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Avatar universal

How long does "re-conditioning" of the heart generally take?

I have a resting heart rate in the high-80's to low-90's. I'm fairly sure I am simply out of shape given my young age of 27, I doubt it is anything serious at this age. Bottom blood pressure number (diastolic) is also a little higher around 85-90.

How long does it take to get the heart back within "normal" ranges using exercise? Are we talking weeks? Months? Years?

This is assuming no previous exercise in a few years and starting exercise "totally from scratch".

Also a somewhat-related question: why did my heart lose function now? Is it just a "getting older" thing? I remember when I was younger say 22-23 I was also mostly sedentary and yet my heart health markers (BP, Resting rate, etc) stayed unchanged despite my sedentary-ism.

Until about two weeks ago I had no idea about any of this heart stuff, but what caught my attention was browsing various health forums and seeing over and over people mentioning and comparing their resting heart rate. I couldn't help but notice that most of these people reported 50-75 resting heart rates and then I compared them to my own 90ish resting heart rate and realized I had a problem.

Any ideas on the fastest way to correct this?
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Avatar universal
That's good news, 3-4 months seems doable.

I think what I'll do is do a basic-level appointment with a cardiologist and then if abnormalities are ruled out and I'm simply out-of-shape, I will shop around for an exercise bike and get to work.

I still can't get over reading some of those other posts from people who report 50-70 resting heart rate. I had no idea things had gotten so bad on my end.
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976897 tn?1379167602
If you think about it, your heart is like any muscle and will adapt to your lifestyle. If you never exercise, your heart rate will max out while walking slowly up a hill, whereas an athlete could sprint to get the same results. This is fact and points to fitness being a general consideration. Weight also should be taken into account but i'm not speaking of just a few pounds. If someone who has a weight of 140 pounds stands up, their heart has no real issues. Now get someone who is 30 stone to stand up and their heart will race. This is so obvious that if someone can't see it, they shouldn't be discussing the heart. I've seen a good number of patients lose a lot of weight and their heart rates and blood pressure have reduced. A good amount of exercise should reduce your heart rate because the muscle will adapt. This means that it will double its output with each stroke.
How long does it take? around 3 months to start seeing a difference. It all depends on how much cariovascular exercise you do and how often. I would suggest every 2 to 3 days workout. It is proven you benefit much more with a rest inbetween bouts of exercise to allow adaptation. It's also important to eat a good diet. If you feed crap to your body, you will turn your body into crap. Lot's of fruit/vegetables and red meat would also benefit you. Don't take any notice about claims of saturated fats from red meat. The real cholesterol issues come from triglycerides which are mainly processed sugar, a great thing to avoid.
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Avatar universal
"Trust me, that has nothing to do with being out of shape and/or getting older."

Are you sure?

I'm surprised because at my age I theoretically shouldn't be dealing with these "old people" problems. I was sedentary in my early twenties as well, even at my job at the time (lots of sitting), and yet I don't recall anything unusual as far as heart rhythm or elevated heart rate.

This all seems like something "new" or "recent" when I ponder into past memories.
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Avatar universal
And I don't think it's weight either. I didn't want to admit it in my first post on the subject, but I am only 5'-11'' and my  max. weight used to be 264#. I managed to get it down now to 230# - still along way to go. However, my heart rate was really never affected by any of this. The only thing I can point to in that regard from my perspective is stress, stress ... stress.
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Avatar universal
Not really, I am slightly overweight but not by much.

I weigh around 190 pounds last time I checked, and this is not bad for a 6 foot 4 male. Ideally I want to get it down to 170-175 but for now I think I am making steady progress as far as weight goes.

I spent most of 2014 pretty much bed-ridden though due to recovery from alcohol and also a leg injury, maybe that has something to do with it?

I also tipped the scales at well over 260 pounds that same year (2014), so is it possible the body just hasn't "adjusted" to the lower body mass?

When I first started Googling around and seeing that the "consensus" was that most people seemed to have heart rate in the 50-75 range I was shocked and taken aback. I had no idea my heart function was so poor.

Oh well, now that I know I suppose I can do something about it, better late than never.
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Avatar universal
Trust me, that has nothing to do with being out of shape and/or getting older. If anybody is out of shape and getting older - wait, I am already there at 79 - and my heart rate is between 57 and 65 all the time unless I exert myself like walking up a hill as fast as I can. Then I will hit 138-143 BPM.
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976897 tn?1379167602
are you overweight? because that could increase bp and heart rate.
Helpful - 0
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