This is something I've been wondering for quite a while now. Is the very concept of exercising to keep your HEART healthy counterintuitive? While exercise may have other benefits, I wanted to focus only on the claim that exercise is GOOD for your heart, as it seems to be the primary reason that most people try to stay fit.
Well, here's the problem I have with this ... while exercise may make your heart stronger as a muscle, the very act of exercising forces it to work harder (pump harder and faster), which is actually STRAINING your heart, is it not?
Can anyone honestly say that the athlete that spends several hours every single day training and pushing their heart to the limit ... is healthier than the lazy slob who lies on the couch all day? The lazy slob may not be exercising their heart, but they also aren't putting a huge strain on it day in and day out in order to "stay fit."
This right here is the irony behind exercise. In order to make your heart stronger, you have to strain it and make it work harder first?
In addition, consider this ... if exercise is "healthy" for your heart, then that means becoming emotionally stressed (enraged, frightened, anxious, etc.) is also HEALTHY for your heart. Because both cause the heart to beat harder and faster. And although there may be other differences between the two, they are IRRELEVANT. Because the EFFECTS on the heart are the same. A faster-beating heart is a faster-beating heart. It doesn't matter if it's due to exercise or due to psychological stress. The heart can't tell the difference. Physically, it's simply pumping harder/faster in either situation. So for the point I am making, they are the same.
Also, it is common knowledge that although exercise may give you a lower blood pressure in the long run, your blood pressure spikes and is very high DURING the act of exercising. This is probably one of the reasons why heart attacks often trigger when ... you guessed it ... during EXERCISE! Especially amongst the elderly. (another reason would the blatant fact that the heart beats harder/faster as it is FORCED to pump more blood/oxygen to the muscles of the body) So your telling me that an activity that blatantly raises your BP (perhaps even to dangerous levels in strenuous activity) should be done everday for HEALTH? Seems pretty ridiculous to me ...
Think about professonal athletes, especially professional wrestlers or UFC fighters. These guys are fighting in the arenas every single day. Their hearts are being strained not only by the physical stress of the fights, but also by the anxiety/mental stress caused by the same thing! In addition, when they're NOT fighting in the ring, they're working out in the gyms and pumping iron on a daily basis (same deal with bodybuilders) ... God knows what kind of strain THAT puts on their hearts. Your telling me those guys are HEALTHY because of this?
On that same note, what about DREAMS? When you dream (primarily during REM sleep from my understanding), your body reacts to what happens as if it were happening in real life. That is why when you dream you are in a fight with someone or you are running for your life ... when you wake up, you're probably gonna be soaked in sweat with a pounding heart, just as if those things were happening for real.
So does that mean if I DREAM I am physically active or exercising ... then my heart is actually getting a workout? Why not? It's the same thing. The only difference is that your skeletal muscles (arms, legs, etc.) may not ACTUALLY be getting a workout, but that once again is IRRELEVANT ... because whether or not other parts of your body are actually getting a workout makes no difference to the effects on your heart. If you DREAM you are exercising, your heart will pump harder/faster as if you were doing it in real life.
Now, you may not be able to control what you do in a dream (try as you might), but you sure as hell can control what you do in real life. To this day, I still have not found one argument that can accurately and completely refute everything I've just said.
Sometimes I wonder if the idea that exercise is "beneficial" for your heart is simply a farse of a concept concocted by western society in order to justify using exercise as a means of losing weight (as opposed to eating less calories, which is what you SHOULD be doing). And that exercising STRAINS the heart more than anything else.
Here's hoping that someone can argue EFFECTIVELY against what I've said and prove me wrong
Well, here's the problem I have with this ... while exercise may make your heart stronger as a muscle, the very act of exercising forces it to work harder (pump harder and faster), which is actually STRAINING your heart, is it not?
Can anyone honestly say that the athlete that spends several hours every single day training and pushing their heart to the limit ... is healthier than the lazy slob who lies on the couch all day? The lazy slob may not be exercising their heart, but they also aren't putting a huge strain on it day in and day out in order to "stay fit."
This right here is the irony behind exercise. In order to make your heart stronger, you have to strain it and make it work harder first?
In addition, consider this ... if exercise is "healthy" for your heart, then that means becoming emotionally stressed (enraged, frightened, anxious, etc.) is also HEALTHY for your heart. Because both cause the heart to beat harder and faster. And although there may be other differences between the two, they are IRRELEVANT. Because the EFFECTS on the heart are the same. A faster-beating heart is a faster-beating heart. It doesn't matter if it's due to exercise or due to psychological stress. The heart can't tell the difference. Physically, it's simply pumping harder/faster in either situation. So for the point I am making, they are the same.
Also, it is common knowledge that although exercise may give you a lower blood pressure in the long run, your blood pressure spikes and is very high DURING the act of exercising. This is probably one of the reasons why heart attacks often trigger when ... you guessed it ... during EXERCISE! Especially amongst the elderly. (another reason would the blatant fact that the heart beats harder/faster as it is FORCED to pump more blood/oxygen to the muscles of the body) So your telling me that an activity that blatantly raises your BP (perhaps even to dangerous levels in strenuous activity) should be done everday for HEALTH? Seems pretty ridiculous to me ...
Think about professonal athletes, especially professional wrestlers or UFC fighters. These guys are fighting in the arenas every single day. Their hearts are being strained not only by the physical stress of the fights, but also by the anxiety/mental stress caused by the same thing! In addition, when they're NOT fighting in the ring, they're working out in the gyms and pumping iron on a daily basis (same deal with bodybuilders) ... God knows what kind of strain THAT puts on their hearts. Your telling me those guys are HEALTHY because of this?
On that same note, what about DREAMS? When you dream (primarily during REM sleep from my understanding), your body reacts to what happens as if it were happening in real life. That is why when you dream you are in a fight with someone or you are running for your life ... when you wake up, you're probably gonna be soaked in sweat with a pounding heart, just as if those things were happening for real.
So does that mean if I DREAM I am physically active or exercising ... then my heart is actually getting a workout? Why not? It's the same thing. The only difference is that your skeletal muscles (arms, legs, etc.) may not ACTUALLY be getting a workout, but that once again is IRRELEVANT ... because whether or not other parts of your body are actually getting a workout makes no difference to the effects on your heart. If you DREAM you are exercising, your heart will pump harder/faster as if you were doing it in real life.
Now, you may not be able to control what you do in a dream (try as you might), but you sure as hell can control what you do in real life. To this day, I still have not found one argument that can accurately and completely refute everything I've just said.
Sometimes I wonder if the idea that exercise is "beneficial" for your heart is simply a farse of a concept concocted by western society in order to justify using exercise as a means of losing weight (as opposed to eating less calories, which is what you SHOULD be doing). And that exercising STRAINS the heart more than anything else.
Here's hoping that someone can argue EFFECTIVELY against what I've said and prove me wrong
