With systematic training, blood circulation changes to ensure the adaptability of the body. The load on the muscle increases, as a result of which the heart grows. With a decrease in loads, the physiological increase is reversible, but with a pathological condition, the process of natural changes in the myocardium is subject to disturbances. So there is sinus bradycardia.
The maximum heart can be increased in athletes who go skiing, athletes, cyclists, skaters. Team players and swimmers experience less stress. Weightlifting has virtually no effect on the myocardium. Professional weightlifters have a slightly larger heart compared to healthy people who do not play sports professionally.
Bradycardia: general information about the disease
Bradycardia is a type of arrhythmia in which the frequency of contractions is less than sixty beats per minute. In professional athletes, this condition can be considered as the norm, but more often indicates a pathology of the cardiovascular system. Severe bradycardia (less than forty beats per minute) leads to the formation of insufficiency, as a result of which the patient may need to install a pacemaker.
Pathology arises as a result of negative changes in the conductive system, due to which the transmission of the impulse is disrupted. The causes of bradycardia are organic changes in the heart (myocarditis, coronary arteriosclerosis, coronary artery disease, scars after a heart attack). Hormonal balance, autonomic nervous system, and infectious diseases affect the heart rate.
Sports Heart Syndrome
A high level of achievements in sports makes exceptional demands on the health status of athletes. One of the conditions is a strict accounting of individual anatomical and physiological and age-related characteristics. With an increasing load, positive changes occur in the cardiovascular system. With an incorrectly built training process, pathology can occur.
In certain sports, where the requirements for oxygen transport are particularly high, training an athlete comes down to training the heart itself. Usually, athletes' heart is enlarged, more efficient, provides better oxygen transport. Athletic bradycardia in most cases is a variant of the norm, but there are also pathological cases.
If the heart increases intensively or ceases to provide the body with the necessary amount of oxygen, then pathology develops. Such a situation is characterized by a low frequency of contractions, fiber replacement with ordinary connective tissue, muscle hypertrophy, weak muscle contractility, rhythm and conduction changes.
The mechanism of development of bradycardia
Physiological bradycardia in athletes occurs as a result of constant training, during which the muscle fibers of the heart become thicker and a more intensive supply of oxygen is required. The increased work of the heart is compensated by the increased rhythm, that is, tachycardia. With a thickening of the muscle, a compensatory network of vessels develops in the future, which is able to supply blood to the heart even under heavy loads.
After such changes, an increase in the frequency of heart contractions does not occur, and sinus bradycardia develops in an athlete (child or adult) - a decrease in heart rate. The heart is switching to rarer but more powerful contractions. With an increase in load, the pulse becomes two to five times faster, and after a decrease, it returns to normal. A heart working in this mode is called physiologically sports.
Types of bradycardia in athletes
Consider this condition in more detail. Cardiac bradycardia in children (athletes) and adults who are professionally involved in sports is physiological if the heart fully provides normal life and supplies all organs with oxygen. It becomes possible to work the heart muscle in an economical mode: bradycardia at rest and increased performance during physical exertion.
Sinus bradycardia in athletes with a significant increase in heart size can lead to the development of the disease. In this case, there is a danger of complications, and the athlete should be under the supervision of a cardiologist. The development of pathology can be suspected if the process of reduction and acceleration of the heart rhythm proceeds spasmodically. In children, bradycardia can be caused not only by large sports loads, but also by age-related changes. In this case, bradycardia is usually reversible.
Pathological bradycardia in adolescent athletes leads to a lack of oxygen and poor circulation. Oxygen starvation can lead to heart failure and microinfarction. With pathology, cardiosclerosis and atrophy of muscle fibers can develop. Dramatically worsens the work of the heart.
At the same time, the athlete’s body does not adapt well to physical activity, a person does not sleep well, quickly gets tired, and his working capacity decreases. The limit value of bradycardia in trained athletes is forty strokes in one minute. A patient with similar heart rates should be constantly monitored by a specialist.
Pathological bradycardia: symptoms
With bradycardia in a child-sporstman, you need to pay attention to the presence of a clinical picture. To indicate that the heart is not coping with its tasks, the appearance of nausea, dizziness, weakness can. The constant feeling of drowsiness, frequent headaches, panic states should alert. The brain is particularly sensitive to oxygen deficiency. Limited blood flow can lead to fainting. In this case, you need to reduce the load and consult a cardiologist.
The danger of pathological bradycardia
Uncontrolled bradycardia in an athlete is dangerous because it leads to the development of changes in muscle structure. The functionality of the heart decreases, some sites may be prone to heart attack or ischemia. Non-functional fibers are replaced by connective tissue with scars. Impulses do not pass through this tissue, which leads to arrhythmia. This condition requires urgent correction of lifestyle.
A person who is professionally involved in sports needs regular examinations of the state of the heart and blood vessels. Athletes are at increased risk for cardiac abnormalities. Particular attention should be given to children. Teenagers, for example, often go to the hospital because a pathological condition may not be noticed right away.
Bradycardia treatment
Moderate forms of bradycardia, which are not accompanied by symptoms, do not require special treatment. A cardiologist can recommend taking tinctures or belladonna preparations, extract of Eleutherococcus, caffeine, ginseng root in individually selected dosages. If pathology is detected with the development of arterial hypotension, angina pectoris, fainting, ventricular arrhythmias, and heart failure, active treatment is necessary. As a rule, cardiological preparations are prescribed. In severe cases, the consultation of a cardiac surgeon is necessary. Athletes rarely require pacemaker implantation, but potential complications should not be ruled out at all.
Are physical activities permissible?
If the athlete is diagnosed with bradycardia, the intensity of the training should be reduced. In some cases, you have to completely abandon sports loads for a while, and later adjust the training program. In any sport, you need to choose the physical load: large (skiing or cycling, running), medium (hockey, soccer, wrestling, basketball), low (swimming, gymnastics, sports dancing).
It is important to correctly assess the general state of human health, its capabilities in sports and the adequacy of the load. With pathological bradycardia caused by heart disease, for example, professional sports are generally life-threatening, but regular moderate physical activity will only benefit.
Physical exercises should be varied, long walks in the fresh air, water procedures are necessary, hardening (gentle dousing, air and sun baths) will not damage. In gymnastics, exercises are contraindicated in which the head is lower than the legs, body turns. All issues related to permissible physical activity should be clarified with the supervisor.
Prediction and prevention of bradycardia
Organic heart damage adversely affects the prognosis of the course of bradycardia. In the most severe cases, it is necessary to solve the issue of installing a pacemaker. Against the background of a persistent decrease in heart rhythm, the patient may become disabled. With physiological bradycardia or a moderate nature of the pathology, the prognosis is favorable. A timely and adequate selection of dosages of drugs, elimination of negative effects on the myocardium and organic lesions, as well as reasonable sports training will prevent the development of cardiac diseases.