A new study revealed that running long distances is causing heart strains for amateur runners, but it doesn't mean they can have a heart attack or heart disease. Before getting into serious marathons, beginners should be sufficiently trained or else, their hearts would be under stress.
The "Research Letter" published in the American Heart Association's journal, "Circulation," revealed that the marathon's distance could stress an amateur runner's heart, particularly the 42.19 km marathon.
To prove the claim, Spanish physiologists tested a total of 63 participants running in three different races - 10K, half-marathon, and full marathon. They compared the levels of cardiac biomarkers that include tissues related to stress.
According to Runner's World, the researchers found only a little difference in the "10-year risk" of cardiovascular problems between the runners. But, they saw that the heart muscle suffered great strain after running in full marathon distance.
It only means that the risk of suffering cardiac arrest during a marathon is only 1 in 50,000 cases. However, there are high cases of exercise-induced cardiac arrests happening during marathon racing. Men aged 35-years-old and about are more at risk of experiencing it.
The publication also noted the flaws in the new study as it only conducted on a small group. So, researchers cannot accurately analyze the differences in 10-year cardiovascular risk. To thoroughly assess the effects, they plan to hold another study with a larger group.
Lead researcher and Camilo José Cela University director of the exercise physiology laboratory Professor Juan Del Coso, Ph.D., said that people usually think that marathon runners are healthy, and not at risk of cardiac attack during or after the race. But with the prevalence of long-endurance races today, the growing number of participants, and lack of appropriate training for amateur runners, the study suggested that running in shorter endurance races instead could reduce heart strains.
Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post reported that a Cleveland Clinic paper still supports the great benefits of doing regular, intense, aerobic exercise after a test. The researcher studied the mortality rates of 122,000 patients for a median 8.4 years after they had a treadmill stress testing.
Participants who are at the highest level of fitness or called elites are 80 percent at lower risk of death compared to the lowest, most inactive partakers. The elites who can go to about 21-minute 5K race or 3:20 marathon is even 23 percent better than the next-highest group.
"Current endurance athletes should not be worried," Hartford's Paul Thompson said. "They always live longer than their sedentary peers, and there remains no conclusive evidence that their exercise is dangerous."
