mistake to
> continue when you have a history of afib. I would
> never give it up. The ablation has allowed me to
> go back to what I love to do. I realize my long
> term endurance training was a contributor to my
> afib and realize how lucky I was to have Dr.
> Natale ablate me.

Hi Lorenzo,
I am 46 yrs old and also a triathlete, have done several sprints, olympics and 2 IM 70.3. I am in persistent afib approximately since 10 months ago and will have my ablation done by Dr. Natale very soon.

How long after the ablation you were allowed to go back with your training? Do you now train at a lower intensity or you still doing tempos or intervals in the bike?

P.S. Although I am in persistent afib I do not feel anything strange and my heart rate remains at 60-79 normally. Went to the cardiologist 3 1/2 months ago because my endurance capacity was very bad since December last year and my initial thought was that I was out of shape. Then, after the EKG I discovered I was not in NSR but having Afib.

Thanks a lot for your insights.

Regards,

Fravi