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High heart rate during exercise

I am a new paramedic, and I recently took the physical fitness test at the hospital.  I was told that as a 33 year old female, my maximum heart rate should be around 158 during activity.  It was 198 at one point.  Unfortunately my active heart rate has always been high, and until this test, it has never been a problem.  I was told I need to figure out how to correct this.  Any ideas? Certain exercises, or medications?
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Avatar universal
My daughter is really fit.  15 Years old.  Last August ran 3200 Meters in 12:20 at age 14.  Started having menstrual issues and medicated to regulate.  Noticed in track workout that her heart rate is getting up to 190-200 on easy to moderate work.  I coached her in XC in fall and this didn't happen but now in track it is climbing fast and she is going into oxygen debt quickly and struggling to run any event longer than 400 meters.  She has allergies and asthma also and is medicated for both.  Waiting on results from EKG and pft.  I'm nervous about letting her finish the season.  Any thoughts?
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Avatar universal
My heart rate has been known to get over 200 upon exertion (cardio). It concerned me some, but not enough to set an alarm on my heart rate monitor to warn me to back off. Well two weeks ago I rode in a 28 mile bike ride. It was hilly and my report from my heart monitor showed that I did exceed 210 for a period of time. I was tired but felt maybe we could have rode the longer route. We them had a wonderful evening of dancing. THREE days later after working out, making dinner, eating and lounging I began to feel a pain in the underside of my left arm. My hand didn't feel right, like it wasn't getting enough blood. Then a little pain high in my chest. I took two baby aspirin (could of take 3) then we took my blood pressure. It was 196/93 WOW! Mine is usually nice and low. Off to the hospital. (Call and ambulance, don't drive yourself. they have things to help) At the hospital I had a nice sinus rhythm, my first blood draw showed nothing. They did put a Nitro patch on me though. ECG looked fine. Well, thank God they kept me and did another blood draw. It takes time for the enzymes that say "heart attack" to show. Sure enough I had had one. The did  a heart cath in the morning. I am very grateful for the quality of care i received. They found a tear in one of my arteries. There are multiple layers in the artery. This allowed blood to get between the layers, clot and cause a block.
I am in excellent shape, no heart decease, nice smooth arteries. This is a fairly uncommon thing. But if you look up SCAD Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection you will find that over 50%  die from this before they get to the hospital. Usually woman that are young and in shape. Sometimes happens to men as well.
So know 10 days out I have a plan. I have set alarms on my heart monitor that tell me where my rate is so I can hopefully avoid doing this to myself. They don't know much about this, so I recommend not getting this diagnosis. Take care of yourselves.
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Avatar universal
I am 62 and like others here find my heart rate exceeds text book norms when I exercise. It can pop up to 158 quite easily when cycling, even though I am not feeling especially stressed physically. I had a thorough heart evaluation the other day as I was getting mild chest pains and was told my heart is fine except for a very small and inconsequential valve leak. My wife, 58, also likes to exercise and has real difficulty getting her heart above 145. My instinct is that heart rate is not a good measure of heart health and I have stopped worrying about my heart rate when exercising. I do however try and train at lower heart rate levels as I believe this increases fitness faster than busting a gut at very elevated heart rate levels every time one goes training.  
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Avatar universal
Just read your post from 2009 and am curious where you are condition wise at this point 3 years later.  www.ganious.com
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Avatar universal
If your resting heart rate is naturally high you might want to go and get a blood test for thyroid activity. A Hyperactive Thyroid means that your body metabolises at a higher rate than it should which means symptoms include high heart rates, heart palpitations and sometimes intestinal disturbances such as diarrhoea. It's very under diagnosed, yet extremely common.
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Avatar universal
A long time since you posted your comments (2006) But they seem most relevant to my circumstances. I am a mountaineer who trains hard. My resting pulse is between 48 and 50, but when I am working at max. output I sometimes experience a constriction feeling either side of my larynx which I know will be followed by a rapid increase in my pulse (I wear a HR monitor). So a pulse of 140 will climb very rapidly to 218. Yesterday I hit 228. Within two minutes of stopping exercise, the pulse is plummeting back down to around 130.  I am in my late 50's. Although the feeling is uncomfortable, there is no pain. No doctor has been able to say what is going on. As a fellow 'sufferer', what are your thoughts? regards  Tim Ralph
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Avatar universal
my resting heartrate is 90. so if i subtract that from 180, I get 90. So, how do I even exercise at all? I have HBP & must lose weight so I started to try to workout, & I say 'try' because after 1 minute of just walking slowly my heartrate is up to 130 & I get chest tightening & pains. suggestions?
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Avatar universal
I don't know as an expert, but I had similar "feelings"some number of years ago.  It turned out that I had a collapsed artery.  We were not able to determine that without having an angiogram.  Angioplasty was performed while we were in, and was fine for almost 10 years.  Finally had to have stents inserted, and have been excellent for about 7 years more.  I would get a second opinion.  I Had three opinions before the final cardiologist said there was no way to be sure without an Angiogram.  He was right. I am also on Metoprolol Succinate ER (Toprol generic) 25mg, plus Lipitor.  I am 66 years old, walk 4.5 miles in under an hour "every" day.  I take my meds religiously, and watch my diet (to some extent).  Feel great.
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Avatar universal
So i kind of have the same problem as everyone else but its a little different. I'm 20 years old, 4'11 and 120 pounds, I already have been diagnosed with a irregular heart beat and have a mediatronic chip implanted in my chest to monitor my heart beat so the doctors can figure out what goes on when i sometimes pass out (my cardiologist hasnt been working too hard to find out whats the real problem) Anyways i just got a gym membership and noticed the machines keep turning off on me because my heart rate gets maxed out within LITTERALLY 2 minutes of walking on the treadmill. I even met with a personal trainer to figure out what excersizes would be best for my high heart rate and she basically told me just to diet and go on short walks, ya again not alot of help! i feel fine when i work out i know my limits to when im going to pass out i just want to know if i ignore my heart rate what is the worst thing that could happen to me?...
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Avatar universal
I am a 56 yo male, 6'0", 210 lbs (was abt 225 for awhile) never smoked, minor alcohol during college years, tea-totaller until two years ago, now a glass of red wine each of about 5 days per week.  Was very, very active in college, but career led me to become fairly sedentary.  Always had a low resting heart rate (now 58-60 when I wake up before getting out of bed).  I have PVCs -- I sometimes have a "run" of these that lasts maybe 10 seconds that will leave me light-headed and anxious, but I've learned to recognize what it is and relax through it.  I sometimes had these 1-2 times per week, but much less frequently now (and was rarely related to exertion).  I had exhaustive heart tests (stress, nuclear, etc) about seven months ago and was found to be "out of shape" but no real problems.

Enough background ...

Anyway, I was 220 lbs again two months ago, and decided to: (a) cut out most red meat from my diet; (b) cut all carbonated beverages (I don't drink coffee, and rarely have tea); (c) eliminate nearly all sweets/desert (well, *sometimes* I treat myself to an ice cream).  I still eat cheese and other non-healthy things.  I also started back on the treadmill.  Always 30 minutes, with a base rate of 4.0mph, with 2 to 3 short sprints (7.0mph for 1 to 1.5 minutes, stopping when I just can't go any more).  My heart gets to about 110bpm after about 6 mins at 4.0, which is when I generally do my first sprint.  It reaches about 151, then I go back to 4.0, and it settles after a minute or two to about 116bpm.  About 5 mins later, I repeat, and the heart goes to about 156, then settles to about 120-122bpm. I am soaked in sweat after the second sprint.  If it gets back under 120, I'll do another sprint, but then it will only settle to about 124 and not lower.

Last night, I was on my second sprint and it hit 162 after 1.24 min.  I slowed to 4.0, expecting it to settle back as usual. This time, however, it took longer to slow, went down to 156bpm, then started rising again to 163 and wouldn't lower (my breathing, though, was recovering some).  I felt a bit light-headed, stopped and laid down.  It did settle, of course, but it scared me.  Am I over-doing it?

I have lost 10 lbs (to 210), but want to lose another 20 and strengthen my heart.

Thanks in advance!
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Avatar universal
I bought a heart monitor a week ago. I'm 39 and more or less fit, so I should have a MHR around 181. My minimum heart rate is 56-58. Well, I start jogging, and I'm 160. When running at my average level, 5:40 min/Km I'm +185, and when I go uphill, it goes well +200. I can assure you I'm totally OK, really confortable. Those formulae to calculate the MHR must give an average, but there is obviously a very wide range over and under that level. My conclusion is that a lot of people must be very under or over training.
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Avatar universal
Can someone tell me why when testing heart rate during exercise - someones heart rate can be higher before light exercise then after?
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Avatar universal
I'm a 46 y.o. male, 5'5", 155 lbs.  My resting heart rate is 60-80 and about 55 bpm when I wake up. I've always had a faster heart rate all my life.  I run 3 miles 3 times per week.  I also workout with weights and do other cross training and have done so most of my life.  Recently I noticed that my heart rate during intense exercise was reaching 180-190 bpm (after I built up to a sprint) and during steady pace part of my run was averaging about 160 bpm.  Recently, I noticed that my heart rate reached 200+ bpm on similar runs and a couple times stayed at 200+ for 30 minutes AFTER I finished running and was just sitting.  I went to the doctor and had an EKG which came back normal.  I started to deduce (besides aging) what I was doing differently and I came up with a list of things that I had been doing more of.  1.  Being stressed, feeling anxious more than usual the past 2 years.  2.  Drinking ice teas during lunch and having green tea every day (lots more caffeine than I'm used to as I'm not a coffee drinker).  3.  Eating/snacking more (especially chips like Doritos).  4.  Sleeping irregularly.  Immediately, I saw that it seemed like each of these activities could be feeding each other.  The caffeine from the ice teas and green tea were adding to my anxiety and stress and also preventing me from getting a solid night's worth of sleep, which in turn was making me weaker and more fatigued overall.  The most interesting thing I found was that I also seemed to have an adverse reaction to MSG, which is a known heart rate increaser.  I was dosing-up my body with MSG each time I snacked on Doritos after or between meals.  One weekend (the one after which I had the 200+ heart rate that didn't come down for 30 min), I had an especially MSG-filled weekend as I had a large bowl of soup and pickled condiments which must have been laden with MSG.  I also had several servings of Doritos.  The most interesting of all these MSG-related facts I found is that the protein drinks and protein bars that I have been using before and after workouts (Whey Protein) has the same exact effect as MSG.  In fact if you look-up hidden sources of MSG, you will find most proteins are "free glutamates" just like MSG, in addition to many flavor enhancers in chips and other food not labelled as MSG.  You can imagine, that one weekend, I had MSG soup, MSG chips and MSG protein.  Combined with my tea drinking and lack of sleep, it produced a perfect storm of fast heart rate.  I've since tried to relax more, cut out the caffeine and chips as well as the protein drink and now I'm back to 160-180 bpm during moderate to hard exercise.  I'm hoping to bring it down more with continued awareness and vigilance.  Best of luck and good health wishes to all of you.
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Avatar universal
I'm a 46 y.o. male, 5'5", 155 lbs.  My resting heart rate is 60-80 bpm and about 55 bpm when I wake up. I've always had a faster heart rate all my life.  I run 3 miles 3 times per week.  I also workout with weights and do other cross training and have done so most of my life.  Over the last year, I noticed that my heart rate during intense exercise was reaching 180-190 bpm (after I built up to a sprint) and during the steady pace part of my run was averaging about 160 bpm.  Last year, it was only about 145-160 bpm max.  Recently, I noticed that my heart rate reached 200+ bpm on similar runs and a couple times stayed at 200+ for 30 minutes AFTER I finished running and was just sitting.  I went to the doctor and had an EKG which came back normal and my blood pressure was also normal.  I started to deduce (besides aging) what I was doing differently and I came up with a list of things that I had been doing more of the past year.  1.  Being stressed, feeling anxious more than usual the past 2 years.  2.  Drinking ice teas during lunch and having green tea every day (lots more caffeine than I'm used to as I'm not a coffee drinker).  3.  Eating/snacking more (especially chips like Doritos).  4.  Sleeping irregularly.  Immediately, I saw that it seemed like each of these activities could be feeding each other.  The caffeine from the ice teas and green tea were adding to my anxiety and stress and also preventing me from getting a solid night's worth of sleep, which in turn was making me weaker and more fatigued overall.  The most interesting thing I found was that I also seemed to have an adverse reaction to MSG, which is a known heart rate increaser.  I was dosing-up my body with MSG each time I snacked on Doritos after or between meals.  One weekend (the one after which I had the 200+ heart rate that didn't come down for 30 min), I had an especially MSG-filled weekend as I had a large bowl of soup and pickled condiments which must have been laden with MSG.  I also had several servings of Doritos.  The most interesting of all these MSG-related facts I found is that the protein drinks and protein bars that I have been using before and after workouts (Whey Protein) has the same exact effect as MSG.  In fact if you look-up hidden sources of MSG, you will find most proteins are "free glutamates" just like MSG, in addition to many flavor enhancers in chips and other food not labelled as MSG.  You can imagine, that one weekend, I had MSG soup, MSG chips and MSG protein.  Combined with my tea drinking and lack of sleep, it produced a perfect storm of fast heart rate.  I've since tried to relax more, cut out the caffeine and chips as well as the protein drink and now I'm back to 160-180 bpm during moderate to hard exercise.  I'm hoping to bring it down more with continued awareness and vigilance.  Best of luck and good health wishes to all of you.
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877736 tn?1240255622
roobsta:

I like your theory about the heart muscle growth, it is better than the Doctor's theory which is nothing.

Roobsta and Naenae9155:

My Cardio Fitness test results were that I am in the top 95% of heart health, my oxygen utilization was above normal, etc. etc - my HR was 195 at peak but did not alarm the tester, and I could not catch my breath - also no alarm for them.

I then had an echo done, and they injected bubbles into my veins to better view the heart wall structures and to more clearly see holes in the walls, should there be any - bottom line, all systems go.

I am still answerless which is okay for now.  I am being medically discharged from the Army for other medical reasons and have not been actively engaged in cardio activity for about a year - which is a blessing since I cannot perform to standard anyway :)

Once I am healthier and medication free I have every intention to re-engage my physical stamina... I miss my adrenaline rushes. LOL

I had never even considered over training, nor was it suggested by the professionals.  I do hope that is the answer, though, because that is TOO EASY to fix :)))

sorry for the hugely delayed replies, I have been terribly busy with my other issues.  Hopefully you will see this reply.  Good luck to you!

shany25m
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Avatar universal
I am 40 year old male and ex forces, i have started wearing a heart monitor while exersising, and have noticed my heart rate is high while exersising (eg) today 9-5-11 i ran 6.7 mile in 1hr 7 mins and my heart rate was 180-190 do i run a rick of having a heart attack if i keep it up,  and i am trying my hardest to watch what i eat. please can someone enlighten me
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Avatar universal
I know this is old but in case anyone may read:

I had issues including high heart rate that turned out to be postural orsthatic tachacardia syndrome. It's hallmark is a heart rate increase of 30 bpm when you stand or over 120 when standing. There are other symptoms too that you may not think are connected. It can be debilitating, I'd know. A speed walk for me = 180- 195 bpm. Walking up the stairs = 160 standing= 130. Resting = 100. It suuucckks. Beta blockers help. Look into it & talk to dr cause it's common but most drs aren't very informed about it.
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Avatar universal
I!m 65 and have had, until recently had a normal exercise experience ... Work on a treadmill and increase speed to get to a desired heart rate. About six months ago I noticed my heart rate was shooting up after moderate exercise and now will pop up to 120 with a few steps or very moderate exercise. Granted, that is not a high rate for many on this post. My resting heart rate is 50-55. I take lipitor and have good numbers but worry about muscle issues ... had sore ribs for several months. Will check my thyroid. I do have panic issues.
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Avatar universal
Does anxiety run in your family? Because you may be having an anxiety attack without realizing it. Many people seem to think that they weren't anxious about anything but many thoughts are rarely acknowledged by your conscious yet still have a large impact on your emotions. Emotions have a great deal of control over the CNS and can cause spikes in HR and BP. Sometimes the fear of heart pain can be classified as an anxiety trigger. I'm not trying to say there isn't anything wrong with your heart but if the physical tests don't come up with anything I would suggest meditation to help ease your anxiety during an attack.
I also get my heart rate well into the 200's without much effort.  I have a pre-existing condition of a nerve bundling which complicates things a great deal. I find taking a multi vitamin and drinking a sugary drink as opposed to water during a work out helps keep my heart stable. Also try to avoid caffeine before a workout.
Best luck.
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Avatar universal
Ok so I have just started biking for the first time this season. I was out yesterday and my heart rate got to about 183 after only a few minutes of biking. I am not in any way healthy which is why I am trying to get it under control...but I went to the doctor's and they said that my heart rate shouldn't be that high. But when my heart in is the "normal" range, I'm not getting a work out. At work, where I have to sit all day, my heart rate is normally around 90 (I have a heart rate watch). Should it be this high? I am already doing strength training and intervals. I wouldn't worry about it but I feel like I am going to be sick when it gets that high.
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1273871 tn?1326224858
Have you tried interval training? It's great at getting you fitter in a shorter space of time.

A quick intro to it, if you don't already do it;
Give yourself a 5min warm-up, then run(or jog if that's all you can manage) at about 85% max heartrate (don't go higher at this stage, as it will just exhaust you and you're trying to improve your fitness, not weaken all your muscles)  just for 1 minute. Slow right down to moderate/brisk walking pace for 90secs, this will let your heartrate come back down and allow you to breathe easy. Then go back up to a run for just another minute, etc etc, until you have your 20/30/40/whatever mins done. Make sure you cool down at the end, about 5mins. After a week, (or sooner if you train every day) increase your timings to 90secs runs and 90secs walks. Next is 2min runs and 1min walks. After that go back to 1min runs/90secs walks, but rev up your speed a bit, and continue the same patterns as before. You should find it easier by now to run faster, and knowing that you only have another 59secs or whatever to go makes it seem even more do-able, and before you know it you're running 10/15min stretches without collapsing! Hope that helps.
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Avatar universal
Every time run and work up my self for a short time my heart start to race and I struggle to breathe and I am going to d army what can I do to build my stamina up and stop that short breathing help me plz
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1273871 tn?1326224858
I noticed that you said your height was 5'2". Smaller adults (and children) tend to have a higher heart rate, so I would say that a resting rate of 90bpm is actually okay for you. Also, the HR monitors on gym equipment is not accurate unless used in conjunction with an electrode chest strap. According to the sensors on the (new!) treadmill at my gym, I've had my HR jump from 185 to 150 up to 190 then down to 140 all in the space of about a minute, with no change of intensity, so I just ignore it now until I can afford a decent HRM watch.
If you go by the generally used calculation (220 - age = max HR) then 85% for a 38yr old would be 154bpm, not 145.
If you take into account your resting heart rate (which in your case is already a little high)
and apply the Karvonen method *(Target HR = ((HRmax − HRrest) × % intensity) + HRrest)*
then you actually get 168bpm for your target heart rate. I'd say this is a more accurate number to go by, as it is based more on your own personal body rate than just your age.
Another thing to mention is dehydration-- if you're not keeping hydrated enough during exercise that'll push your heart-rate up too.
Hope that helps a little bit!

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Avatar universal
I am a 38 yr old male 160 lb 5'2  and for about 6 years now I've been conscious of my heart rate being much higher than normal. My resting heart rate is around 90, so I very easily get over 145 when working out at the eliptic machine. Last week a doctor that was working out next to me noticed my heart rate, which was at 150 at the time and was very concerned because the speed that I was working out at was very slow (4.5 mph). He told me that we should never exceed 85% of your heart's max and that at my age, 145 should be the limit. Taking my heart rate over 145 is risking a heart attack, so I should take it easy and let my physical condition get better and my heart stronger to be able to work out at a faster speed. Hope this helps because I've been reading here about people taking it over 200, that has to be very dangerous.
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