New studies caution against too much vigorous exercise

Although exercise is good for you and reduces your cardiovascular risk by a factor of three, too much vigorous exercise, such as marathon running, seems to actually increase your cardiac risk by seven, according to a study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010 in Montreal, and may explain a series of recent marathon deaths.

This could be an important lesson to anyone who engages in large amounts of cardio exercise, because as it turns out, excessive cardio may actually be counterproductive. Not only is it possible to over-exercise, but simply focusing on the wrong type of exercise to the exclusion of everything else can actually do you more harm than good.

Long-term endurance athletes were found to suffer diminished function of the right ventricle of the heart after endurance racing, according to this recent study. They also had increased blood levels of cardiac enzymes, which are markers for heart injury, and 12 percent of the athletes had detectable scar tissue on their heart muscle one week post-race. The authors of the study concluded that “Although short-term recovery appears complete, chronic changes may remain in many of the most practiced athletes, the long-term clinical significance of which warrants further study. ”

When exercising, remember that it can be overdone, and that you can push yourself too far.  I’d like to invite you to be gentle and non-judgemental with yourself.